@inproceedings{01GS5HJFFGWAA64NN96VKBBDBR,
  abstract     = {{This paper frames within the study of the use of photographic reproductions in the twentieth-century illustrated art book and focuses on the publication Rubens, Naam- en Jaartaltechniek by Robert Druwé (Drukkerij-Uitgeverij De Bièvre, 1944). This publication was widely distributed in Belgium and is part of the Rubenianum’s library collection. It presents an intriguing case study to examine how photographic reproductions of Rubens' oeuvre are reconfigured into the idiom of the book and how reproductions and details in particular are actively employed to carry an argument and to guide the reader.
In this publication, Druwé seeks to demonstrate how Rubens concealed signatures and dates on his paintings and attempts to display formal similarities between two paintings. For this, the author relies on details from photographic reproductions. Not only does Druwé use extreme close-ups to locate this concealed data, but the author also supplements his argument with notes and markings that he himself has added to these details. Some works are zoomed in to the extent that the detail becomes unrecognizable. Of the black king, seen in Rubens’ De Aanbidding door de Koningen (1624), Druwé selects a detail of the king’s face. A page later, the author adds a detail of the king’s left eye in which Rubens' signature would be discernible. Other details are mirrored, turned upside down, and unconventionally framed to carry Druwé’s argument. The details always appear in pairs, with the left- hand detail containing Druwé's compelling annotation. In this sense, the details also seem to follow the logic of the book and of the double page.
This paper pays particular attention to the ways in which the (art) book is invoked as a medium. What role do the materiality and structure of the book play? How do image and language interact? Do the selection, framing, and placement of details on the page of the art book generate a shift in meaning?}},
  author       = {{Dupré, Elise}},
  booktitle    = {{Rubens in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Symposium}},
  keywords     = {{Mechanical Reproduction,Book Design,Graphic Design}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Rubenianum, Antwerp}},
  title        = {{Visual argumentation in the illustrated art book : Robert Druwé’s ‘Rubens, Naam- en Jaartaltechniek’ (1944)}},
  url          = {{https://www.ugent.be/lw/nl/rubens}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}