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11 Facture

DEFINITION

A detailed discussion of the way in which the work was made, including an assessment of its workmanship or characteristics of execution, the construction method used, or the specific applications of techniques."

SUBCATEGORIES

GENERAL DISCUSSION

This category records a text about the details of how a work was made. It provides important information in a coherent note for researchers. Pertinent information in this category should be indexed in appropriate subcategories, such as those in , to allow retrieval.

11.1. Facture Description

DEFINITION

A prose description of the facture of the work of art or architecture.

EXAMPLES

  • The fifty bronze sections that would make up the Large Arch were sandcast at the Herman Noack foundry in Berlin, Germany. The pieces were welded with invisible seams. The creation of the green patina was directed personally by Moore. The work was then shipped to the United States in a single piece.
  • “Fuseli has applied his wash from the upper left to the lower right, most clearly evident in the lower-right quadrant, indicating that he drew the work with his left hand. Although he was apparently ambidextrous, Fuseli created most of his important drawings with his left hand; the direction of the shading may, therefore, be used as a test of authenticity in his graphic work.” 1

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: Provide a detailed description of how the artist or architect manipulated the materials and techniques employed in its execution. If the is used for this purpose, it need not be repeated here.

Form and syntax

Use sentence case. You may use complete sentences and/or phrases. Begin the first word of the note with an uppercase letter, and end the note with a period. Follow rules for standard English grammar (if the record is in another language, use grammar rules appropriate to that language). If you quote or paraphrase information from a published source, cite the source in .

This note may examine how a creator applied a particular process in the production of a work of art or architecture. This discussion may represent the opinion of the artist, scholarly research, historical reports, or it may reflect the results of a technical analysis. It may also include a further clarification or elaboration of the information recorded in .

This subcategory provides an interpretive description of the physical make-up of a work of art or architecture, which outlines significant physical characteristics and highlights construction or manufacturing techniques. There may be different opinions about how a work of art was actually made.

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Free-text: This is not a controlled field. Important information in the description should be indexed in or other relevant categories.

RELATED CATEGORIES and ACCESS

This subcategory is intended to provide a more complete description of the object’s act of creation and physical composition than the category. It also allows for discussion of an object’s significant characteristics. Specific working techniques may indicate temporal or geographic associations, and may be used to substantiate the dating or attribution of a work.

contains information about the studies of a work of art that provided information about its facture. records any interventions in the work, including restorations, which may have provided further insight into the facture of the work. Materials and techniques mentioned in this category should be recorded in detail in .

Descriptive information recorded in this category may be repeated in part in a about the object. Terms used to describe facture may often be the same as those used to describe technique in the category , since the difference is simply one of the creative process (in the case of facture) and evidence of that process (in the case of technique). For this reason, the ability to compare information recorded as facture with information recorded as technique is important.

11.2. Remarks

DEFINITION

Additional notes or comments pertinent to information in this category.

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: Record a note regarding the facture of the work. Use consistent syntax and format. For rules regarding writing notes, see .

FORMAT/TERMINOLOGY

Free-text: This is not a controlled field. Use consistent syntax and format.

11.3 Citations

DEFINITION

A reference to a bibliographic source, unpublished document, or individual opinion that provides the basis for the information recorded in this category.

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: Record the sources used for information in this category. For a full set of rules for citations, see .

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Authority: Ideally, this information is controlled by citations in the citations authority; see .

11.3.1 Page

DEFINITION

Page number, date accessed for Web sites, and any other information indicating where in the source the information was found.

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: For a full set of rules for pages, see - PAGE.

FORMAT/TERMINOLOGY

Free-text: This is not a controlled field. Use consistent syntax and format.

Examples

  • Facture: Three layers: animation cel of Turtle & Chipmunk, special effects cel depicting water, and the background.

  • Facture: Ten feathers are bent through holes in the upper rim and sewn in place.

  • Facture: On the other link-head of the Old Windsor bit is a series of four scribed circles. The largest of these circles is on the upper surface and is hollowed out for inlay and, like the vestigial stop-knobs, has the pin fastening still visible. There is a small area of rough matting design, as on Datchet produced by interrupted taps of the tracer. Matting also occurs on other horse-bits presumed to be contemporary.2

  • Facture: In its earliest form the pyramid was a seven-stepped structure finished with a casing of dressed limestone. Later it was enlarged into an eight-stepped pyramid by extending all seven original steps, and adding a new platform on top. In a final building campaign, it was changed into a smooth-sided pyramid by filling in the steps with casing blocks.

  • Facture: The chiaroscuro effects, achieved with the strokes of a rag and the smudging of ink with the fingers, only partly model the figures and furnishings, which emerge as forms from the dark only with the help of assured contour lines quickly scratched in the plate with a sharp instrument.3

Revised 8 January 2024
by Emily Benoff

Notes

  1. Douglas Schoenherr. Master Drawings from the National Gallery of Canada. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1988, 245, cat. no. 77. ↩︎

  2. J.V.S. Megaw. Art of the European Iron Age: Study of the Elusive Image. New York and Evanston: Harper & Row, 1970, 154, cat. no. 256. ↩︎

  3. J.S. Boggs. Degas: Exhibition Held at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1988, 308, cat. no. 196. ↩︎