Re: Prints vs. Offset printing -

[henningw@archiphoto.com (Henning J. Wulff)]

Dan Cardish wrote:

>At 07:05 PM 01-05-97 -0400, Frederic wrote:
>>Hi Oddmund:
>>You made some excellent points. What I found particularly salient was your
>>comments on image pollution.
>>And needless to say, nothing is comparable to an original print...I've
>>contested for years that offset printing is a poor representation of the real
>>thing & only detracts from the original....[snip]
>
>I can recall a Marc Chagal exhibition a few years ago...One painting that I
>particularly liked just happened to have been made available as a poster
>from the museum's store.   At the exit to the exhibit, I got my money ready,
>already planning on where I would hang my soon to be acquired poster, until
>I saw it.  The reproduction paled in comparison to the original.  I suppose
>this is true for all cheap copies of art works, but it was especially
>noticeable when the original is only meters away from the copy.  I kept my
>money.
>
>I guess the moral for me is that as nice as books are for looking at
>photographs, especially ones which are otherwise inaccessible, there is no
>replacement for the real thing.

We do what we can. If we have a lot of money (a cerain dentist comes to
mind), we buy original Chagals. I have seen many original photographic
prints that were exquisite, and have moved me both through their image
content and technical mastery. The former was definitely enhanced by the
latter, but since I couldn't (or wouldn't) afford them, I have bought
books. The emotions evoked by the original prints come back as memories
when I saw the pictures in reproduction, and the reproductions are
worthwhile for that. I wouldn't mind having my living room decorated with
my choice of pictures from the Prado or other galleries, but a calendar or
book of art from the Prado still serve a purpose. I'd rather have something
than nothing, and I'd rather have a chance to look at a wide variety of
images than just a few, which is what I'd have to limit myself to if I
wanted to collect only original prints and hang them.

The wide variety of images in print also help me to see, in my own
photographic life. Most images that I see in print I would not take myself,
even if I stood in the same place at the same time as the photographer did.
Just as I do not take the same kind of pictures depending on whether I have
my Leicas, Nikons, Hasselblads, Noblex or Sinar or whatever with me. In my
professional photography I take the camera with me that will give me the
result I want, and in my personal photography I take the camera with me
that suits my emotions and temperament at the time. If I have been looking
at a certain photographer's work, I will look at things differently. I
still wouldn't take the same picture that he/she did, but there might be a
shift. New permutations on old visions are available, and aren't new ways
of seeing something that we always welcome? Books help in that.


   *           Henning J. Wulff
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