We have often extolled the virtues of print as an artistic medium in our articles and instagram posts. We have also written about the world of museums and what goes into the making of its collection. Today we offer an interesting insight into how prints came to the rescue of a museum, which made us cheer.
It was the recent news from Whitworth Museum in Manchester, where Swedish conceptual artists duo Goldin+Senneby recreated Albert Durer’s acclaimed print Meloncholia 1, 1514, by reverse engineering the engraved printing plate from an original impression in the museum collection.
This rather technical feat encapsulates many facets relevant to the art market - from proliferation of new technology in all spheres of the art sector, to recreating old masterpieces for a contemporary audience, as well as the need for art to be commercially viable, and of course conservation and reviving old prints in new ways.
That’s a lot to pack in!
To explain this, we look at what the project aims to do, and how it gets there.
Essentially, the museum, as all museums are, was looking to generate revenue streams to support their ongoing operations. Goldin+Senneby came up with an ingenious solution. By taking an old original print of Durer’s complex and popular work Melancholia I, and reverse-engineering the printing plate through advanced scanning and 3D printing, with experts from the printers, engravers, and cultural economists.
The choice of the work itself was interesting. Durer was a much acclaimed and successful artist from the Renaissance period. The immensely detailed print personifies Melancholia, one of the four temperaments. The work is rich in imagery and metaphors, which include a dejected winged woman, an hourglass, a sundial, an ailing dog, and a magical calendar – possibly alluding to the passage of time, amplifying a sense of creative frustration. The work had captured the imagination at that time, especially in his home city of Nuremberg, and many prints were created.
The present recreation of this masterpiece introduced the theory of melancholia of finance, where the tools of banking industry have failed. The imagery serves this well and creates a bond with a new audience.
In addition, with the act of recreation, without de-accessioning the original print, the museum was successful in creating a new revenue stream. The museum aims to sell 18 prints on the original 16th century paper, and subsequent editions on new paper for the museum gift shop. Following weeks will reveal the commercial acceptance of the prints.
The originality, artistic sensitivity and the commercial viability of this enterprise has got us thinking about how Indian museums and institutions, or indeed galleries, need to think outside the box to continuously keep art alive and make it commercially sustainable for both buyers and institutions.
In the Indian context, while Raja Ravi Varma’s prints remain popular – some platforms even created NFTs of his work, at the height of crypto valuation – these have largely been limited to representation ancient stories. We have so far not seen an effort to bring these subjects and stories to a younger audience.
There are many such art forms and avenues which may be revived for contemporary times. Some of the options, of the top of our heads, include the Bengal Revivalist prints, with their nostalgic and romantic interpretations of poems such as that of Amir Khusro and instances from that time period, imagine Death of Shah Jehan as he looks at the Taj Mahal, or the Pune Chitrashala Press, (est 1878) which made prints of leaders and, captured deities and characters from the epics. Similarly, there various such turn-of-the-century print studios in Bombay, Pune and Kolkata.
These were all popular print arts at that time, and consolidate a rich history of Indian art. Most of these are in hands of private collections and some museums. Therefore, if the prints are revived in an authentic and precise manner, it would become accessible to a new audience, and generate revenue for the museums. It would mean work for young print makers and curb the market for fakes!
In our opinion, what will make this exercise germane to present times, and consequently commercially viable, would involve a revival of not only the physical artwork but also a re-look at these subjects – essentially, art to create a modern narrative for a newer, younger audience.
Art, which resonates, is that which generally evokes thoughts, emotions, latent sensibilities of the viewer, and that which is likely to be personal, creating a link with our psyche.
There is much food for thought here, and something we hope will find resonance and a market in the near future.
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