Paper Museums

As relatively inexpensive, transportable, and storable objects, prints occupied an important place in early modern European culture. Many of them reproduced other works of art and we now call them "reproductive" prints. They were often considered to be of lower status than so-called "original" prints, yet in their initial historical and cultural context, reproductive prints were crucial to the forging of a common visual culture. Paper Museums offers an important interpretive survey of these remarkable works.

The contributors to the volume explore the diverse range of uses for reproductive prints, including establishing printmakers' reputations as truthful and authoritative artists, promoting an artist's oeuvre or the holdings of a collector, and enabling the public to enjoy original works vicariously. The volume also analyzes issues such as the culture of the print workshop and, in particular, the status of female printmakers; truth and authenticity ascribed to the printed form; and the dissemination of antique forms through prints.

Challenging long-held assumptions about reproductive imagery, this fascinating history will compel readers and scholars alike to think of reproductive prints as legitimate and valued creative acts.


Contents:

Preface and Acknowledgments
Color Plates
Introduction by Rebecca Zorach and Elizabeth Rodini

On Imitation and Invention: An Introduction to the Reproductive Print
Alexandra M. Korey

Creativity, Authenticity, and the Copy in Early Print Culture
Lia Markey

The Female Printmaker and the Culture of the Reproductive Print Workshop
Sarah Cree

Translating Stone into Paper: Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Prints after Antique Sculpture
Dawna Schuld

Conspicuous Imitation: Reproductive Prints and Artistic Literacy in Eighteenth-Century England

Checklist of the Exhibition
Bibliography