Would you visit a museum of reproductions of painting masterpeices?

[mizunodave]

I'm kinda surprised this sort of thing doesn't already exist. Assume the highest quality canvas reproductions at original sizes. To be able to go to one museum and study everything from the Mona Lisa to the Nightwatch, I'd be there twice a week.

[blogmatix]

I'm kinda surprised this sort of thing doesn't already exist. Assume the highest quality canvas reproductions at original sizes. To be able to go to one museum and study everything from the Mona Lisa to the Nightwatch, I'd be there twice a week.

Might be particularly nice if the reproductions are all hand painted as well.

[gateau]

As an educational tool, it'd be really useful. However, for the normal everyday museum goer, I think they'd rather see the real thing.

[Elwell]

I'm kinda surprised this sort of thing doesn't already exist. Assume the highest quality canvas reproductions at original sizes. To be able to go to one museum and study everything from the Mona Lisa to the Nightwatch, I'd be there twice a week.

Don't take this the wrong way, but have you ever been to an actual museum?

[kev ferrara]

Would you visit a museum of reproductions of painting masterpeices?

Yes, my mannequin girlfriend would love it!

[vineris]

I have nothing against reproductions and they're a great way to see pieces that are much too delicate or damaged to be displayed. But museums lack space -- a lot of them have way more stuff in storage than they can display in the museum. So if a new museum was going to open, you'd think we'd want to display some of the masterpieces gathering dust in museum storage that only get trotted out once every 10 years rather than putting up another Mona Lisa.

[Book Guru]

I'd be in support of such museum but only in its virtual presentation.
This is the way the Google Art Project eventually is going to...

[JeffX99]

I wouldn't bother. And Elwell's question is valid as usual. I cannot imagine a reproduction process, short of hand painting and matching the entire painting process, being even close to the effects and dynamic qualities found in the originals. Not to mention the visceral thrill of standing exactly in the same place (relative to the painting) that the master stood.

Edit:...by the way...that kinda shit literally brings tears to my eyes...but I'm just a big hormone junkie so...

[s.ketch]

Would it be free?

What if we took every piece of art in the world, shrunk them down a bit and then filled a museum with them. Then you could go an see all the art. Entire walls covering centuries of history.

[[email protected]]

Years ago there was an expo of Rembrandt reproductions in Amsterdam. I think these were reproductions of all of his paintings. I wonder how many people paid for it, but given the location I wouldn't be surprised if thousands of tourists wandered in, assuming these were originals...

[mizunodave]

Don't take this the wrong way, but have you ever been to an actual museum?

I'm afraid im missing your point.. fwiw I've been to the national gallery in DC twice and go to the Cincinnati art museum frequently. That's sorta my point..digital is okay but I find it hard to study from a computer screen for long periods. There's nothing like standing in front of a painting, leaning in and soaking it up. Is the point that reproductions wouldn't be the same, would be disappointing up close?

[Chris Bennett]

As long as they charged and the money went to retired artists I wouldn't mind.
To quote David Apatoff:
"It would be a public service: a tax on stupidity."

[Meloncov]

A library of high quality reproductions would be nice to have access to. Setting them up like a museum seems like a waste of space and money, though. I'd rather see a large collection, kept in storage and pulled out on request, than a small collection in a museum space.

[JeffX99]

...retired artists...

Wait a sec...there's a retirement plan?

[Chris Bennett]

There's retirement... but no plan.

[arenhaus]

Is the point that reproductions wouldn't be the same, would be disappointing up close?

Exactly.

Photo reproductions don't reproduce the colors and textures faitfully. Copies, even competently make, don't reproduce the artist's technique and brushstrokes. The point of studying an original is seeing the actual painting. If you haven't while you've been in museums, you've been simply gawking.

[Featheredface]

But all of those beautiful brush strokes! Compressed into pixels and prints?

QQ

[bcarman]

I'm afraid this is a question born of our time. The virtual is becoming reality to people growing up now. It would be the same as a building for a virtual visit to Hawaii. Put some sand on the floor pipe in the smell of the ocean and a pig cooking surround yourself with moving pics and voila. "Total Recall"

Haven't you ever gone up to real painting in a museum and wanted to bite it? Moved to the side to see the texture like a landscape, put your nose so close that the guard starts to move towards you?

Paintings are not only representations but objects. Have you been to a really good play? Much different than a movie.

A reproduction is a reproduction. We can expand it and even have little Thomas Kincaide minions paint on it but it will always be a reproduction. Really not much better than things in print.

And on the practical side museums have a hard enough time making ends meet showing the real stuff.

[JeffX99]

Haven't you ever gone up to real painting in a museum and wanted to bite it? Moved to the side to see the texture like a landscape, put your nose so close that the guard starts to move towards you?

All the f-in time! Usually they don't just move towards me though...I end up having to talk to them...

[B u r l]

I've always wanted to lick a painting

[Black Spot]

Trouble with most reproductions is that the colour balance is not always right. I have some lovely catalogues of exhibitions I've been too and the colour is always off just that bit.

I only ever appreciated Cézanne when I saw a real picture instead of those reproductions in books.

[dennis.k]

I don't think you can reproduce something like the Sistine Chapel.

[Noah Bradley]

The day we get perfect 1:1 molecular reproductions... sure, why not.

[Jyoung]

put your nose so close that the guard starts to move towards you?

that always pisses me off when they do that.pld:
the guards in St.Louis MO are especially bad about that. (not in Tulsa Ok though

no i wouldnt want a museum of copies. digital or painted. (especially painted as it isn't the masters hand)
and digital copies fall short of colour matching ....cmyk.

its worth the sojurn to study the real work in real life.

[Lady Medusa]

If it was free and in my city, yes, unless its just a sheet of paper with a print on. But nothing compares to the real masterpiece.
I remember the horrible and obvious copy they put up instead of Bosch's real "The garden of eartly delights" one time they were restoring it. So disappointing. (sheet of paper, clear blue hint, tinsy winsy size.)
It was supposed to be exposed in Venice that year.

[Richie_Rich]

Doesn't sound that interesting if I have to be honest. Reproductions is what we have the internet for.

[Conniekat8]

Doesn't every art student end up with a few, reproductions... well, um, Master copies. Not that all of them are reproduction quality LOL.
[kitteh goes back to working on her first master copy]

[Book Guru]

No one has mentioned yet about another important aspect of seeing an original.
The energy that the artwork still carries, even after hundreds of years after its creation. I do understand many art lovers who're willing to go any distance to see the original work of their favorite artist.
No any print can ever transfer this kind of aura to the viewer.

[JeffX99]

Uhm...post #8?

[JeffX99]

I'm not convinced there is an energy or aura. If you want to talk about the unique application of paint, the tiny, unapparent details, the subtleties, and the difference in materials be my guest, but there's no residual energy or aura there.

Or maybe you're just not sensitive to it? Either way, I think she just meant the physical presence and dynamic qualities of the painting. Maybe not, IDK.