The Business of Prints

Fascinating exhibition at the British Museum looking at production, marketing and sale of prints.

This show focused on the business and production side of print making not just the artistry of them. Prints were first made in Europe in about 1400 and used methods which changed very little until the advent of photography made them obsolete except as an art object.

The show looked at different production methods and also looked at different crafts involved in their production for example there was a section on people who specialised in adding words to plates which had to be written backwards. It then looked at people involved in different aspects of their sale; often a publisher was different to a print maker who might be different again to the seller.

I loved a section on practical uses of prints, often ephemera which were mainly thrown away as soon as they were read or used. Examples included a poster to advertise a subscription to a book on Westminster Abbey, designs for a sundial designed to be stuck onto wood blocks, a skull and cross bones designed to be stuck on a plague victims door and my favourite piece in the show, a beautiful life like rabbit designed for target practice.

Highlights of the show included a Durer print of the Martyrdom of the 10,000 shown with its original woodblock, a Lucas van Leyden print of which there are only 11 impressions and a Veronica, portrait of Christ, by Claude Mellan drawn in one continuous line in a spiral starting from the tip of Christ’s nose.

Closed on 28 January 2018

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