I don’t think the preference for original paintings is just a fetish. Accurate color reproduction is hard [1], and in many cases, it’s possible to get close enough to the original to see the brushstrokes and texture. I don’t think we’re at the tech yet for really excellent reproductions, but please let me know if I’m missing something.
Originals vs. reproductions may not be worth the cost, but that’s a different question.
[1] The colors in a painting may change with time, but reproductions add another layer of inaccuracy.
I don’t know how good color reproduction can be if a major effort is made. I do know that if I go to the museum shop after an exhibition, I’m always struck by how far off the colors are compared to the paintings.
Texture reproduction is actually an easier problem than color reproduction, and is pretty much solved at less than a $5000 cost. Color is hard partially because people want the painting to look the same under all lighting conditions; under just one, we can solve the problem pretty well, but under all, we nearly need to use the same materials as were originally used. Needless to say, the cost of reproductions scales with the quality, and can become quite high.
I don’t think the preference for original paintings is just a fetish. Accurate color reproduction is hard [1], and in many cases, it’s possible to get close enough to the original to see the brushstrokes and texture. I don’t think we’re at the tech yet for really excellent reproductions, but please let me know if I’m missing something.
Originals vs. reproductions may not be worth the cost, but that’s a different question.
[1] The colors in a painting may change with time, but reproductions add another layer of inaccuracy.
I don’t know how good color reproduction can be if a major effort is made. I do know that if I go to the museum shop after an exhibition, I’m always struck by how far off the colors are compared to the paintings.
Texture reproduction is actually an easier problem than color reproduction, and is pretty much solved at less than a $5000 cost. Color is hard partially because people want the painting to look the same under all lighting conditions; under just one, we can solve the problem pretty well, but under all, we nearly need to use the same materials as were originally used. Needless to say, the cost of reproductions scales with the quality, and can become quite high.
I wonder if enough people would go to a museum of high quality reproductions to make it worthwhile.