Print room
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Print room is either a room or industrial building where printing takes place, or a room in an art gallery, museum or archive, where a collection of old master and modern prints, usually together with drawings and watercolours, are held and viewed. The latter meaning is the subject of this article.
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[edit] What a print room looks like
Since for conservation reasons these works cannot be permanently displayed (light, temperature and humidity conditions leave them vulnerable to damage, limiting the hang to no more than 6 months), they are kept in inert, acid-free boxes, albums or portfolios behind closed doors. Where possible, works on paper are mounted on archivally safe supports. Storage may be in the same room as the viewing is done (the 'Reading-' or 'Study Room'), but as the largest collections have well over a million items stores are often located 'behind the scenes', along with the curators' offices. Typically, the visitor sits at a desk equipped with a stand or easel, and the material requested is brought out for them by the curators, who are happy to offer further information about works and artists.
[edit] How to visit
Most national collections can be seen by the public more easily than is often realised. Usually, visitors of all denominations (researchers or otherwise) are entitled to view works on paper not on display in the galleries, which may form the bulk of an institution's collection, thereby making print rooms an essential resource for enabling our understanding and appreciation of works on paper - in particular, how artists conceive of finished paintings through preparatory studies, and how printmaking traditions and techniques have evolved over the centuries. On a national level, discrete print rooms tend to differ, each having their own specialism, however collections often overlap in content, complementing eachother with different areas of an artist's work. There are links to lists of print rooms at the end of the article; most lead to the gallery's or museum's web-pages, which explain visiting arrangements. In most cases appointments require to be made in advance, and proof of identity should usually be provided. While it is helpful to outline what you would like to see (including artists' names and catalogue numbers, which may be available online or in books), visitors are also welcome to discuss their needs more casually by phoning or emailing in advance of their appointment. It is important to remember that not all material will be available to view, depending on current loans and exhibitions commitments and the condition of works.
[edit] Often not in the expected museum
Because of the need to keep them stored, prints and drawings are sometimes associated with library collections rather than collections of paintings. For example in Paris the main print (but not drawings) collection is in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, not the Louvre. In New York and Washington, both the main art museums (Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Gallery of Art Washington) and the libraries (New York Public Library and Library of Congress)all have important, though very different, collections. What is by general consent the world's greatest collection overall is in a separate institution, the Albertina (Vienna), which has been closed for some years for reconstruction. Material from other traditions than the Western, in particular, Asian material, notably Japanese prints, may or may not be in the same department, or the same institution.
In London, the National Gallery holds no works on paper; only paintings and sculptures of the European tradition. The main collection of Western prints and drawings is held in the British Museum and includes fine examples by the Old Masters. Known as the national gallery of British art, Tate holds British prints and drawings, which include the world's largest collection of watercolours, sketches and engravings by JMW Turner, historic works on paper from the late 18th and 19th centuries, and modern and contemporary prints. The Victoria and Albert Museum's works on paper collection has a particularly broad remit, encompassing works of fine and applied art (including posters) as well as ephemera.
[edit] External links
- Delinavit et Sculpsit — the major print rooms of the world.
- Print Alliance of America — a long list of print rooms in the USA & Canada only. Numbers given refer to contemporary art prints only; most collections have other works as well.
- Bodkin Prints — a virtual print-room. Links to well over 10,000 online images of prints.
- [1] - British Museum's Department of Prints and Drawings, London
- [2] - Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms, London
- [3] - Victoria & Albert Museum's Prints and Drawings Study Rooms, London
