Reproduction Photography and Heliogravure of the 19th century. Reproductions of Rembrandt’s Etchings from the Collections of the Pushkin Museum
Keywords:
history of reproduction, 19th century photographic reproduction, heliogravure, Charles Amand Durand, reproduction of a graphic originalAbstract
The publication focuses on three sets of reproductions of Rembrandt’s etchings from the collection of the Visual Information Department of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow). The circumstances of the creation of these reproductions in the second half of the 19th century, their perception and acceptance by the public, serve as a pretext for a discussion of the approaches to reproduction in the first decades of the photographic era. Drawing on these examples, the following arguments have been made for a reconsideration of attitudes towards early heliogravure: the rise in status that 19th-century reproduction photography is undergoing in the world’s museums should be extend to early heliogravure. The invention of the wide range of different methods that are grouped under the term heliogravure (or photogravure) is a logical extension of the technological development of photography. This was the prevailing understanding in the 19th century as evidenced, for example, by the terms of the competition organized by the Duke of Luynes in 1856, under the auspices of the French Society of Photography. On the other hand, early heliogravure always hides within itself, invisible to the naked eye, the filigree art of hand retouching on a metal mold. Reproduction heliogravures, such as those produced by Charles Amand Durand (1813–1882), are the result of a specific copying method that requires highly skilled work. The artifacts that appeared as a result of symbiosis of photographic manipulations and engraver’s manual skills are irreplaceable monuments of the bygone printing practice of the 19th century. They deserve to be studied and included in the collections of art museums. Reproductions, as material objects, possess their own aesthetic qualities and participate in transformation of culture and art.
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