Throughout the Middle Ages texts and images were disseminated primarily through handwritten and hand-drawn materials. In the 15th century, with the invention of new printing technologies, a revolution swept through Europe giving rise to a rich cross-fertilization between mechanical innovation and pictorial tradition.
Including both printed and illuminated masterpieces, Blurring the Line: Manuscripts in the Age of Print (on exhibit Aug. 6-Oct. 27, 2019 at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center) challenges the assumption that printed media immediately replaced hand-crafted book production, instead revealing a convergence of technology and art during the Renaissance.
“An innovation of the medieval world, printing was a medium that grew and changed in response to those who created and consumed it,” says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “This is particularly evident in the medieval and renaissance periods, but the dynamic interplay between technology and artistic change is timeless, as we see in the transition from painting to photography, film to digital, and paper books to eReaders.”
In a world before printing, text and images were manually copied into books and onto panels by skilled artists, inevitably introducing variation. Exact replication was associated with divine intervention, perceived as a miraculous transfer of likeness through a holy intermediary. The printed image opened up new and simpler possibilities for precise reproduction while drawing heavily on medieval typesetting conventions, such as iconography, two-dimensionality, added color, and portable dimensions.
Just as many different technologies overlap in today's world, printing did not immediately eclipse all other forms of book art in the 15th century; it was a much more complex relationship. Printers and illuminators readily shared ideas, often borrowing compositions from each other. Printers recognized the importance of enhancing their new products by imitating craftsmanship in illuminated manuscripts, a form associated with wealth and prestige. However, the skill continued to be valued by those who had the wherewithal to commission hand-crafted luxury books. As a result of the competition and coexistence of these two media, the XNUMXth century saw an expansion of pictorial literacy and a new era of affordable imagery as the art of illumination was propelled to new levels of creative achievement.
The exhibition includes a selection of handmade books produced in the centuries following the introduction of the printing press. Although the production of illuminated manuscripts slowed down, handmade books were prized for their specialized craftsmanship and the prestige of the tradition they represented. They were prized in religious, courtly, governmental, and other circles. Such custom-made books attested to the wealth, high social status, and good taste of their customers and owners. As printing increasingly became the dominant way of producing books, illuminated manuscripts were preserved and reinvented in the post-medieval era.
According to Larisa Grollemond, assistant curator in the Manuscripts department and exhibition curator, “The late XNUMXth century is a fascinating time in terms of artists experimenting with manuscript illumination and printing, often blending the two media in the same book. We tend to think that when printing was introduced in Western Europe, lighting became a thing of the past. There's actually a really complex artistic negotiation between these two forms that I think is similar to what's happening today between digital and print. I hope visitors can find some (perhaps surprising) parallels between the XNUMXth and XNUMXst centuries! ”
Cover image: The Sudarium, Displayed by Two Angels, 1513, Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471 – 1528). Unframed: 10.2 × 14.3 cm (4 × 5 5/8 in.). Framed: 39.7 × 52.4 × 3.2 cm (15 5/8 × 20 5/8 × 1 1/4 in.). Law 2018.147. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Fund.
