Bringing Home the Museum

We cordially invite you to the lecture from the cycle Collegium historiae artium, which will be given by Kim Timby (École du Louvre, Paris) on the topic of Bringing Home the Museum: The Colour Turn in Art Reproduction in the Mid-Twentieth Century.

The lecture will take place on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 4.30 pm in the Institute of Art History CAS, room 117, Husova 4, Prague 1.

Color art reproduction made newspaper headlines in France circa 1950. These vivid photographs of artworks suddenly appeared to be everywhere, most notably in books and as large-format images for wall display. It had long been possible to photograph in color. However, I will argue that this kind of photography became "new" around the time of World War II because that was when it started to circulate in mass-market, printed form. The commercial success of color art reproduction was underpinned by a real demand for more naturalistic renditions—of paintings, in particular—but also by promotion by esteemed intellectual leaders who saw it as a way to democratize great masterpieces. This innovative imagery thus had important cultural repercussions, sparking a public conversation of unprecedented proportions about the value of art in modern society.

This lecture will also be available online. For the Zoom link, please contact us at: masterova@udu.cas.cz.