Art Reproductions When I was a kid, my parents never took us to museums very much. Although they seemed to like music, they were never very big fans of the visual arts and didn't really expose us to them. I loved looking at paintings and galleries downtown, but I never had a chance to see any of the great works of Western art. That is why, as soon as I got into college, I was so fascinated by art reproductions. I went down to the local poster shop and bought a bunch of art prints. I bought a picture of Icarus by Matisse, a couple prints of MC Escher paintings, and a small Picasso ink work as well. At the time, I thought they were the most beautiful things in the world. What I didn't realize was that they were actually not very good art reproductions. Art reproduction is an art and a science. It is something that people have been working on for centuries. Originally, reproducing art was a painstaking and difficult process. It had to all be done by hand, so you had to know everything about the artist's technique and be able to imitate it exactly. Needless to say, it was a luxury only available to the very rich. Although modern techniques of mechanical reproduction have made art prints easier to do, not all of them really do the original work justice. Some art reproductions have dull colors that fade easily, poor resolution, and an overall mediocre appearance. If you have never seen the original work, It is easy to mistakenly buy this kind of art reproduction believing that it is better than it is. But once you see it properly done, you'll understand that there is no comparison. For me it didn't matter. I enjoyed those art reproductions at the time. Because I had never seen the original works, I didn't know what I was missing. When years later I was able to see the originals, however, I had to go out and buy better art reproductions. Suddenly I couldn't look at the poor quality prints I had anymore because they lost so much of what I liked about the paintings. Fortunately, I learned which companies make good art prints and which ones don't. That way, I can chose to only buy from the best shops. Usually good prints cost a little bit more because they use more expensive inks, but the cost is worth it. Summary Art reproductions are trickier than meet the eye. There are good copies, and there are bad copies. Art reproduction used to be manual process which took time to complete. Today there are machines which can perform the work in a fraction of the time, but they are never as good as the original. You can buy prints for a lot less than the original if you really like the picture. Related Articles Craft Fairs Offer Unique Shopping Related Sites