Dear Mrs. Lodholz...
the art reproduction market, a new cultural industry
by Christine Rioux
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
"In reply to your letter of the 28th instant, I am sorry
to state that we have not as yet any reproductions or prints for sale. The
matter is in preparation now..."
Quebec, March 31, 1942 (1)
In Canada, in 1942, few art museums were able to respond to the demands
of those visitors who wanted to buy reproductions of their works of art.
We were then still at the dawn of what was to become today's market for
reproduced artwork. While the market for original works of art is well known,
with its mysterious collectors and its often exploding prices, there exists
little information on the market for art reproductions. That it developed
must have been due to several art amateurs writing, like Ledholz, to the
museum directors so as to encourage them in this regard. The trouble with
the reproduction of works of art is that, since it began, it has had a rather
poor reputation in the art world. It is almost a taboo subject . . . . .
.
Not withstanding his good intentions, Paul Rainville, Curator of the Museum
of the Province of Québec, author of the letter to Mrs. Lodholz,
did not carry out what he promised. Several years later, a very interesting
letter on the subject was found in his correspondence. On the 26 November
1948, he wrote to the Director of the National Gallery of Canada, M.H.O.
Curry, seeking advice on the establishment of a sales department for reproduced
works of art. In his reply of the 29 November, M.H.O. Curry took the time
to explain how the market for art reproductions had begun in his own museum:
"We began back in 1922 or thereabouts to produce post-cards
in colour, sizes as given in our folder. We also made black and white reproductions
photographically. The firm which did our colour work was the Mortimer Company,
Ottawa, and they did a reasonably good job, but we had to keep after them.
Later, we commenced the larger series, which we call Size B, plate of which
is about 8" by 9", or perhaps a little less. These were meant
for the teacher's use, and the small reproductions for the children. We
also issued the post-card size on thin paper, which could be sold for less
than 2 (cents) each. These reproductions were quite popular and the first
province to purchase extensively was Quebec."
"Later on we had a large reproduction done in England by Harrison's
the King's Printer, in St-Martin's Land, London. This was started in 1938
while the pictures were at the Tate Gallery, and the first and only one
done was "Spring Ice", 19 3/4" by 28". This is a very
satisfactory size for general use and the first lot of 1000 prints cost
us 2/6 each. The price has since gone up considerably and the second edition,
done during the war, cost about 4 /-[sic] a copy. I think this is by all
odds the best reproduction we have turned out and I do not think it can
be done as well anywhere else. If you decide to lend any of your pictures
for the proposed exhibition in Great Britain, that would be the time to
get some of them reproduced. I am sure the income from sales would be considerable."(2)
(3)
This correspondence is informative in several respects. First of all, the
reproduction of works of art was initially regarded as a pedagogical aid
in art teaching and also as an educational toy for children. Very quickly,
the public became interested in this "public distribution" of
art. In this extract, we notice that the work "Spring Ice" was
reproduced very soon after its first publication. In general, however, considerable
problems with the printing of reproductions in Canada, to which the director
of the National Gallery referred, would for a long time restrain the enthusiasm
of the museum directors for the reproduction of artworks. Not until the
1970's or even 1980's would we reach a position of acceptable quality control
in printing. This explains the relative novelty of this market. It is quite
evident that the museum directors were at the time unable to imagine how
the demand for reproduced art would develop progressively, growing into
the new cultural industry it is today. The public wanted to have reproductions
of works of art, and it is often thanks to letters found in museum archives
and to the public appetite for art that we today have this cultural industry.
But what do we really know about this market?
In 1993, Gaëtan Hardy and Yvon Brochu of the Québec Ministry
of Culture published a statistical report (4) permitting us to gauge
for the first time the impact in Québec of retail sales in this market.
The purpose of their inquiry was to "count those companies dealing
commercially in the sales of posters or reproductions of works of art and
to compile a statistical profile for recent years" (5). The
authors estimate that there were between 230 and 250 stores specialised
in the sale of "posters" (6) and reproductions of works
of art. Of total sales, 15%, or an annual average of $64 961. per year,
was for reproductions. In Québec, they estimated, that represented
a marketworth $14.9. million.
My doctoral thesis in communications at McGill University is the first detailed
study of the Québec market for art reproductions. As it would be
difficult to give here a total overview of my findings, I simply offer several
ideas for your consideration.
When we consider the market for reproduced art works, it may seem, at first
glance, that we are dealing with a secondary product derived from the originals
and for use in decoration. However, such an understanding denies the role
of the image in a society which is defined and recognised by communication.
It also limits art's symbolic value and its essential role in the construction
of the cultural identity of a world which recognises itself through consumption.
The integration into the media and the distribution of the work of art become,
therefore, in our world of communication and consumption, a vector for the
transmission and creation of cultural identity for both the individual and
the community.
To regard the reproduction of art as a cultural industry is to recognise
that, from mechanical reproduction to the digitalisation of works of art,
there exists an ineluctable movement towards greater and greater demand
for significant images. Without pursuing this idea further, and without
entering a new debate on the relationship between art and the reproduction
of works of art, I would like to present a first estimate of the economic
magnitude of this market in Canada.
Beginning with the number of sales outlets in Canada for two distributors(7);
Multi-Graph, a Québec editor which distributes its products throughout
Canada (1, 700 outlets), and Artistica, probably the oldest distributor
in the country of reproductions of art works (2, 000 outlets), and also
using the data from the statistical study by the Québec Ministry
of Culture, mentioned above, I have been able to estimate the relative economic
impact of this market. It should be understood that we had to extrapolate
for the whole of Canada from the Québec data, with all the distortions
that may entail. Therefore, assuming that the estimated $64, 961. average
annual sales for the Québec companies is indicative of the average
annual sales for the other stores throughout Canada, with 1,700 outlets,
we would have a total Canadian income of roughly $110 000, 000., and with
2,000, we will probably reach $129,000,000. In the light of these numbers,
it would be very interesting to confirm this estimate with a more detailed
economic analysis of the market. It is evident, despite all the ideological
debate surrounding the reproduction of works of art, that this reality will
soon demand our attention.
Notes
1- Letter from Paul Rainville, Curator of the Musée duQuébec,
to Mrs. Edward Lodholz, President of the Division of Art, Pennsylvania Federation
of Womens Clubs, Philadelphia, March 31,1942: document from the archives
of the Musée du Québec.
2- Letter from M. H.O. McCurry, Director of the Canadian National Gallery,
Ottawa, to Paul Rainville, Curator of the Musée de la province de
Québec, 29 novembre 1948, document from the archives of the Musée
du Québec.
3- "Spring Ice" is a work by Tom Thompson, who painted with members
of the Group of Seven.
4- Hardy, Gaëtan, Brochu, Yvon, Rapport statistique; Résultats
de l'enquête auprès des boutiques spécialisées
et autres points de vente d'affiches et de reproductions d'oeuvres d'art,
Ministry of Culture, Direction de la recherche et de la statistique, direction
du Livre, de la Lecture et des Bibliothèques publiques, Québec,
Octobre1993.
5- Hardy and Brochu, ibid. p. 2.
6- We should note here that the authors used this term "poster"
as a generic term covering posters and the reproduction of works of art,
which excludes greeting cards and postcards.
7- Our study allowed us to discover the 3 main distributors in Québec
as well as four publishers of the six who distribute their products in Canada.
