The magnificent series of facsimile reproductions of the great
masterpieces of Chinese painting and calligraphy from the National Palace
Museum that Nigensha Publishing Company has been producing is now
approaching three hundred in number. It constitutes the most
significant body of superb reproductions of China's graphic art that
exists anywhere in the world. This continuing series of
reproductions has appeared at exactly the time during which concern for
the preservation of ancient calligraphy and painting is making it more and
more difficult for most people ever to see the actual original
masterpieces of Chinese art history. It is highly likely that in the
future all of us will be deeply dependent upon Nigensha's technology and
skill for our very knowledge of such awesome works of art as Fan K'uan's
"Early Spring". It is therefore with the keenest appreciation of
their contribution to the knowledge and enjoyment of Chinese painting and
calligraphy that I salute Nigensha's achievement. I predict that
some years hence, owning one of Nigensha's facsimile reproductions of
"Early Spring" will be as close as most of us can aspire to actually
possessing a Sung landscape painting.
High-level Appreciation Made Possible
James Cahill
Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Nigensha's project for producing a set of facsimile reproductions
of masterworks of Chinese painting and calligraphy in the greatest of
collections, the National Palace Museum in Taipei, is to be welcomed
by all lovers of these arts. For those of us who teach, these
full-size, extraordinary faithful re-creations will serve to reveal
both the power and the nuances of these works to our students better
than we have been able to do with most hitherto-available
reproductions. For those who want to enjoy these superb works of
art in their homes, the facsimiles will allow new levels of
appreciation.
Chinese painting, in its special materials and forms,
lends itself better to reproduction than do Occidental oil paintings.
At the same time, its tonal nuances and subtleties of brushwork
require the most sensitive techniques of printing if they are to be
adequately conveyed. Nigensha's newly-developed methods, which
approximate closely even the paper tone and silk ground on which the
originals were painted, fulfill excellently these requirements.
The selection of paintings and works of calligraphy reproduced
includes many of the finest surviving works of the major Sung and
later masters, and thus provides a quite satisfactory survey of this
great tradition.
Irresistible Appeal of Precise Reproductions
Richard Edwards
Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan
To my knowledge, the collection of painting and calligraphy in the
National Palace Museum in Taiwan, a collection which came originally
from the Emperors of the Ch'ing dynasty, still remains the single most
important group of Chinese works in the world today. It is thus
especially important that there be a continuing effort to reproduce
masterpieces from it with as great accuracy as possible.
Nigensha
Publishing Company in collaboration with the National Palace Museum in
Taipei is doing just that. Of the reproductions currently
available, one can affirm that the choice is, by and large, excellent.
Scholars familiar with Chinese painting will certainly recognize them
and, I believe, universally approve of the selection as indicating
many key "moments" in the history of Chinese art. They form a
group which merits wider popularity.
The publishers have made every
effort to bring the latest technology of production to bear on this
significant task, and thus assure that these facsimiles will be as
close as possible to the original works. They have been
particular successful in catching the nuances of ink values, the
quality of brushwork itself, which lies at the heart of an
understanding of Chinese painting and calligraphy. Such works
will come, I believe, closer to the originals than anything so far
attempted. From what I have seen, they deserve wide circulation
in an effort to promote an accurate familiarity with a unique artistic
heritage.
Unequalled Verisimilitude to the Originals
Roger Goepper
Professor, Art Historical Institute, University of Cologne
During my stay in Taiwan in autumn 1978, when I was a guest of the
National Palace Museum, Taipei, I had the opportunity to watch one of
the corrections by a delegation from Nigensha in connection with their
large project of reproducing major works of calligraphy and painting
in facsimile. A group of specialists, including printers and
scientists, were comparing the originals with the proofs of the
Nigensha reproductions, printed in original size on different kinds of
paper, some of which had been specially developed for this project.
I was able to take part and listen to the lengthy discussions, which
took place in front of some of the most famous Chinese paintings and
their reproductions. Each detail was carefully compared.
Colour variations and degrees of intensity were most carefully
checked. Some of the different printed versions had already
reached such a degree of perfection that, to my eyes, there was hardly
any difference to the original to be seen. Still the printers
were not content and corrected several places. The final
results, which I could compare with some samples, are really so close
to the original that these reproductions can serve all purposes of
scientific studies for scholars and students who do not have the
possibility to examine the original in detail.
Equal Artistic Effect as the Original
Ch'i-kung
Professor, Beijing Normal University
President, Chinese Calligraphys' Association
First of all, I must thank the great developments in the aspect of
scientific technology. Without today's various advanced
technologies such as photography and printing, these true-to-life
reproductions which may be called "just one tiny step from the
originals" would not have been realized. As a matter of course,
these reproductions are not the same as the originals seen from the
viewpoint of the value of art objects. Nevertheless, they must
be called "equal to the originals" in the sense of artistic effect.
Moreover, superb printing technology can even enhance the artistic
effect of extant art objects. Original works have long lost
their former appearance because the lapse of time ranging from several
hundred to over a thousand years have darkened even those that are
only lightly affected, or have damaged them considerably.
However, this aspect has been renewed in the reproductions in which
the colours and luster of the original state are recovered.
Although
these reproductions may not be something to be owned by everybody, it
is no longer difficult to admire them at will at home by buying or
borrowing a copy, or to appreciate them at exhibitions.
Therefore, their value may be called "once or several times above the
originals."
With its reproducing technologies, Nigensha has created
several tens of thousands of procreations of ancient Chinese
calligraphy and painting. I am compelled to sincerely thank
Nigensha for the considerable labor if has expended.
Just One Tiny Step from the Original
Fu Shen
Professor, Graduate Institute of Art History, National Taiwan
University
Former Curator, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
These reproductions of Chinese painting and calligraphy from the
finest collection in the world are truly outstanding and faithful to
the original works.
Included are works that have never been
reproduced in original size before, even though they are well known
and often published on a smaller scale. This is the first chance
to appreciate the details of beautiful brushwork and subtle colors in
these reproductions of paintings by Fan K'uan, Kuo Hsi, Wang Fu, Shen
Chou, T'ang Yin, et. al. The ones I admire the most are
reproductions of works originally on paper, because advanced printing
methods have reproduced the subtle interaction of brush, ink, and
paper texture so effectively.
Famous works such as "Three Passages
of Calligraphy" by Wang Hsi-chih, "Essay on Calligraphy" by Sun
Kuo-t'ing, "Autobiography" by Huai-su and "Dwelling in the Fu-ch'un
Mountains" by Huang Kung-wang, have previously been published in
actual size. Now we are able to compare the old reproductions
with the new and appreciate the advances in modern printing
techniques. As I look at these superb facsimiles in front of me,
I cannot imagine reproductions of better quality. I would
certainly feel very rich and happy to own some of them.
A Chinese
phrase "hsia chen-chi i-teng" ("just one tiny step from the original")
comes to my mind, which certainly is the best way to describe this
group of reproductions.
The Glories of the World's Art
Lothar Ledderose
Professor, Art Historical Institute, University of Heidelberg
All over the world Japanese bookmaking and reproduction techniques
have long been admired and respected because of their excellent
quality. The innovative and sophisticated process that has now
been devised by Nigensha Publishing Co., Ltd. is another landmark in
the history of printing and sets a new standard for the reproduction
of Chinese paintings and calligraphy. Not only do the shades of
the ink become visible in exquisite gradation, but also the appearance
of the original surface is rendered in an amazingly convincing manner.
The consistency of paper and silk, the different kinds of material,
the patches, and even the way in which the ink sinks into the surface,
all these are preserved in the reproduction.
The collection of the
National Palace Museum in Taipei is the largest and most important
single collection of Chinese painting and calligraphy in the world,
and it is therefore appropriate that some of its important masterworks
should be reproduced in this superb technique. The selection of
the pieces is excellent, ranging in time from the fourth to the
eighteenth centuries. They represent highlights of Chinese art,
and indeed of world art. Everybody will therefore welcome these
new reproductions of unprecedented quality.
Miraculous Identicalness with the Originals
Michael Sullivan
Former Professor, University of Stanford, California
The great masterpieces of Western art are well known to people in
the West, either through reproductions or through having seen them in
museums and galleries. The art of the Far East has always been
much less accessible: indeed there is hardly a single masterpiece of
Far Eastern art that the average educated Westerner could identify.
The reason for this is simply that the Westerner has no opportunity to
see these works, or if he does see them it is only in small
reproductions that convey little sense of the originals. So
there has been a need for facsimile reproductions of the great
Oriental works that give the viewer the sense of being in contact with
the actual painting, in its original size, colour and texture.
Now
at last that has become possible with the publication by the Nigensha
Publishing Company of facsimile reproductions of masterpieces of
Chinese calligraphy and painting in the Palace Musuem, Taipei.
The fact that the reproductions are the exact size of the originals -
Huang Kung-wang's handscroll "Dwelling in the Fu-ch'un Mountains," for
example, is reproduced in its full length of over six meters - and
that the texture of the original paper and silk is miraculously
conveyed, with all the subtly of colour and range on ink tone, means
that the viewer will be getting an experience almost as satisfying as
looking at the originals themselves.
These reproductions therefore
are a major contribution to closing the gap between the works and their potential viewers, and at last make them accessible to a wide
public. I hope that the project receives the welcome it
deserves, and that this will lead to the issuing by Nigensha of
further sets of the same quality.
