An overview that takes in most of the details

By Jules Quartly
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Apr 18, 2004, Page 19

An untitled print by Roberto Matta. PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HISTORY

As the names suggest, there's nothing new at the National History Museum's "Centennial Exhibition of Famous Prints," but rather it's a rewind of the images and the ideas expressed by 57 major artists in the 20th century so we can take a view on what has shaped the present.

The 86 prints are from the collection of Professor Liao Shiou-ping (廖修平), who left Taiwan to become a poor art student in Paris. There he got the bug for collecting prints by swapping paintings with other artists, as was the custom in those days. Later he went to the US and became a successful artist and teacher specializing in printmaking.

In the preface to the book for the exhibition, Liao says that when his paintings started selling well, he bought more prints. He has done so for 30 years. He calls it a hobby, but, when you survey the works of art and read the labels, they say Picasso (who started his career as a printmaker), de Kooning and Chagall. This is a serious and valuable collection for the way in which it shows how style, subject matter and concepts were framed in the last 100 years.

Andy Warhol's Turtle is on view at the National Museum of History. PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HISTORY

"As an artist," Liao says, "I am curious about the concepts other artists are trying to convey. Therefore, I like to own a work of art so I can study it carefully. For example, I am interested in sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, but the price is beyond my reach. However, the same themes are found in his prints."

After a short browse you will come to the Joan Miro (1893 to 1983) prints. The Spaniard incorporates a "modern mythology" in his works by incorporating abstract signifiers, such as hieroglyphics and symbols. A Miro "original" has ideas that are expressed not just by the subject matter but also by the application of the paint, in terms of its depth, shine and opacity, among other factors. With a print, the surface is flatter and rather than delving into the layers of paint we are faced more directly by the subject and its intended or suggested meanings. Miro turned to printmaking more as he grew older and overlapped layers of colored aquatints to attain a comparable richness of color that his originals possessed.

For your information : What: Centennial Exhibition of Famous Prints Where: National Museum of History, 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei (台北市南海路49號) Telephone: (02) 2361 0270 When: Started Thursday, until May 9

The later works of Roy Lichtenstein (1923 to 1997) and Andy Warhol (1928 to 1987), in contrast, are inspired by printing techniques and the distinction between an "original" and a copy is eroded. Warhol's famous Campbell's Soup Can is a facsimile of an advert reproduced hundreds and then millions of times. Lichtenstein's lithograph of a friesian is a simple outline of a cow grazing -- just black, white and poster-color yellow, with cross-hatching for shading. It reproduces the printing style of comic books.

"The exhibition is a journey through art's evolution during the modernist period."

The exhibition is a journey through art's evolution during the modernist period. It includes impressionists such as Edouard Manet, fauvists like Henri Matisse or surrealist Salvador Dali, mixed with abstract expressionists, cubists and other genres of painters. Walasse Ting, Paul Wunderlich, Roberto Matta and Tsugouharu Foujita are perhaps less well-known names but their works stand comparison where their prints are concerned.

The history of modernism as seen through the prism of prints is a good idea and provides a welcome counterpoint to conceptual art, installations and digital images.

My only criticism would be that the two halls have somber walls, no natural sunlight and poor lighting, more suited to relics. The informative notes on the pictures in Chinese and English balance this, though, providing an overall good art history lesson.