Paper vs. Pixels

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Still Life with a Book 1883 (PD US) Paul Signac

Great artworks, like great books, take us on a journey. That journey involves our imagination, most certainly our emotions, and perhaps our remembered life experiences. But there is another crucial aspect to the pleasure we derive from great works of art that may be less obvious to us in the moment - the physical look and feel of the object before us. When we look at a painting, we see the subject, the dynamic composition, colors, tones and brushwork, all of which can enlighten and thrill us. There is also the surface of the painting, the buildup or thinness of paint, perhaps the pentimento showing the changes wrought by the artist thinking through the picture. These can add immeasurably to our enjoyment of the picture as well. In short, the painting has a complex, layered physical presence in addition to the subject or idea portrayed.

The same can be said of a great work of literature printed and bound into a …