An Analysis of the Art Image Interchange Cycle Within Fine Art Museums
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Rochester Institute of Technology RIT Scholar Works Theses 3-1-2010 An Analysis of the art image interchange cycle within fine art museums Evan Andersen Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses Recommended Citation Andersen, Evan, "An Analysis of the art image interchange cycle within fine art museums" (2010). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by RIT Scholar Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of RIT Scholar Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. An Analysis of the Art Image Interchange Cycle within Fine Art Museums by Evan Andersen A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the School of Print Media in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences of the Rochester Institute of Technology March 2010 Primary Thesis Advisor: Professor Dr. Franziska Frey Secondary Thesis Advisor: Professor Franz Sigg Technical Advisor: Susan Farnand Table of Contents Abstract.............................................................................................................................. ix Chapter 1 - Introduction...................................................................................................... 1 Topic Statement........................................................................................................ 1 Significance of Topic ............................................................................................... 1 Reason for Interest in this Topic .............................................................................. 2 Chapter 2 - A Review of the Literature in the Field ........................................................... 5 Introduction to Fine Art Reproduction..................................................................... 5 Fine Art Reproduction.................................................................................. 5 A Brief History of the Technology............................................................... 7 Issues in Printing Fine Artwork within Museums........................................ 9 A Brief Look into Color and Standards.................................................................... 9 Color Management....................................................................................... 9 The Big Picture ................................................................................... 11 Light and Color Vision ....................................................................... 12 Visual Perception................................................................................ 12 ICC Color Profiles .............................................................................. 14 Generic vs. Custom Profiles ............................................................... 16 Calibration and Characterization ........................................................ 17 Standardization in Printing......................................................................... 17 Importance of Standards ..................................................................... 17 Standards Organizations ..................................................................... 18 Graphic Arts Standards & Specifications ........................................... 20 Relevant Standards for Fine Art Reproduction................................... 21 Using Test Targets in Print Production .................................................................. 22 iii What are Test Targets?............................................................................... 22 Why Use Test Targets? .............................................................................. 23 Analyzing a Test Target ............................................................................. 24 Characterization.......................................................................................... 25 Process Control........................................................................................... 27 Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 29 Chapter 3 - Research Objectives....................................................................................... 30 Chapter 4 - Methodology.................................................................................................. 31 Chapter 5 - Results............................................................................................................ 39 Standards Review................................................................................................... 39 Test Targets Review............................................................................................... 53 Categorizing Test Targets .......................................................................... 53 Test Targets in Museums ........................................................................... 54 Workflow Experiment............................................................................................ 56 Benchmarking Museums Workflow .......................................................... 56 Museum #1 Benchmarked Workflow................................................. 56 Museum #2 Benchmarked Workflow................................................. 59 Museum #3 Benchmarked Workflow................................................. 62 Revised Workflow Specification................................................................ 65 Workflow Documentation.......................................................................... 66 Case Study: Museum Fine Art Publications........................................................... 68 Fine Art Publications.................................................................................. 68 The Memorial Art Gallery Background ..................................................... 69 Seeing America Publication ....................................................................... 69 iv Chapter 6 - Discussion...................................................................................................... 80 Standards Review................................................................................................... 80 Test Targets Review............................................................................................... 82 Workflow Experiment............................................................................................ 83 Benchmarking Museum Workflow............................................................ 83 Revised Workflow Specification................................................................ 87 Workflow Documentation.......................................................................... 87 Guidelines for Creating a Workflow Specification ............................ 88 Case Study: Museum Fine Art Publications........................................................... 90 Chapter 7 - Future Research ............................................................................................. 94 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 96 Appendix A: Workflow Documentation Documents .................................................... 100 Appendix B Test Targets ................................................................................................ 105 v List of Figures Figure 2: Identical green patches affected by surround………………………………… 13 Figure 3: Images photographed in different lighting conditions. [Source: Dear]……… 14 Figure 4: Color transformation from input colorspace to output colorspace using both input and output profiles. [Source: Fraser et al., 2005, p. 85]…………………….. 15 Figure 5: Dialog box for Convert to Profile within Photoshop [Source: Adobe PhotoshopCS3]……………………………………………………………………. 16 Figure 6: Major standards and specifications important to the U.S. graphic arts industry (based on lecture by Dave McDowell, 2008)…………………………………….. 19 Figure 7: Vector targets derived from common LAB reference values [Source: Riordan, 2006]……………………………………………………………………………… 25 Figure 8: IT8.7/4 printer profiling target………………………………………………. 26 Figure 9: Segments of color control bars [Source: Sigg, 2002]……………………….. 27 Figure 10: GRACoL G7 P2P profiling target…………………………………………. 28 Figure 11: Control group of test images for the workflow experiment……………….. 33 Figure 12: Control group of test targets for the workflow experiment………………… 34 Figure 13: Revised Workflow Specification for Museum Workflow Experiment…….. 37 Figure 14: Post processing documentation sheet………………………………………. 38 Figure 15: Table of test targets used within the graphic arts………………………….. 54 Figure 16: Fine art interchange cycle flowchart for Museum #1……………………… 59 Figure 17: Fine art interchange cycle flowchart for Museum #2……………………… 62 Figure 18: Fine art interchange cycle flowchart for Museum #3……………………… 65 vi Figure 19: Comparison of each museum’s digital reproduction of the Daisy oil painting………………………………………………………………..………… 85 Figure 20: Comparison of each museum’s digital reproduction of the Bridge oil painting………………………………………………………………………….. 85 Figure 21: Template for creating a workflow specification………………………….. 89 vii List of Tables Table 1: List of variables that are important for museums to understand in the areas affecting art reproduction (Russo, 2006)………………………………………….