In 2019, I saw a work by Toko Shinoda (1913–2021) in one of her books. It was a single brushstroke, painted in calligraphy ink. I remember thinking, “What is this?”
In 2021, I stood in front of her original work at an exhibition, and its overwhelming presence brought me to tears. I felt a little foolish. Why hadn’t I understood it when I first saw it in print?
A print and an original leave very different impressions. No printing process can reproduce the colours of an original completely. Sometimes the difference is small, but even a slight difference in colour can change what we feel when we look. Size does not matter, either. A small painting can leave a large impression.
This is not to say prints are lesser. It was a print that first introduced me to her work, and without it, I might never have gone to see the exhibition. Prints allow many more of us to meet art, and most of us have a budget to think about. Still, if I could choose, I would want the original.
That is why what we live with seems so important.
