2.4 Image quality and reader access

Art editors and art historians routinely refer to the discipline's need for high-resolution and true-color (orfinely scaled black-and-white) illustrations on heavy-weight, pure white, smooth, yet minimally reflective paper—that is, high-grade, expensive stock.

These requirements are not absolute, in that the image is always understood to be a surrogate for the workreproduced, and in that many descriptions and comparisons stand up even in fairly low-resolution black-and-white images. Comparisonsof figure-ground relationships in portraits by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, say, maybe fairly compelling—perhaps even more evident—in grainy black-and-white images. Other comparisons, however, are virtuallyimpossible to sustain without high-quality reproductions. If an author wants to show how Gerard Dou, Rembrandt's first pupil, tookup his master's palette and chiaroscuro while simultaneously miniaturizing his brushwork, high-resolution images are in order.And when that author then wants to argue that Dou's pupil Frans van Mieris outdid his teacher's painterly refinements by removingvirtually the last visible signs of handiwork from his pictures, even finer reproduction standards are required. Although thecorrelation between effective reproductions and successful art historical argument and documentation cannot be quantified, it isdirect, as scholarly reviews of books with either superior or poor illustrations point out routinely and with justification.

Many art publishers and scholars continue to doubt that the digital image on screen has, in its present state ofdevelopment, reached the standards of reproductive value and stability of the finest offset printing, whether of analog imagesor digital files. This complaint is reminiscent of concerns over a feared loss of resolution and flexibility in the transition fromanalog slide projection to digital projection. Just as those fears have subsided with the development and increasing affordability ofhigh-resolution digital capture and high-powered projection, so analogous concerns about the screen image as a supplement to orintegral part of publication are likely to fade as more effective modes of delivering digital publication and images becomeavailable.

More serious is the absence, as of yet, of reliable standards of preservation for digital images and for themigration of their formats. To point out that digital instability may not be inherently worse than the chemical volatility ofphotographs is an insufficient argument for a full-blown switch to digitized visual documentation. Makers, collectors, users, andlibrarians of digital image collections are keenly aware that digital images will have to improve on the longevity of theiranalog counterparts, and several coordinated efforts are under way to develop industry standards.

Limited reader access may be the most serious current obstacle to the widespread use of illustrated scholarlypublication in digital form. There are, as yet, no cost-effective digital publication models that protect the investments ofscholarly publishers, hold them indemnified against copyright challenges, and yet make the publications as globally available asauthors (and their home institutions) would like. Even digital texts without high-grade illustrations often restrict access tonarrowly defined reader communities. Newsletters for scholarly societies, for example, tend to restrict the most significant partsof their websites to protect their dues base. Digital publications that would aim to match the high-quality output of the finestillustrated monographs are likely to find image copyrights for top-resolution illustrations an even greater constraint in theclickable medium than it is in print. Without such images, and without an ease of access matching that of pulling a copy off ashelf, digital publications in art history are unlikely to become attractive to authors or readers soon.

In partnership with university presses, university libraries may well prove effective leaders in the effort to develop digital publication involving high-qualityillustrations. They have been at the forefront of the fair-use argument for access to copyrighted works; they have broadexperience with effective digital delivery models; many now manage significant electronic collections of images and texts; and somehave direct or indirect responsibility for their universities' academic presses and/or electronic publishing initiatives.