10 things to know about XXL PAPER

From the series 10 things...

At the XXL Paper exhibition you’ll see all the largest prints, drawings and photographs from our collection of works on paper. Their size and fragility mean they are very rarely exhibited. Read on to find out 10 things about these gigantic paper exhibits.

Landing van Scipio Africanus bij Carthago Landing van Scipio Africanus bij Carthago

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Fragile

Paper is such a fragile material. It can easily become torn, creased or discoloured. That’s why it’s so special when a sheet of paper has remained intact for a long time – centuries, even. That’s especially true of large paper objects of course.

2,48m × 2,57m: Landing of Scipio Africanus near Carthage, Michiel Coxie (I) (attributed to), c. 1555

De legers van Farao worden door de Rode Zee verzwolgen De legers van Farao worden door de Rode Zee verzwolgen

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Loss

As well as being more likely to get damaged, large paper works are difficult to store properly. And if an object is made up of multiple sheets, there’s also the chance of parts of it getting lost. Fortunately, some have stood the test of time.

1,32m × 2,32m: Pharaoh's armies are swallowed up by the Red Sea, anonymous, after Titian, 1549

Stamboom van het Habsburgse huis Stamboom van het Habsburgse huis

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Big

Technical restraints meant for a long time there was a limit to how long a sheet of paper could be. But there were always artists who created on a grand scale, making compositions using multiple woodblocks or copper plates on paper panels that were joined together – some measured more than seven metres long!

7m × 48cm: Genealogy of the Habsburg house, Robert Péril, 1535

Crucifixion of Christ Crucifixion of Christ

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MULTI-FUNCTIONAL

There are many reasons for choosing paper as your medium. As well as being relatively cheap, it’s lightweight and versatile. These last two qualities meant it was easy to arrange and hang up this altarpiece comprising nine different engravings.

1.96m × 1.26m: Crucified Christ with Mary, John and Mary Magdalene, Matthew Borrekens, after Anthony van Dyck, after Erasmus Quellinus (II), 1650

Fries met de bestraffing van Niobe Fries met de bestraffing van Niobe

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ON THE WALL

This broad scene is reminiscent of a sculpted antique marble frieze, and it was used in a similar way to a frieze: to decorate the upper wall of a room or the facade of a building.

29.5cm × 3.10m: Frieze with the Punishment of Niobe, Jan Saenredam, after Polidoro da Caravaggio, after Hendrick Goltzius, 1594

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SCROLL

This scroll was never intended to be completely unrolled. Each of the 12 scenes set in a Chinese garden – showing boys at play, playing music and making calligraphy – were meant to be revealed one-by-one. The viewer was in this way able to control the tempo to suit them.

6,8m: One Hundred Children, attributed to Xu Yanghong (active late 17th–early 18th century), pen and brush in ink and watercolour, c. 1700

Ontwerp voor raam in het Noordertransept in de Dom te Utrecht Ontwerp voor raam in het Noordertransept in de Dom te Utrecht

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ACTUAL SIZE

Paper was also used as a working material. When making a stained-glass window, the glass painter needed an actual-size design drawing, known as a cartoon. The original stained-glass window is still in place at the Utrecht Cathedral.

6,6m: Design for window in the north transept of the Dom in Utrecht, Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst, c. 1934

BK-18283-A BK-18283-A

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CYCLORAMA

This 23-metre landscape is just a small section of the original work. It comes from a moving panorama that was 1.5 kilometres long! The entire scene would be slowly rolled out in front of a live audience. This type of entertainment was a precursor to cinema.

1.80m × 23m: Fragment of a moving panorama, Borgmann Brothers (attributed to), ca. 1853

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PRINTER

Technical progress led to the production of ever-larger sizes of paper sheets, and this coincided with innovations in printing methods, printing presses, cameras and printers. This photograph rolled off the largest printer the photographer had at her disposal.

1,45m × 2m: Gunkanjima, Sanne Peper, 2008

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MODERN

Artists worked with ever greater freedom on these increasingly large, seemingly boundless paper surfaces. The resulting works invite the viewer to become part of the image – you could almost step into this landscape.

3m × 6m: De nachtwolken drijven het vergetene mee, Jacobien de Rooij, 1997

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