It depends not only on his innate talent and luck but his tactical ability of Arts Management that Durer, son of a goldsmith, could achieve wealth and success as a printmaker. In the 1500s the printmaking was an innovative medium, which had been invented 100 years before. However, it was attractive enough, so that the young Durer decided to start his artistic path as the printmaker. Comparing to the precious media such as oil painting, printmaking is the media of mass production, which can secure various clients through the different themes.
There are two kinds of prints; broadsheet and block printing. The broadsheet was so popular, because it described saints and their lifestories. The broadsheet served as a devotional image such as icon or a holy picture. In the meanwhile, the block book was only used for the few groups who could read.
We can explain Durer’s management strategy for Printmaking in 3 ways. In the first place, Durer was the first artist who proclaimed the intellectual property of his works with his own monogram, that he added accordingly in his works. At those times there was no notion of the Copyright, but Durer tirelessly demanded the right to its authenticity of own Woodblock Printings against piracy. Secondly, a sophisticatedly arranged distribution network over all Europe paved the way to success of Durer’s printmaking. He had some traders of colporteur for the sale of his art works. They should sell and distribute Durer’s works under the contract. Thirdly, Durer set to take legal action against the illegal copies and the plagiarism with the privileges from the city of Nuremberg and the Emperor Maximilian I. By virtue of a carefully constructed marketing strategy, Durer achieved an international fame, and his three great graphics became bestsellers: 〈Apocalypse〉, 〈The Great Passion〉 and 〈The Life of Maria〉, which were published in 1511.
Among the three books, 〈The Life of Maria〉 is outstanding in terms of the elaborate illustrations and the layouts. Images and texts function equivalently, so that it is well-balanced between the content and aesthetic than any other sheets. In the strict sense, 〈The Life of Maria〉 is not just a text illustration. Durer enlarged his work in accordance with a folio format for the purpose of increasing the image effect. Furthermore Durer chose Antiqua as a style of text rather than Gothic font. Antiqua was only used among the humanists and the patricians groups in his contemporaries. In that context it is certain that those groups of people were the main clients of the books, who appreciated woodcuts. As this paper presented, Durer was an artist-entrepreneur of a book production, who achieved a great success as a painter and printmaker, as well as a publisher and writer.