I imagine some folks may wonder, “What the hell is a Giclée print, and what is the difference between that and a bog-standard digital printed image?!?”…. Great Question! Which I will try to answer now.
Nowadays, with advances in technology and digital printing it’s more important than ever to know the difference between a Giclée print vs digital print, especially if you intend to purchase a fine art reproduction.
Giclée is the first and only fine art print to be made with an ink jet printer. Pronounced, zhee’clay, the word comes from the French, meaning to spray, which is exactly what an ink jet printer does. Using pigments as opposed to digital inks, and because no screens are used, continuous colour is achieved, and so there are no minute tiny dots that you see with other forms of printing.
It was a major breakthrough in the fine art community when Giclée reproductions were introduced to the market in the late 1980s . The quality of a Giclée print is far superior to all other forms of printing. In fact, when done correctly, it’s the closest an artist can get to matching their original artwork, and are 98% true to the original. For art lovers who wanted to collect fine art but couldn’t afford an original, Giclée reproductions quickly became a popular alternative to purchase.
“Should I buy a limited edition Giclée, and will they be worth anything?” – The best thing I can say here is, because of the high quality of the printing and relative rarity of the print, a limited edition Giclée, on archival artist paper, is valuable from its initial printing. But these Giclée prints MAY also become more valuable over time as the artist gains more and more recognition and the edition of the print sells out. In fact, at recent auctions, Giclée prints have been purchased for many thousands of pounds!
Now, I am not saying that MY recognition will grow and grow – but if you are looking to purchase prints in the future, this IS something worth bearing in mind.
My images are printed on heavy duty, 320gsm Textured Fine Art paper and and the mounts I use are acid-free, so as not to react with the image. So, together with the Giclée pigments, your prints will last for many, many years and if displayed behind glass, could literally last for hundreds of years!
One last thing – I must point out that, I am in no way comparing Giclée printing with hand pulled printing! Hand pulled printing is an art form in itself and every print produced is a work of art. Giclée printing is a form of reproduction printing and should only be compared with other reproduction printing processes… thank you!
I hope that you enjoy my Giclée prints, and if you have any questions at all, then please do drop me a quick message in the Contact page.
Thank you for reading… Steve