Giclee

What is a Giclee Print

Giclée printing on canvas is a digital advance on a basic technique first used by the Impressionists to spray (French gicler) successive layers of color to print screens from their drawings. (The Tampa Museum of Art presented an exhibit of giclées by Toulouse-Lautrec in 2003.). The modern prints are of such quality that they are accepted by some museums and can almost be mistaken for the original paintings.

Because iclée printing on canvas is an expensive technique that are usually done in limited editions, collectors of Giclées can expect these prints to increase in value according to the artist's body of work.

Like any original work of art, a Certificate of Authenticity accompanies each limited edition print, which authenticates its origin with the artist, whose signature appears on the numbered print, and provides proof of ownership.

Giclee reproduction is characterized by quality never before possible with traditional printing technology. Large format fine art prints are desired by collectors and buyers in general. The giclee printing method offers beautiful quality printing flexibility on giclee coated papers such as canvas, watercolor, with a brilliance only achievable with fine brand papers prepared for digital printing.

A Giclee (Gee-CLAY) is an individually produced, high-resolution, high-fidelity reproduction done on a special large format printer. Giclees are produced from digital scans or existing digital files of the artwork. Many artists now produce only digital art, so there is no "original" that can be hung on a wall. Giclees solve that problem, each print can be equated to an original while creating a whole new vibrant medium for art.

Giclees can be printed on many different medias, from canvas to watercolor paper to transparent acetates. Giclees are superior to traditional lithography printing in several ways. The colors are brighter, last longer, and are so high-resolution that they are virtually continuous tone, rather than tiny dots. The range, or "gamut" of color for Giclees is far beyond that of traditional printing, with details that are crisper.

Lithography uses tiny dots of four colors--cyan, magenta, yellow and black--to fool the eye into seeing various hues and shades. Colors are "created" by printing different size dots of these four colors.

Giclees use a inkjet technology, but far more sophisticated than your desktop printer. The process employs 8-9 colors--light cyan, cyan, light magenta, magenta, yellow, black, light black and light light black--of lightfast, pigmented inks and finer, more numerous, and replaceable printheads resulting in a wider color range, and the ability to use various media to print on. The ink is sprayed onto the page, actually mixing the color on the page to create true shades and hues.

Giclees were originally developed as a proofing system for lithograph printing presses, but it soon became apparent that the presses were having a hard time delivering the quality and color of the giclee proofs. They are coveted by collectors for their fidelity and quality, and desired by galleries because they don't have to be produced in huge quantities with their large layout of capital and storage.