HOME | ABOUT | CONTACT | NEW WORKS | GALLERY | SALES | HELP

What Is A Giclée Print?

SHORT ANSWER

It is a fine art print made with extremely high quality printers, using archival inks on archival fine art paper that can last up to 175 years.

LONG ANSWER

Giclée (pronounced ZHEE-Clay) is a French word meaning 'to spray'. Giclée printing began in the late 1980s with artists using IRIS proofing printers to create high quality limited editions of their art. Today, giclées are made using fade-resistant, pigmented archival ink on acid-free, 100% rag cotton, fine art paper or canvas. With proper care, giclées can last up to 175 years.

Museums and galleries worldwide now accept giclée prints as fine art. For example, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City routinely accept giclee prints into their collections. Also, many museums, such as the Smithsonian offer custom giclées of their collections.

THE PROCESS

Giclée print making has several steps. First, a high resolution digital scan is made of the original work. A test print is made on the actual material and the artist approves this for accuracy to the original. Prints are made one at a time, only as requested by the artist. Each print is personally inspected and signed by the artist. The editions are extremely limited, normally consisting of 100 prints.

WHAT IS THE REAL VALUE?

There has always been debate over the value of artwork that can be reproduced, such as lithographs, etchings, photography, and now giclées. Each of these art works is closely bound to the artist, and it is with the artist that true value accrues. For example, signed photographic prints by Ansel Adams currently sell from $5000 to $50,000. Not too bad for a photograph. Giclée prints by contemporary artists tend to be priced at a fraction of the originals. It's safe to say they are an excellent value as high-quality decor art -- while waiting for history set their final value.

AN INTERESTING BIT OF HISTORY

The word "giclée" was coined in 1991 by Jack Duganne at Nash Editions for a show they were printing for the artist Diane Bartz. He named it "giclee" to stay away from words like "computer" and "digital" in the show announcements.

The "interesting bit" is this, Nash Editions is the same Graham Nash that played in the musical group, Crosby, Stills, Nash. This is thoroughly documented in the book "Nash Editions Photography and the Art of Digital Printing". Excerpts of the Nash book can be viewed in this pdf from the Wilhelm Institute website.

Giclée print of
Niece Church
by Art Messer, 2005

HOME | ABOUT | CONTACT | NEW WORKS | GALLERY | SALES | HELP