Giclee Printing
Giclee Printing – A Boon To Art Lovers
Even before the term “Giclee” was first used, artists had begun to use ink-jet technology as an alternative to lithography and serigraphy. Graham Nash and Jon Cone developed inks that gave fine art reproductions the longevity and the range of colors. In early 1990’s a new name “Giclee” was derived for quality digital printing.
The term “Giclee” is derived from the French word “Le Gicleur” which means nozzle, squirt, spurt or spray. The credit for coining this term goes to Jack Duganne a print maker. Giclee Printer sprays over 4 million microscopic drops of ink per second on canvas, paper or the medium on which the printing is being done.
Giclee printing is being fully accepted in the fine art industry and is acknowledged by museums, galleries, artists and publishers. It is quite simply the closest to the original artwork.
Giclee can be printed on different media like canvas, water color paper, vinyl and transparent acetates. They are much superior to lithography in terms of brightness, longevity and high resolution printing. The prints are continuous tone rather than tiny dots like in other methods of printing. Special inks are used which ensures that the prints last for more than 25 years provided to is not exposed to direct sunlight and kept away from water. The way the image is scanned is also different in Giclee printing. The original is scanned on a drum scanner. Images up to 500 x 700 mm can be scanned.
As no screen or any mechanical devices is being used, the picture does not look like a group of dots, instead the image looks like it is made of patch of colors. Giclee prints are over a meter wide and they are also referred to as “knitting machine” as they look similar.
The Giclee prints are very helpful to artists who do not want to go in for a mass production of their work initially. The image can be archived digitally and additional copies can be taken when required with minimal effort and reasonable cost. This ensures that the artist can avoid up-front cost on mass production of his work. Another distinct advantage is that the stored digital image can be reproduced to any size and can be printed on any media as per the requirement of the client.
The printed art work is smudge proof. You may also apply ultraviolet protective varnishes to add more durability. The varnish also gives a rich look to the colors.
It is also possible to have limited editions printing. An assigned number of prints may be produced between 25 and 300. Restricting the quantity makes each print special and valuable as it is not easily available. The limited edition prints are numbered and are also hand signed.
Samples of Giclee prints are found in the Chelsea galleries and the museum of modern art. Some recent auctions of giclee prints have obtained substantial rates for Anne Leibovitz, Chuck Close and Wolfgang Tillmans.