|  | Print Terminology |  | This section is an overview of terminology used within the world of fine art.
Open Edition: No limit to the number of copies that may be printed, if the publisher sells out they may choose to reprint the image. They may or may not be signed by the artist, usually not.
Limited Edition: Only the number of prints as specified by the publisher on release of the edition will ever be printed, usually in a single print run. Limited editions are signed and numbered by the artist, usually in pencil as this does not fade like ink and is hard to forge through copying.
Artists Proof: Small part of the edition, usually no more than 10%, that was traditionally retained by the artist as payment. These were the first prints run off and because of the limitations of printing technology were often better quality than those printed latter in the run, and therefore could command a higher price. With modern printing technology there is no difference in quality between the first and last print, but the practice persists and many collectors are happy to pay more for an artists proof in order to get a lower edition number.
Publishers Proof: Same general theme as an artists proof, however they are generally used by the publisher to donate to museums and other worthy institutions. Sometimes they are made available to collectors in which case they will almost certainly be a small, premium priced sub edition that has additional value through extra signatures in the case of military or sporting subjects or possibly because each print is accompanied by a copy of a companion print.
Remarque: A drawing executed in pencil by the artist in the border of the print. For some collectors this is a agreeable compromise between a standard print and the expense of an artists original work.
Certificate of Authenticity: Most limited edtion prints will be accompanied by a certificate from the publisher stating the number in the edition and proclaiming that no further prints will be produced.
Secondary Market: When a print sells out and demand persists a secondary market can develop and prices can rise above the issue price. Rare military or sporting signatures are part of this but generally speaking the artwork has to be good, many editions signed only by the artist have risen in value. It is quite difficult to predict in advance which will appreciate, so its sound advice to just buy what you like and accept any rise in value as a bonus.
Offset Lithography: This is the modern evolution of the traditional lithograph process of creating a print by adding a colour at a time to specially coated paper using metal printing plates. The vast majority of prints available today are produced using this process.
Giclee: Pronounced gee - clay, this is a relatively new digital technique whereby a sophisticated printer sprays on small dots of ink, row by row in a single pass. Giclee is used quite widely in the USA and is becoming increasingly popular with UK publishers.
Both lithograph and Giclee can produce excellent results that meet the exacting standards of the Fine Art Trade Guild in terms of colour accuracy and permanence. However for the artist and publisher there are some economic differences. The cost of Giclee paper and inks is very much more than a lithograph and they take much longer to produce (a single large image can take up to an hour to print). The original set up costs though are much lower, the advantage of this is that small edition sizes can be viable. This may prove to be a bonus for both artists and collectors as it means prints of very specialised subjects that would not normally be commercially viable can now be reproduced.
Giclee prints can be identified by the fact they have a slightly less shiny surface, also it is usual practice for the print title to be added in pencil by the artist as part of the more exclusive presentation. Another advantage of the Giclee method is that it can be equally effective when using canvas as the printing medium, a good Giclee canvas can be difficult to distinguish from an original painting. A number of publishers are now including a small Giclee canvas edition with new print releases. |
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