| What are giclee paintings? |
| by: Melih Oztalay |
|
Giclee (zhee-klay) - The French word \"giclée\" is a feminine noun
that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The word may have been
derived from the French verb \"gicler\" meaning \"to squirt\".
The term “giclee print\" denotes an elevation in printmaking
technology. Images are generated from high resolution digital
scans and printed with archival quality inks onto various
substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The
giclee printing process provides better color accuracy than
other means of reproduction.
Giclee prints are created typically using professional 8-Color
to 12-Color ink-jet printers. Among the manufacturers of these
printers are vanguards such as Epson, MacDermid Colorspan, &
Hewlett-Packard. These modern technology printers are capable of
producing incredibly detailed prints for both the fine art and
photographic markets. Giclee prints are sometimes mistakenly
referred to as Iris prints, which are 4-Color ink-jet prints
from a printer pioneered in the late 1970s by Iris Graphics. The
power of modern computers is harnessed to drive and control each
combination, of colour, shade, hue, value and density of the ink
via four or eight nozzles.
This can produce a combination of up to 1024 basic chromatic
changes, which makes possible of over four million color
combinations of highly saturated, non-toxic, water based ink.
Since no half-tone screens are used in Giclee printing, the
prints have a higher resolution than lithographs. The intense
saturation of the Giclee printing system renders a dynamic color
range is greater than serigraphy.
The apparent resolution of the digital print is 1800 dots per
square inch, which is higher than a traditional lithographic
print and has a wider color gamut than serigraphy. Giclee prints
render deep, saturated colors and have a beautiful painterly
quality that retains minute detail, subtle tints and blends.
Giclee prints are advantageous to artists who do not find it
feasible to mass produce their work, but want to reproduce their
art as needed, or on-demand. Once an image is digitally
archived, additional reproductions can be made with minimal
effort and reasonable cost. The prohibitive up-front cost of
mass production for an edition is eliminated. Archived files
will not deteriorate in quality as negatives and film inherently
does. Another tremendous advantage of giclee printing is that
digital images can be reproduced to almost any size and onto
various media, giving the artist the ability to customize prints
for a specific client.
The quality of the giclee print rivals traditional silver-halide
and gelatin printing processes and is commonly found in museums,
art galleries, and photographic galleries.
Ten years ago Giclees had a hard time being accepted by the
general art buying public as \"legitimate\" art. Today, Giclee
Prints have gained wide acceptance and \"legitimacy\", and are now
shown in museums and galleries throughout the world.
Numerous examples of giclee prints can be found in New York City
at the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the
Chelsea Galleries. Recent auctions of giclee prints have fetched
$10,800 for Annie Leibovitz, $9,600 for Chuck Close, and $22,800
for Wolfgang Tillmans (April 23/24 2004, Photographs, New York,
Phillips de Pury & Company.)
The Giclée printing process is environmentally safe since the
inks are water-based and the paper is archival and acid-free.
Thus, a Giclée must be treated as fine art and placed away from
direct sunlight, even though we use extra long-life Archival
UV-Safe Pigmented Inks.
Come join the art adventure at http://www.artideas4u.com and
learn how you can have a business with limited edition quality
canvas giclee paintings.
|
|
| |
| |
Apple, HP, IBM, Lexmark, Canon, Epson, Xerox and
other manufacturer brand names and logos are registered trademarks
of their respective owners. Any use of a brand name or model
designation for a non-OEM cartridge is made solely for purposes of
demonstrating compatibility. Coupons are not valid for OEM
cartridges, solid ink, or media products. |
| |
