What is a Giclee Print?
A guide to giclee prints
Giclee prints represent the closest possible duplication of an original artwork. Unlike other printing methods, giclee prints have a vibrancy which is comparable to an original artwork. Because of this, many artists are happy to reproduce their original art as giclee prints so that more people can enjoy them even if the original has been sold.
The word giclee is of French origin and means “to spray”. This refers to the printing process used in making giclee prints where high quality inks are used in a specialised printer.
What is the difference between a giclee print and an ordinary print?
A genuine giclee print is made with pigment-based inks, archival material and a wide format printer capable of holding up to 12 colours.
An ordinary, non-giclee print, or cheaper art print, will usually be printed on a lower end printer, the inks used will be dye based and not pigment based. The paper will be lower quality and not the heavier, archival quality used in giclee printing.
A few facts
Giclee prints are made on museum quality or archival paper which is durable and will last for around 75 years
The inks used are specialised pigment based inks and not cheaper dyes
The process of giclee printing is so precise that it can be difficult to tell the difference between the print and the original
What makes giclee prints so special?
Giclee prints are much finer and appear to be more vibrant than ordinary prints. Ordinary prints don’t capture the same level of detail because the DPI (dots per inch) is much lower. Dots per inch refers to the dots of ink on the page.
Consider this - an ordinary digital photograph is recorded at a resolution of 72 DPI - that’s 72 dots of ink per inch of the image. A giclee print needs to be at least 300 DPI and it’s this which makes the giclee print superior.
At Fleurieu Arthouse we stock a wide range of giclee prints for sale to the public. The work of Dana Kinter is a particularly good example of how beautifully a giclee print can capture the vibrancy of the original piece.
Dana often works in pencil acrylic on timber and her pieces depict the natural environment in a fine, subdued colour palette. When reproduced as a giclee print, her work retain its beauty and delicacy with every detail finely captured.
A selection of Dana’s giclee prints are available to purchase at Fleurieu Arthouse alongside the works of many other South Australian artists and artisans.
Fleurieu Arthouse is open between 11.00am and 4.00pm on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Enquiries may be made to hello@fleurieuarthouse.com.au
Written by Lindsay Nightingale
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