What is a Giclée?

A Giclée is an individually produced, high-resolution, high-fidelity reproduction done on a special large format printer. Giclees are produced from digital scans of existing artwork. This is recognized as perhaps the finest method of accurately reproducing art works of most types. The Giclée print renders deep saturated colours and has a beautiful painterly quality that retains minute and subtle tints, blends and detail. Perfect for pastels, acrylics, oils and watercolours.

So why the funny name? Giclée (pronounced zhee-klay) is a french noun that means a spray or squirt of liquid. It is most probably derived from the french verb gicler meaning to squirt or spray. In it's modern usage it refers to the squirt of ink in the specialised ink jet printers used to produce them.

So let's learn a bit more about Giclées and what they mean to you as a collector or investor of quality artworks:

How are Giclées made?
Are all Giclées the same quality?
Limited Edition Giclées
How do Giclées differ from lithographic (offset) prints?
What surfaces are Giclées printed on?
Our lifetime guarantee for Giclées
Displaying and caring for your Limited Edition Giclée
What are Giclées used for?
Advantages of Giclées
How long have Giclées been around?
Acceptance of Giclées in the art world
What do Giclées mean to me as an investor in art?
What do Giclées mean to me as an art collector?
Technical Details

How are Giclées Made?

To produce the Giclée prints sold by Australian Art Reproductions, the original artwork is first photographed using a very high resolution, large format digital camera together with specialised lighting. The resulting digital image is transferred to a powerful computer where the image goes through a series of colour correction procedures until the artist is happy that the colours are a true representation of the original artwork.

A set of colour profiles is chosen to suit the surface on which the Giclée will be printed and the image is transferred to a high-tech inkjet printer that uses high quality archival pigment based inks. The printing process involves squirting ink under high pressures through very fine jets onto the surface of the Giclée.

After printing the Giclée is allowed to dry in air. It is then coated with a waterproof UV resistant coating to provide protection from fading and water damage. The coating is applied using a roller, by an artists own hand to give a perfect result every time. This coating dries quickly to form a coating that also protects from scuffing during handling. Giclées are then stored flat between layers of acid free paper. They are rolled in cylinders for delivery.

Are All Giclées The Same Quality?

No! Not everyone can produce the high quality Giclées sold by Australian Art Reproductions. This is a very specialized field and it takes an experienced printmaker years to achieve the skills to truly produce high quality work. It is not just a matter of buying high tech equipment, every Giclée is a work of art in it's own right. That is why they are produced by the renowned Australian artist John Bradley who has that instinctive eye for colour and fastidious attention to detail. In addition, when each Limited Edition Giclée Print is produced the artist who painted the original is there to supervise the colour correction of the image taken from the original artwork. This process is long and painstaking but while it takes a long while, the resulting image used for the printing of each Limited Edition Giclée is so close to the original that it is difficult to tell Giclée from original.

Some Australian Art Reproductions Limited Edition Giclées are further enhanced by the artist through painting over portions of the print to enhance brush texture. The result is a print that is totally unique, no two are the same.

Limited Edition Giclées

Each Australian Art Reproductions Limited Edition Giclée is a strictly limited series of prints from an original Australian artwork. Only unique artworks of exceptional quality are produced as Limited Edition Giclées. The Limited Edition of prints is strictly limited to a specific number, usually 250, and no further Giclée prints will ever be produced from the same artwork.

Each print is individually signed in the lower right side of the print by the original artist. Each print is also numbered in the left hand lower corner by the original artist. The numbering will show the unique number of the print and the number of prints in the Limited Edition in the format 24/250 where 24 is the number of the print and 250 is the total number in the Limited Edition. Thus each Giclée is unique by virtue of it's number in the Limited Edition.

Some Limited Edition Giclées may also be enhanced by the original artist in the form of additional painting on the print. These are termed Enhanced Limited Edition Giclées.

All Australian Art Reproductions Limited Edition Giclées are issued with a certificate of authenticity signed by the original artist.

How Do Giclées Differ from Lithographic (Offset) Prints

Traditional offset prints are made using lithographic techniques. Lithographic prints are made up of a series of dots of the three primary colours (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) and black. The size and distribution of the dots creates an illusion that the eye recognises as a fuller range of colours. If you look closely at an offset print you will see the individual dots. The original image used in the process can be either digital or film negative but the process of creating the plates is a detail robbing process much like making a copy of a copy. In addition to inferior image quality, offset prints are susceptable to fading caused by UV light and to moisture.

By contrast, Giclées are printed using a fine spray of pigment based inks. The resolution of the resulting print is so fine that it is virtually continuous tone rather than a series of dots. Consequently Giclées are superior to traditional lithography in nearly every way. The colors are brighter, last longer and because the range, or "gamut" of colors for Giclées is far beyond that of lithography, the details are far crisper. Additionally, the archival pigment based inks provide far superior protection from the fading effects of exposure to UV light. To further increase protection from UV light and moisture, Giclées are coated with a high quality UV resistant waterproof coating.

In offset printing a plate is produced for each primary colour and black. The plate has raised patterns of dots that correspond to the distribution of that colour in the original image. Each plate is used the printing press to print the colours one at a time by transferring ink of the correct colour to the print paper. A 4 colour printing press is used in this printing process and a large continuous roll of paper is used.

Offset printing presses used in lithographic printing are suited to the production of large quantities of prints but set-up costs are high and it is only cost effective for large quantities. Giclées are far superior prints but they are usually produced one at a time unlike offset prints. The cost per print of a Giclée is higher that that of an offset print however the setup costs are minimal.

What Surfaces are Giclées Printed on?

Giclées can be printed on a variety of media that includes canvas, fine art papers, watercolours, photographic paper or even transparencies. Australian Art Reproductions Limited Edition Giclées are produced on either high quality acid free canvas, watercolours or ceramic coated fine art paper.

Our Lifetime Guarantee for Giclées

The archival pigment inks used together with the high quality UV and water resistant coating produces a Giclée with an archival life in excess of 100 years. They are highly resistant to fading or discoloration. Because of these qualities we guarantee that our Giclées will not fade, crack, peel or show any loss of colour within your lifetime. If you believe that your Giclée is showing signs of fading or other deterioriation that is not of your fault then we will replace the print for 50% of it's original cost.

This is conditional upon the following:

• All ceramic paper and watercolour paper prints must be mounted behind glass using archival materials.
• Should the guarantee be called upon after the original artist is deceased then the original signature cannot be added by the artist. In this case, if the artist's family are in agreement, a different artist will copy the artists signature and initial the alteration. A new certificate of authenticity will be issued noting the circumstances.

Displaying and Caring for your Limited Edition Giclée

The method of framing will depend on the medium on which the Limited Edition Print is produced.

Canvas based prints should be stretched over a wooden frame in the same way that an original canvas artwork is framed. There is no need to cover the print with glass. The stretched canvas frame is then mounted in a frame of your choosing.

Your Limited Edition paper print should be "Museum Mounted". This ensures that there is no risk of acid, from the glue or the board leaching through the back of the print and ruining it. This is done by using three spots of tape at the top of the print. The tape has a vegetable based adhesive so that the print is only fastened to the acid free backing board at these three points. Your print is literally hanging, suspended in the frame. Limited Edition paper prints must be double mounted behind glass. This double mounting ensures that your print will not come in contact with the glass. These prints should never be framed flush to the glass or perspex. The backing board and mounts must be acid free boards so that they cannot harm the print.

You should seek the assistance of a qualified framer to mount your Limited Edition Giclée Prints.

The two greatest threats to your works on display are fading by light and mould attack from high humidity. You should display you prints in dry area and limit the exposute to UV light. Check any walls for rising damp or moisture from high humidity before hanging any prints.

Regardless of what UV resistance you print may have you can further increase the life of a print by reducing the incidence of UV light where the print is displayed. All fluorescent lights used to illuminate prints should be triple phosphor coated to reduce UV light. Any down lights used should be covered with a glass lens to eliminate UV light. Prints should not be hung where they are subjected to direct sunlight.

What Are Giclées Used For?

Giclées were first developed as a proofing system for lithographic printing presses. It didn't take long to realise that the offset prints were no comparison to the fine quality and brilliant colors of the Giclée. They evolved into the new darlings of the art world. They are coveted by collectors for their fidelity and quality, and desired by galleries and artists alike because they don't have to be produced in huge quantities with their large layout of capital and storage. because of these qualities Giclées find the following uses:

• Giclées are hung in galleries where the original is not available. This is a boon for galleries because there is only one individual or gallery that can have the original.
• Giclées are purchased by art collectors for the very same reason.
• Giclées are purchased by art investors so that they can diversify their investment over a wide collection of art for minimal cost.
• Artists use Giclées as a adjunct to their income and to make their art more widely known so that thier work becomes more popular and hence more valuable. (see section "How an Agent Markets his Artists" under investing in prints)
• Serious art collectors who have expensive originals sometimes hang a Giclée in place of the original and keep their original in secure storage to avoid damage or theft.

Advantages Of Giclées

• The fine quality and brilliant colors of Giclée Prints are superior prints from other commonly used printing methods available today. The wider gamut (range) of colours used in the process results in a print which is difficult to tell from an original.
• Giclées are cheaper to produce in small production runs, hence they are very suited to Limited Edition Prints of a few hundred.
• Giclées produced for Australian Art Reproductions are highly resistant to fading, discolouration and cracking due to UV light. We provide a lifetime guarantee against fading and cracking.
• Giclées can be produced on a variety of different substrates to suit various purchasers requirements.
• Giclées can easily be reproduced in different sizes for different applications and markets.
• Because setup costs are minor, an artist can use Giclées to leverage his works and enhance his popularity. This has advantages for the buyer as well because the works of the artist become more valuable with time.
• The archived digital image used in the production of a Giclée will not deteriorate in quality as negatives and film do.

How Long Have Giclées Been Around?

Alois Senefelder of Munich discovered the basic principle of lithography "writing on stone" around 1789. Artists soon used this process to make reproductions of the works of old masters. In the mid 1900s this process was mechanised by the development of progressively faster Litho machines. In 1906 the first offset press was discovered by accident and since then the offset press method of lithography dominated print making.

Towards the end of the 1980s Iris Graphics introduced the Iris printing system to proof commercial pre-press before going to plate. Nash Editions in California saw the new machines potential to be more than proofing devices. The company is arguably the pioneer in creating a market for the giclée print reproduction market. Initial printers were troublesome and required constant maintenance despite producing high quality Giclée prints which were enthusiastically accepted by the marketplace.

As word got around other printer manufacturers accelerated their research and development in the early to mid 1990s to get in on Giclée fine art printing systems market. At the same time new pigment based large gamut archival inks and specialised papers were developed to complement these new printers. High quality Giclée prints have now been produced since the late 1990s and the last 10 years have seen prices of hardware and number of giclée printer offers changing for the best.

It is unlikely that there is going to be another such quantum leap in printing technology as it has now occurred. The results are stunning and no description does justice other than seeing a giclée print!

Acceptance of Giclées in the Art World

Giclée prints are bought and sold in auctions worldwide. Numerous examples of Giclée prints can be found in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Chelsea Galleries. Indeed, they take pride of place in museums, art galleries and private collections worldwide. In the U.S.A. Giclée prints are providing huge growth in the print market, taking over from the traditional methods [lithographs and screen printing]; especially in the fine art business. It has now become the popular and requested way for artists, galleries and publishers to make reproductions and prints. This has had an effect that the majority of reproductions in the U.S.A. today are done using the Giclée techniques. This is a multi-billion dollar industry in U.S.A.

Some commentators give an opinion that Giclée prints are of lesser value because they are created by a machine. The reality is just the opposite, it is the rarity and desirability of an art object that gives it value. This borne out by results of auctions of Giclée Prints around the world. Recent auctions of Giclée 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.)

What do Giclées Mean to me as an Investor?

• By buying Limited Edition Giclée prints you know that they are rare and will increase in value in the same way as original artworks by the artist.
• You can be assured of the quality and durability of your Limited Edition Giclée prints which are backed by our lifetime guarantee.
• For a given budget you can diversify your art portfolio more by investing in a range of Limited Edition Giclée prints as well as original artworks.
• You don't need to have a large budget to dabble in investment art. By investing in Limited Edition Giclée prints even the small investor can participate.
• The popularity and hence value of an artists work will increase where the artist produces Limited Edition Giclée prints as more people will become familiar with the artist's work. Quite often when an artist starts to become popular their works are increasingly pre-sold so no-one gets to see them except the buyer and the popularity of the artist begins to diminish.

What do Giclées Mean to me as an Art Collector?

• Only one person can have an original artwork, after all, there is only one. With Limited Edition Giclée prints you can enjoy the painting even when the original is not available. Giclée prints are difficult to tell from the original so you can enjoy it just as much.
• Because Limited Edition Giclée prints are much less costly that original artworks for a given budget you can enjoy more pieces in your collection.
• You can be assured of the quality and durability of your Limited Edition Giclée prints which are backed by our lifetime guarantee.
• You don't need to have a large budget to start an art collection. By collecting Limited Edition Giclée prints even the average person on the street can enjoy an art collection.
• You can help fund your art collection by buying more than one of a Limited Edition Giclée print. Keep one and sell one at a handy profit as the value increases.

Technical Details

Original artworks are photographed under studio conditions using a medium format camera coupled with a very high resolution digital back. The resulting images are processed on a high end Apple Macintosh computer workstation using the lastest available image processing software.

Computer monitors are routinely calibrated to match viewed colours with printed output. Colour profiles are matched to each different printing surface to provide consitent results.

Australian art Reproductions Limited Edition Giclée prints are printed on Epson Stylus Pro large format ink jet printers using large gamut archival pigment based inks in 8 colours. Epson quotes a lifespan of 75 years for colour prints (100 years for B&W prints) and with the UV protective coating used this is further increased to in excess of 100 years even for colour Giclée prints.

Regardless of the high tech equipment used it is the expertise of the printmaker and extensive collabration with the artist that produces the exceptional quality of Australian Art Reproductions Limited Edition Giclée prints. The results are stunning and no description does justice other than seeing a Giclée print!