Fine Art Print
What is it?
Fine Art Print or Giclée is a reproduction of a piece of artwork. They're also known as "Fine Art Pigment Prints", "Giclées", or "Pigment Prints", or even "Archival Pigment Prints".
Fine Art Prints are meant to reproduce the original artwork, especially in cases if the original is too expensive or simply not available for sale (e.g., the original is in a museum, or has been sold already).
Fine Art Prints are typically printed on archival media with archival inks, which means that they'll be more colorfast and less susceptible to changes in the environment.
For most art collectors, fine art prints provide an option to own an exact reproduction of a rare masterpiece, or an original artwork that's no longer available.
California in the 80s
Fine Art Print History
The digital fine art print process was invented in the mid-80s in California by a team of printmakers working on the photographs by the legendary Graham Nash.
They modified a commercial Iris inkjet printer to achieve fine-art quality prints.
As opposed to other printers at the time, the Iris printer used a continuous flow ink system to produce dot free output. Iris's micrometer-sized ink jets generated 1 million drops a second. The droplets are electrically charged to deposit on the paper for precision printing.
The actual term "giclée" (pronounced as zhee-KLAY) was a neologism coined by Jack Duganne, one of the printmakers. It is a French word for "to spray" (as in the inkjet printers). Both terms "fine art print" and "giclée" are used interchangeably, with "fine art print" more common now.
Technology evolves
Fine Art Prints in the 2020s
Few things have changed in 40 years. Definitely, fashion and hairstyles are some of them.
Another is printing technology.
In the 2010s, the Iris printer was superseded by the more advanced Epson and Canon printers. They're larger format, have better inks, and are less expensive to manufacture.
Second, art and photo scanning technology significantly improved with digital scanners and cameras (remember your "megapixel" camera of 10 years ago?).
Finally, in addition to paper, new medium substrates were added, including aluminum and steel panels, acrylic glass, Dibond® and printing on canvas.
Gigapixels of Art
Artwork scanning
The print quality is only as good as the image or photograph of the original work. One just can't make a print from an iPhone photo.
Professional art photography or art scanning focuses on:
1. Best photo resolution (in megapixels) available to capture the most minute image details
2. Perfectly even illumination of the artwork with diffused light, eliminating glares, accentuating brushstrokes and textures, removing shadows and reflections from paints
3. Accurate color correction, color proofing and color calibration to capture the artwork colors perfectly.
Art House SF is working with ScaleUp Art in San Francisco, who invented their own Gigapixel Artwork Capture system. We compared multiple originals vs. their fine art prints and can attest to their superb quality.
Acid-free museum quality
Archival Paper
Fine art prints on paper are printed on high-quality archival paper. "Archival" here means that this paper will not deteriorate over time, will not turn yellow, and will preserve all colors printed on it.
Archival paper is acid-free (pH of 7) and lignin-free (lignin is the organic compound from wood pulp that will turn acidic over time). This paper doesn't turn yellow or become brittle over time.
The most common archival paper is manufactured from 100% cotton (not wood pulp). It is stronger and more durable than wood, and it also absorbs ink and toner better.
Art House SF fine art print are printed on the Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper. Hahnemühle is a German paper company established in 1584. It produces the highest quality giclée paper in the world.
Pigment printing with 12+ inks
Fine Art Printers
Modern Fine Art printers are sophisticated and expensive (up to $15k range) large-format machines from Canon and Epson.
While most desktop printers have 4 ink cartridges: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK), fine art printers take 12 ink cartridges for superb image reproduction (e.g., Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Photo Cyan, Photo Magenta, Grey, Photo Grey, Matte Black, Blue, Red, Chroma Optimizer, Black).
They also use pigment-based inks rather than dye-based. Pigment ink contains tiny colored particles suspended in ink, while dye ink has soluble colorant dissolved in liquid.
Art House SF Fine Art Prints
Art House SF offers highest quality fine art prints. We are lucky to work with the best art photographers and printing experts in San Francisco.
Don Felton
Our Art Photograther
Every artwork is photographed by the legendary San Francisco photographer Don Felton.
Don has been photographing art for over 50 years(!!) for top museums, galleries, and artists.
He produces high-resolution photos in his studio in San Francisco with perfectly even illumination to capture each artwork accurately. He then color-corrects the image if needed and adjusts brightness and exposure to capture all artwork details.
Fine art Printing
Our Printing Partners
Once photographed, the artwork is ready to be printed on canvas, metal or archival paper.
John-Paul Jespersen, Dylan Ozanich and their Pomeranian Billy at Scale Up Art are one of the best in San Francisco. They work with top art collectors and museums such as SF MOMA and the de Young. Dylan and JP have decades of experience in high-end fine art, photo printing, retouching, drum scanning and print mounting.
HD Metal Print
At Art House SF, we selected HD Metal Prints as one of two options for fine art printing.
Our metal prints are made by infusing dyes directly into aluminum. They are lightweight, moisture-resistant, fade-resistant, scratch/abrasion-resistant, durable, easy to clean and can be displayed without framing or placing behind glass. Each comes with a metal back-frame for easy mounting on a wall.
HD Metal Prints are a modern way to display your art. They have a beautiful vibrancy and luminosity.
Canvas Print
For canvas prints, we use the highest quality fine art canvas, hand stretched onto heavy wood stretcher bars.
Matte UV protective varnish comes standard on every gallery wrapped canvas prints. We also offer a satin and glossy varnish finish. Varnish protects your canvas print, makes it easy to clean, increases the color longevity and archivability.
Our hand-built 1.5” stretcher bars come standard; however, we also offer 3⁄4” and 2” depths.
References:
Review our other guides:
What is a Giclee print? | How to Hang a Painting | How to Afford Art | Art Installment Plans | Preserving Artwork | Art Framing Guide
