The Black Art Depot Today

African American Art Glossary
What Is An Artist’s Proof?

An Artist’s Proof is a special subset of a standard limited edition print. Typically, Artist’s Proofs number 10% or less of the total edition and in the past came directly from the artist. Due to the small number of Artist’s Proof’s produced for a particular art print and the fact that they usually come directly from the artist instead of the publisher, Artist’s Proofs, normally sell at a higher price point.  They also increase in value quicker than your standard limited edition print and thus are more highly desirable.  Often times Artist’s Proofs are the only type of art that avid and experienced collectors buy if they do not purchase an original work of art.

Historically, there were several different ways that Artist’s Proofs were created depending upon the region and the period of history.  Sometimes, the Artist’s Proofs were the first prints pulled off from a one-man litho press.  Since these prints were pulled from the press when production started and the stone (i.e. the plate which was drawn to create the prints by the artist) was still fresh, these prints were typically sharper and of a higher quality than the rest of the prints created during production.  During other time periods, the Artist would typically check every tenth print created by the press during production as quality control.  Since each tenth print was personally inspected and approved by the artist this subset became known as the Artist’s Proof.

Due to advancement in printing technology, these quality control methods are no longer needed because almost all of the art prints created during the printing process are identical.  In modern times, as payment for the signing of the limited edition, the artist is typically given the Artist’s Proofs from the publisher.  Sometimes, the publisher will also keep some of the Artist’s Proofs if they pay the artist a “signing fee” for signing the limited edition art prints.   However, Artist’s Proofs still retail at a higher price for the same reasons that they always have.  First, they usually come directly from the Artist and second, because of their restricted number.

Overall, Artist’s Proofs are considered a status symbol in the world of art.

African American Art Glossary

This post we will continue to define and explain various art terms in a clear and concise fashion and direct you to additional resources where you can learn more about the technique.  Today, the art term we will discuss is: “Gallery Wrapped Canvas”.

The best definition I’ve found online came from the Shannon Studios website.  They define Gallery Wrapped Canvas as:

“A canvas where the print covers the edges (no border). A gallery wrapped canvas is stretched and is ready to hang. Gallery wrapped canvases are beautiful and a great value. It gives you the option of framing or not framing.”

Videos

How to Stretch Your Fine Art Canvas Using A Gallery Wrap

Links

Making Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Below you will find an additional example of what Gallery Wrapped Canvas looks like:

African American Art Glossary

We have several products for sale on our site which are classified as “Serigraphs”.  Occasionally, we have customers that visit our site and email us to find out exactly what a “Serigraph” is and how it differs from various other printing techniques.  Below you will find a link to a site that explains this printing technique simply and clearly and also two videos that visually show “Serigraphs” being created.  Hopefully, between these two resources it will allow everyone to understand this printing technique and justify why serigraphs are more expensive.

Links

What is a Serigraph?

Videos

Serigraph Screen Printing Process

The Making of a Serigraph Print

I am frequently asked about the different reproduction techniques used in art.  Today I wanted to expose you to an excellent article that I believes does a great job of explaining exactly what a giclee is.  It is provided courtesy of Novaspace Art and Autographs.

What is a giclee?

A giclee (zhee-CLAY), is an individually produced, high-resolution, high-fidelity, high tech reproduction done on a special large format printer. Giclees are produced from digital scans of existing artwork. Also, since many artists now paint only digitally, there was no “original” that can be hung on a wall. Giclees solve that problem, while creating a whole new vibrant medium for art.

Giclees can be printed on any number of media, from canvas to watercolor paper to vinyl, to transparent acetates. Giclees are superior to traditional lithography in nearly every way. The colors are brighter, last longer, and are so high-resolution that they are virtually ‘continuous tone’, rather than tiny dots. The range, or “gamut” of color for giclees is far beyond that of lithography, and details are crisper.

Since giclee printers can use media in rolls, large print sizes are available, limited only by the length and width of the roll. Billboard sizes are possible. Giclees are typically sold by the square inch or square foot.

Lithography uses tiny dots of four colors–cyan, magenta, yellow and black (approximate colors shown) Lithography uses tiny dots of four colors–cyan, magenta, yellow and black–to fool the eye into seeing various hues and shades. Colors are “created” by printing different size dots of these four colors.

Giclees use six colors–light cyan, cyan, light magenta, magenta, yellow and black (sometimes TWO blacks) (approximate colors shown)Giclees use inkjet technology, but far more sophisticated than your desktop printer. The process employs six colors–light cyan, cyan, light magenta, magenta, yellow and black (somteimes TWO blacks)–of lightfast (fade resistant,) pigmented inks and finer, more numerous, replaceable printheads resulting in a wider color gamut, and the ability to use various media to print on. The ink is sprayed onto the page, actually mixing the color on the page to create truer shades and hues.

They are priced midway between original art and regular limited edition lithographs. Limited edition litho prints are usually produced in editions of 500-1000 or more, all at once; but giclees rarely exceed 50-100 high-quality reproductions, one at a time.

Giclees were originally developed as a proofing system for traditional lithographic printing presses, but it soon became apparent that the presses were having a hard time delivering the quality and brilliant color of the giclee proofs. Giclees 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.

In addition, Giclees are produced directly from a digital file, (which can be remotely uploaded,) saving generations of detail-robbing negatives and printing plates used with traditional litho printing. NOVASPACE has our own giclee printer and operator, allowing for more flexibility, experimentation, quick turnaround and lower costs (no middleman) to our customers.

Additional Resources

What is a Giclee? (WiseGeek Definition)

The True Story of Giclee? (History of Giclee)

Digital Fine Art Printing Comes of Age (History of Giclee)

I recently had a valued customer send me an email posing this question and decided that I would make it the next art term that I discussed on the blog since it is such a popular method for reproducing art work.  One of the best description/definitions of the process I have found is below (courtesy of Wise Geek) as well as a bulleted chart of the advantages of offset printing as well (courtesy of Wikipedia).

What is Offset Printing?

Offset printing, also referred to as offset lithography, is a type of printing process used by virtually all large commercial printers. It is called offset, because the ink is not directly pressed onto the paper, but is distributed from a metal plate to a rubber mat where it is then set onto the paper.

Offset printing can be done on a web printing press, one that use huge rolls of continuously fed paper, or a sheet fed press that, as you would expect, uses sheets of paper. Both types of presses produce printed materials that can be cut to size after printing. Offset printing uses all of the latest technology in printing, including computers that aid in design. Computers are also used to generate instructions for the mixture of ink colors as well as their distribution to the paper.

Offset printing works because water and the inks used in the printing process do not mix. The images to be printed are created on the computer and then “burned” onto metal plates using a chemical developing process similar to photography. The metal plates are dampened with water which adheres to the areas without images. The ink is added next, one color at a time, where it sticks to the areas with images. The most modern systems use a direct-to-plate system in which the images are burned directly to the metal plates; the omission of a secondary step saves time and money.

The colors used in offset printing are usually Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, represented with the letter K (CMYK). Note that K is used to represent black to ensure that there isn’t any confusion with blue. Different percentages of each of these four colors create virtually every color used in offset printing. There are color matching systems, such as the PANTONE® system, that allows print buyers to see the color. The code for that color can be entered into the offset printer’s computer and it will calculate the percentages of each color to be used.

The technology behind offset printing allows large volumes of printing to be completed quickly and without any variations in ink distribution. The final printed materials produced through offset lithography also dry quickly, keeping the production process moving smoothly from the printing to the finish work of cutting and binding materials.

The Advantages of Offset Printing

Advantages of offset printing compared to other printing methods include:

• Consistent high image quality. Offset printing produces sharper and cleaner images and type than letterpress printing because the rubber blanket conforms to the texture of the printing surface.
• Quick and easy production of printing plates.
• Longer printing plate life than on direct litho presses because there is no direct contact between the plate and the printing surface.
• The more you print, the less you pay, because most of the price goes into the preparation undergone before the first sheet of paper is printing and ready for distribution. Any additional paper print will only cost the client paper price, which is very minimal.
• High speed and high volume printing.

When searching for art online you tend to come across a variety of terms to describe the manner in which the artwork was reproduced. Typically, this information is found beneath or to the side of the art print in the details or description section. You will see terms there such as giclee on canvas, giclee on watercolor paper, poster, offset or offset lithograph, hand embellished, etc… It is very important that the art consumer has a basic understanding of these terms so that you “know” what you are buying. One of our goals at The Black Art Depot is to not only sell art but to also educate our customers about art. We will publish posts from time to time that explain art terms and also direct you to additional resources where you can continue your research should you decide that you want a deeper understanding. This post will be dedicated to explaining what a lithograph is.

One of the best descriptions or definitions of what a lithograph is, I found on the Wise Geek website. I like the Wise Geek definition becuase it doesn’t use a lot of technical jargon when explaining lithography. I am reproducing their description here for you to review and underneath I have provided some links to some additional resources that explain what a lithograph is from different perspectives. Enjoy!

Most people could not afford to own an original piece of artwork by Picasso or Van Gogh, but having a copy of their masterworks wouldn’t be such a bad idea. This is where the idea of a lithograph comes into play. A lithograph is an authorized copy of an original work created by the artist himself or other skilled craftsmen. A lithograph is rarely worth more than the original artwork it reproduces, but if the print quality is excellent and the production numbers are low, it may still have significant value in the art world.

The printing process which creates a lithograph is different from other traditional methods. Most printing presses require the printmaker to etch an image or text into metal plates or physically carve out the image on blocks of wood or other soft material. To create a lithograph, however, no etching is required. The artist uses a set of greasy crayons or pencils to draw a mirrored image of the original artwork onto a smooth stone tablet. This is by far the most time-consuming part of the lithograph process.

After the image has been recreated to the satisfaction of the original artist or other authority, it is ready to be turned into a lithograph. The lithographic process hinges on the principle that oil and water cannot mix. An oil-based variety of ink is applied directly to the plate and immediately bonds with the equally greasy crayon lines. Water is then wiped onto the remaining unpainted areas to discourage the ink from smearing. A sheet of paper, preferably one with a high cotton content, is then placed over the entire plate.

The inked stone or metal plate and the paper are placed in a press and light pressure is used to transfer some of the ink. If the original image were a monochrome pen and ink drawing, this would be the only press run necessary. A color lithograph of an elaborate Van Gogh painting, however, might require several different runs with up to four different color inks — black, red, yellow and blue. The same paper would be placed precisely over the re-inked plates, eventually creating a satisfactory lithograph copy. This same process is used to create color pages in newspapers.

Since the process for creating a lithograph can be just as time-consuming and detailed as an original painting, printing runs are often kept low to preserve value. A signed lithograph may have a set of numbers expressed as a fraction on one corner, such as 12/300. This means that the lithograph was the twelfth one produced in a series limited to three hundred prints. Some famous artists, notably Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, were more than willing to authorize or create numerous lithographs during their lifetimes. Others are not always eager to see their work reproduced on a commercial scale, making it more difficult to find authorized lithographs from them.

There are other ways of duplicating original artwork for the commercial market, so never assume the Monet print in an art store is indeed a lithograph. Ask the proprietor to confirm the printing method used to recreate your favorite piece of artwork. A signed lithograph may have more collectible value, but the print quality itself can be variable. When it comes to buying art, it is most important to buy what you like, regardless of the printing method.

Additional Resources

1. Lithogaraphy – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2. Introduction to Lithographs