What is a Giclee Print?
The word Giclee (pronounced (Gee-Clay) is a French term that loosely translated means “the spray” referring to the fact that a Giclee print is a digital art print produced on an ink jet printer that “sprays” the ink on to the paper or canvas.
Inkjet technology has been around for a much longer time than most people realize. The first inkjet printer was built in 1953 by Remington - Rand Co. The original use in the art world was as a proofing medium for offset lithography which was to be the workhorse of the industry and fine arts prints until the beginning of the 21st century. The problems with the early printers were that the inks developed were “fugitive,” meaning they faded in light very quickly. In the 1990’s new inks were developed and were better but were still not suitable for producing prints that had a long life under household conditions.
Some of the earlier inks were advertised as lasting for 40 - 50 years under museum conditions which at first glance sounds good. The problem is that the average museum is about 50 lux of light while the average home is about 500 lux of light. Clearly the 40 - 50 year old permanence is severely reduced when placed in the average home. Clearly these inks were not ready for a commercial market even though they were an improvement. Ink manufacturers got very serious about the inkjet printer recognizing its tremendous potential. New “pigmented” inks were developed and over the next few years the Giclee Ultrachrome K3 inks were developed. Their average life is 100 years under normal household conditions. The inkjet printers were now ready for commercial markets.
Giclee printers offer the artist numerous advantages over the original offset lithographic prints. Lithographs are produced with four colors while Giclee offer the artist eight colors. This gives more ability to control color. The old style lithographs were approximately 350 dots per inch (dpi) while the new Giclee are 1440 - 2880 dpi. This gives remarkable detail and color density and they can be greatly enlarged without any pixilation, distortion or loss of color. Lithographs had to all be printed at the same time and the same size. Giclee prints are printed on demand, one by one which meant that the artist no longer has to store them, move them, and protect them from damage.
One of the greatest benefits to the collector is the ability to produce prints that are custom fit to the space you are placing the art. In addition the prints can be printed on canvas and like the original oil they need no glass or matting. The varnishes are 100% UV protected and 100% waterproof making them extremely durable with little or no care involved for the owner. In addition the canvas prints can be “embellished” which means the artist paints on the canvas applying extra color and brush strokes. These canvas giclee prints are uncanny in their ability to mimic the original art.
For the artist it has offered the very best of the printing world. In the past an artist had to often compromise on color being managed by a printer at some distant printing location. Too often compromises had to be made. Today at St. Lawrence Gallery we have a complete printing facility with Michael Ringer in total production control from beginning to end. No compromises need be made and the computer acts as a secondary and powerful tool to work with the images the Giclee printer can produce.