Giclée is a term derived from the French word "la giclée", which means, "that which is sprayed or sprayed". Giclee printing began in the 1980s, when inkjet printers with archival-quality inks were used alongside high-resolution digital scans. Since then, the name is often and widely used generically for any digital fine art print, of any print quality. Which, of course, is wrong and far from the real facts.Although Giclée itself is a type of inkjet print, not all inkjet prints are Giclée prints. The most important difference is that the giclee print gives superior color reproduction and produces a quality print with a longer lifespan than a standard desktop inkjet printer.In order to achieve this, special printers, special inks and, of course, special paper are used for Giclée printing, which, in terms of quality and price, are not even close to the cheap print obtained from ordinary solvent or UV printers.How to get a real Giclée printFor a real high-quality giclee print, several conditions must be met, from digital preparation on extremely high-resolution scanners, special paper, ink with special pigments, to a specific printer that can achieve the required print quality.- Digital preparationIn order to print a work of art as a giclee, it needs to be scanned at a resolution of no less than 300 dots per inch (DPI), which in itself is not a problem. The problem arises when the work of art is larger than A4 format, which is mostly the case for most works of art, because increasing the format geometrically increases the price of the scanning device (e.g. a scanner for A4 format can be bought for €100, however, twice as much format A3 costs over €1,000, while a scanner for format 50x70cm costs a few thousand euros).In addition to scanning itself, it is necessary to properly process and calibrate the photo itself for printing on the computer in order to obtain a quality print with the correct colors.- Selection of paper for giclee printOne of the key elements is the choice of paper. For a giclee print, you cannot use any paper, but only archival quality paper, which are papers that do not contain any acid or chlorine in order to preserve the pigments, and which are mainly made of 100% cotton. Such papers are mostly made by hand. In addition to these elements, the paper must be of a certain strength and thickness, which is why paper of 250 to 300 grams per square meter is often used. Of course, these conditions significantly affect the price of paper, which can range from €10 for a 50x70 cm sheet and more.Some of the common types of paper are Epson and its range of premium papers and Moab with its Somerset and other professional lines. Italian Fabriano or French Arches are most often used here.- Inks and printers for Giclée printOrdinary printers use dye-based inks for their prints, which are cheap and suitable for mass use, but they are not of high quality and long-lasting, and they cannot achieve a wide range of colors and tones. Giclee print uses pigment-based inks, which have a lifespan of over 100 years without fading, and with them it is possible to reproduce thousands of different tones, and most importantly, extremely strong and bright colors that are impossible to obtain with any other printing technique, except maybe by screen printing.While ordinary printers use mostly 4 basic colors for printing (CMYK – cyan, magenta, yellow, black), printers for high-quality giclee prints use 12 ink tanks in order to obtain the largest and most sophisticated range of colors on the print. For this, mainly high-end Epson large-format printers are used, although recently Canon has also been making inroads with its printers.Is a Giclee print worth it as an art print?Of course, a giclee print does not have the same value as a gao art print made in the techniques of linocut, copperplate or original lithography, where the artist himself made the template and the print with his own hands. However, if we look at this technique as an opportunity to get a top-quality reproduction of the artist's original, hand-signed by the artist himself, then the giclee print has its place as an art technique. Starting with the necessary technology, the quality of the materials, the very knowledge and experience in order to get, in the end, not just any print, but the most faithful copy of the original work of art that today's technology can provide us, then all this makes sense.Because, no matter how productive an individual artist is, he will never be able to create enough original works at an affordable price for everyone who wants to have his picture on the wall. In the Luka Gallery, the best example of this are the giclee prints of the painter Fadil Vejzović. After professional recording and processing, they were all printed on a top Epson printer in 12 colors (I think it's the only one of its kind in Croatia) in order to get a print that is 99% identical to the original. Of course, most of us would love to have an original work on the wall, but take into account that the price of such an original is at least 20 times higher than a giclee print.The value and quality of giclee prints speaks for itself and the fact that today many leading museums in the world keep giclee prints on the exhibition wall, while the originals are kept in safes under controlled conditions.
Giclée is a term derived from the French word "la giclée", which means, "that which is sprayed or sprayed". Giclee printing began in the 1980s, when inkjet printers with archival-quality inks were used alongside high-resolution digital scans. Since then, the name is often and widely used generically for any digital fine art print, of any print quality. Which, of course, is wrong and far from the real facts.Although Giclée itself is a type of inkjet print, not all inkjet prints are Giclée prints. The most important difference is that the giclee print gives superior color reproduction and produces a quality print with a longer lifespan than a standard desktop inkjet printer.In order to achieve this, special printers, special inks and, of course, special paper are used for Giclée printing, which, in terms of quality and price, are not even close to the cheap print obtained from ordinary solvent or UV printers.How to get a real Giclée printFor a real high-quality giclee print, several conditions must be met, from digital preparation on extremely high-resolution scanners, special paper, ink with special pigments, to a specific printer that can achieve the required print quality.- Digital preparationIn order to print a work of art as a giclee, it needs to be scanned at a resolution of no less than 300 dots per inch (DPI), which in itself is not a problem. The problem arises when the work of art is larger than A4 format, which is mostly the case for most works of art, because increasing the format geometrically increases the price of the scanning device (e.g. a scanner for A4 format can be bought for €100, however, twice as much format A3 costs over €1,000, while a scanner for format 50x70cm costs a few thousand euros).In addition to scanning itself, it is necessary to properly process and calibrate the photo itself for printing on the computer in order to obtain a quality print with the correct colors.- Selection of paper for giclee printOne of the key elements is the choice of paper. For a giclee print, you cannot use any paper, but only archival quality paper, which are papers that do not contain any acid or chlorine in order to preserve the pigments, and which are mainly made of 100% cotton. Such papers are mostly made by hand. In addition to these elements, the paper must be of a certain strength and thickness, which is why paper of 250 to 300 grams per square meter is often used. Of course, these conditions significantly affect the price of paper, which can range from €10 for a 50x70 cm sheet and more.Some of the common types of paper are Epson and its range of premium papers and Moab with its Somerset and other professional lines. Italian Fabriano or French Arches are most often used here.- Inks and printers for Giclée printOrdinary printers use dye-based inks for their prints, which are cheap and suitable for mass use, but they are not of high quality and long-lasting, and they cannot achieve a wide range of colors and tones. Giclee print uses pigment-based inks, which have a lifespan of over 100 years without fading, and with them it is possible to reproduce thousands of different tones, and most importantly, extremely strong and bright colors that are impossible to obtain with any other printing technique, except maybe by screen printing.While ordinary printers use mostly 4 basic colors for printing (CMYK – cyan, magenta, yellow, black), printers for high-quality giclee prints use 12 ink tanks in order to obtain the largest and most sophisticated range of colors on the print. For this, mainly high-end Epson large-format printers are used, although recently Canon has also been making inroads with its printers.Is a Giclee print worth it as an art print?Of course, a giclee print does not have the same value as a gao art print made in the techniques of linocut, copperplate or original lithography, where the artist himself made the template and the print with his own hands. However, if we look at this technique as an opportunity to get a top-quality reproduction of the artist's original, hand-signed by the artist himself, then the giclee print has its place as an art technique. Starting with the necessary technology, the quality of the materials, the very knowledge and experience in order to get, in the end, not just any print, but the most faithful copy of the original work of art that today's technology can provide us, then all this makes sense.Because, no matter how productive an individual artist is, he will never be able to create enough original works at an affordable price for everyone who wants to have his picture on the wall. In the Luka Gallery, the best example of this are the giclee prints of the painter Fadil Vejzović. After professional recording and processing, they were all printed on a top Epson printer in 12 colors (I think it's the only one of its kind in Croatia) in order to get a print that is 99% identical to the original. Of course, most of us would love to have an original work on the wall, but take into account that the price of such an original is at least 20 times higher than a giclee print.The value and quality of giclee prints speaks for itself and the fact that today many leading museums in the world keep giclee prints on the exhibition wall, while the originals are kept in safes under controlled conditions.
