Fine Art Prints: Consumer Awareness

Changing technology within the art market has given rise to confusion about the value of art prints, editions, and reproductions and what the difference is between them. It is important for the art consumer and general public to become informed about the drawbacks, fraud, and misrepresentation that are rampant in the business and to become more educated about the industry and their rights as art consumers.

We have come a long way in the past few hundred years with the advancement of printing technology, to the point where anyone with the right equipment (such as a camera, scanner and printer) can create an attractive reproduction of an original work of art. Historically, fine art prints were all created by hand using traditional printing methods, such as etching or lithography, either by the artist or by an artisan with the artist’s supervision and/or authorization. These traditional methods involved creating an image on a stone or metal plate, followed by making a series of impressions of the image onto a substrate until the plate degraded from use. These print editions were truly limited due to the nature of the printing process, and were typically hand signed and numbered by the artist in pencil. When the edition was completed, the printing plates were destroyed. Many ethical issues have arisen as the traditional means of fine art printmaking such as lithography, serigraphy, and etching have become confused with modern mechanical printing processes such as giclées and photo reproductions. With today’s technology, artists and printers are able to make inexpensive reproductions of an original artwork like never before, which can be to an artist and art buyer’s advantage or disadvantage. One could easily mass-produce thousands of copies an hour, creating a low-cost way for a consumer to own a work of art. But often times, these low value reproductions, that are little more than posters, may then be labeled and sold as “limited edition prints” for far more than their actual value. Many reproductions have actually been made without artist consent or knowledge. Printers may increase the size of editions by creating unauthorized prints, often re-titling them “American” or “European” editions, or by changing the numbering. In some cases, entire editions have been forged.

It is important for the collector or art consumer to become educated about the multiples industry. Learn the reputation of the gallery or source you are purchasing the multiple from. Some art suppliers and galleries have a reputation for selling fraudulent artworks and/or grossly over pricing them. Know that it is a conflict of interest for a certificate of authenticity to be issued by the same company that you are buying the work from, so it may be suspect. Ask about the printing process used, where the art was made and if the artist was still living when the multiple was created. Look for the artists signature, in pencil, outside of the printing area or in the printing plate itself. If possible, have the signature authenticated by an expert, especially with more notable artists like Picasso and Dali. Often times an estate of a deceased artist will make special print editions authorized only by the estate, these usually display a seal and/or signature by the estate and are fully authorized even though the artist themselves did not have a hand in the printing process. Many states in the U.S. have know enacted “Multiples Laws” to protect the consumer from fraud. The State of California, for example, has created a long list of information that the art dealer or distributor must provide the consumer before the purchase or sale of a multiple.

Purchasing Original Prints and Fine Art Reproductions is a great way to bring beautiful and affordable art into your home and can be a great investment. As the art market is always changing, there is never any real guarantee that a reproduction or even an original piece of art will appreciate in value, or even remain the same value as when purchased. Invest wisely. Do your research, know your rights, check on your state laws, and purchase art because you love the work and not just because someone told you that one day it will be worth millions.

Glossary:

Original Print: A work of art created by hand and printed by hand, either by the artist or a professional assistant (often called an artisan) from a plate, block, stone or stencil that has been hand created by the artist. The plates or stencils the art is printed from bear no resemblance to the finished work of art, which means it is not a copy or reproduction of anything.

Fine Art Reproduction: A mechanical technique for the making of multiple impressions of images for mass distribution. These prints are typically photographs of paintings or original prints, are printed on a wide variety of surfaces and range in quality and price depending on factors such as materials, publisher and availability. Some knowledge may be required to distinguish between these and original prints and the marketing by the art trade can be deceptive, often misrepresenting them as having investment potential. This printing method has reduced production costs, making the image considerably lower in value than an original print.

Limited Edition: A general term that can be applied to both Original Prints and Fine Art Reproductions. It is a print from a predetermined number of impressions made from a plate, stone, screen or photomechanical method, after which no more impressions are to be taken and the plate, screen, etc is then destroyed. These are usually signed and numbered by the artist.

Open Edition: An edition where images will keep getting reproduced over and over again as long as there are people to buy them, especially with Fine Art Reproductions (ie: Posters). In the case of Original Prints, the edition is only limited by the number that can be sold or produced before the plate or stencil degrades. These images may be signed by the artist, but they are not numbered.

Lithography: This printing method was invented in Germany in the late 1700’s by writer, Alois Senefelder. An Original Lithograph print is made through a technique in which an image is drawn by the artist or artisan on a lithographic stone or metal plate, then images areas are chemically treated to accept ink and repel water, while non-image areas repel ink and retain water. One plate must be drawn for each color in the finished print, and all plates are separately impressed onto the substrate to create a final image, which is the reverse of the image on the plate. This technique quickly grew in popularity and is still in use today as a way to create multiples. The lithographic process can also be used to make fine art reproductions, but the process involves photographing an original artwork and transferring the color separation to photosensitive lithographic plates. These reproductions are usually called posters.

Serigraph: Serigraphy is another form of printmaking also known as silk screening. Photographic processes are used to block out areas of a porous screen. When ink is applied only those areas that have not been blocked out will be printed. As in lithography, each color must be applied using a separate screen. As serigraphy uses a heavier layer of ink in creating prints, it is a very durable form of printing, yielding colors that are richer and more fade resistant than most other forms of printing.

Giclée: A fairly new print reproduction process, done through the use of a digital printer, of creating high quality fine art prints that achieve results much closer to the true colors of the original artwork. Artwork for these prints may actually be created on the computer or on paper then scanned into a computer. Giclée comes from the French term “to spray.” Giclées are produced on inkjet printers that use Light Light Black, Light Black, Black, Cyan, Light Cyan, Magenta, Light Magenta, and Yellow inks, rather than traditional ink jet printers that combine only Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black to achieve different and more exact colors. Because there is less ink applied to the substrate (ie: paper or canvas) compared to a serigraph, using this giclée method is felt by many to be a less durable and fade resistant form of printing, therefore more precautions need to be taken when handling, storing and displaying a giclée. After the giclée is printed, artists may hand-embellish them with texture gels to simulate brushstrokes, making them even more like the original work, or they may choose to add more paint texture on top of the print to make it its own individual work. In a mass-production setting, artisans will hand-embellish the giclée, but in many case the images will not be as true to the original art.