About Giclée
There are some very good articles out on the web about giclée printing, and wikipedia in particular has done a very fine job of explaining the history of giclée printing, how it got its name, and how it has progressed technologically.
In terms of the stregnths and weaknesses of giclée printing, we will summarize some of points we think are important here.
What's Special About Giclée Printing?
Giclée printing is a Print on Demand, or POD technology. It is pure digital printing, with no printing plates or press involved. At Bellevue Fine Art Reproduction, we scan artwork digitally using a digital 4x5 scanning back camera, and print with Epson 9800 Stylus Pro printers, using archival inks, and the finest archival canvas and acid free fine art papers available.
All that means that setup fees are minimal, as there are no printing press setup fees involved, and the quality of the prints is excellent. The cost per print will be higher than offset lithography, for example, but artists can do short print runs, or decide how many prints they will print in a limited edition, and then print them as orders come in, avoiding up-front printing costs, as well as the problems associated with long term storage of print inventory that may not sell out. A print that doesn't sell isn't a good deal at any price.
For artists considering short print runs, and limited edition prints in the hundreds, giclée printing is a fine way to print high quality reproductions, with a wide color gamut, on a wide variety of substrates, at reasonable costs, and without the need to carry a large inventory of prints.
All this considerably lowers the bar for Artists and Fine Art Photographers to reproduce their work. At the same time it offers patrons of the arts the opportunity to buy art that is still rare and high quality, at affordable prices.
More About Giclee
