Giclée (jee-clay) is an advanced fine art printing process for creating high quality digital art reproductions. The result is widely used by galleries, museums and private collectors, households and offices.
is there a difference between a digital print and a Giclée print?
A commercial digital print will not usually have the same quality or attributes of a true Giclée. Fine art Giclée prints are typically printed with pigment inks and at a higher resolution than a normal digital print.
The capture quality of the original art is also a significant factor in the print’s final acceptance as a fine art Giclée reproduction.
The fine art printing materials used in Giclée are usually archival and canvas Giclée gets a special protective coating, unlike ordinary digital printing.
Prints fade over time,
what about Giclée?
why is a Giclée the next best thing to owning an original piece of art?
The attainable quality that Giclée fine art printing affords can make a reproduction virtually indistinguishable from the original artwork.
The result is widely adopted by galleries, museums, and private collectors. Be aware, Giclée fine art printing quality varies as much as art itself, so take your time and find the right Giclée printmaker .
how does a Giclée differ from a traditional print or lithograph?
Giclée fine art printing derives its quality from its seemingly “dotless” imaging technology which contrasts with traditional prints which relies on printing screen pattern dots to reproduce full-range color. Because traditional offset printing dot patterns are detectable to the eye, it is less desirable than the "flowing" Giclée fine art print for fine art reproduction.
Traditional offset prints are typically restricted to papers that widely vary from what the original artwork was created on — especially when reproducing oil on canvas.
The Giclée process enables reproduction on virtually the same media as the original artwork whether it is on canvas, textured watercolor paper, or specialty fine art papers. The result is a reproduction that is virtually indistinguishable from the original artwork.
regular prints fade over time,
what about Giclée?
Museum-quality Giclée reproductions are recognized as "the next best thing” to owning the original and can be found in the world's finest museums and art galleries.
There are various image permanence ratings for each combination of ink and media used in Giclée fine art printing. Wilhelm Imaging Research's image permanence ratings have been provided to the public about expected display-life for various ink and media combinations used in Giclée fine art printing.
Our Giclée reproductions offer an image stability rating of greater than 80 years due to the exclusive use of archival-grade pigment inks, acid-free media and high-quality UV-inhibiting liquid laminates.