About Archival Pigment Giclee prints

Giclee (pronounced zhee-clay) reproductions were originally developed in 1989 as a digital method of fine art printing. The word Giclee is French for 'to spray on' or 'to spray ink'. This advanced method of creating museum quality art prints uses high-end ink jet printers and archival watercolor and other papers and inks. With the giclee process, it is now possible to create images with a similar look and feel to the original work of art.

The Term : The term "giclee print" connotes an elevation in printmaking technology. Images are generated from high resolution digital scans and printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The giclee printing process provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction. These modern technology printers are capable of producing incredibly detailed prints for both the fine art and photographic markets.

 

The quality of the giclee print rivals traditional silver-halide and gelatin printing processes and is commonly found in museums, art galleries, and photographic galleries. Numerous examples of giclee prints can be found in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Chelsea Galleries.

 

Giclee prints are beautiful and accurate art reproductions, and now, using recently developed archival inks and papers, they are also among the most archival. Independent testing by Wilhelm Imaging Research Inc. (a world-leader in image-longevity testing) has established that Giclee prints made with the very finest 100 lb. semi-gloss archival paper and archival pigmented-inks will last as long as 200 years before any noticeable shift in color integrity occurs. They are truly museum-quality Fine-Art reproductions.

giclée (zhee-clay) n. 1. a type of digital fine-art print. 2. Most often associated with reproductions; a giclée is a multiple print or exact copy of an original work of art that was created by conventional means (painting, drawing, etc.) and then reproduced digitally, typically via inkjet printing. First use in this context by Jack Duganne in 1991, Los Angeles, California.

 

 

 All photos are copyright © Chris Walter. These photos and prints are supplied for personal use only. They may not be sold or copied. They may not be used on a website without permission, or published in any form without agreement and usual publication fee.