If the work you are looking at is in a frame, have the work removed and look at the edges of the image. To throw you a curveball, hand applied texture can be added to giclée prints so make sure you’re wearing your super sleuth goggles.

Does the image look like it has ‘seeped’ into the canvas, or do you see layers of paint resting on top? If the former, then you’re likely looking at a giclée. To determine whether you’re looking at an original or a giclée, look at the image. Giclées are commonly used to reproduce paintings on canvas. To help you identify a giclée, firstly look at the material the image is printed on. Giclées can be printed using materials such as canvas, paper of different textures and weights, vinyl and transparent acetates.

As a result, giclée prints can be almost indistinguishable from an original work (they can, and have been passed off as originals so be aware). The ink is ‘sprayed’ onto the page resulting in greater colour accuracy, and truer shades and hues, than other methods of reproduction. These inks maintain image stability and colour durability better than other inks. Oops! wikipediaĪ giclée is a high quality digital print using archival quality inks. Unintentionally, Duganne's word choice was problematic as it is also French slang for male ejaculation. Yes, we took the snigger factor and made it our blog title. ‘Giclée’ is based on the French word gicleur, which means 'nozzle' (the verb form gicler means 'to squirt, spurt, or spray'). The name needed to sound better than ‘inkjet’ and ‘computer generated’ and so the French word ‘giclée' was adopted. Jack Duganne, a printmaker, artist and photographer, was looking for a fancy name for the new types of prints being produced at Nash Editions at the time. 'Giclée' originally applied to fine art prints created on IRIS printers - a large-format, high-resolution, colour inkjet printer introduced in 1985 by Iris Graphics.Įnter Jack Duganne.

Simply, 'giclée' is a term to describe high quality inkjet prints.Īn eensy-weensy bit of history about the zhee-KLAY As the subject of digital prints is vast, we’ve made an executive decision and chosen to single out one of the many, and explore the humble giclée 😀 One of the types mentioned was the digital print. In our first blog of this series - “ Carpe Print-em!” - we talked about the different print types. ' The Bee Keeper,' hand signed, limited edition giclée on paper by Shannon Crees

Giclee