The Original Print
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
An original fine art print is a work of art, by an artist, in the print medium. What distinguishes it from printed reproductions is the artist’s direct participation in the creation of the image. It differs dramatically from a poster, which is a mechanical reproduction of an original work of art. And although there are examples of posters that can be considered works of art because of the artist’s involvement in the reproduction process, most posters are executed without the participation of the artists, or even produced posthumously. This will never be the case with original prints. They are new works created by the artist and, for that reason, they are considered within the larger body of the artist’s work.
Because the various printmaking processes have intrinsic visual characteristics, each technique can be identified by a distinct look. Printmaking techniques can be grouped into four basic categories: relief, intaglio, lithography, and screenprint.
Relief printing is a process whereby areas are cut away from the flat surface, leaving the raised images to be printed. Included in this category are woodcuts, wood engravings, and linocuts.
Intaglio process, including aquatint, drypoint, engraving, etching, mezzotint, and photogravure, employ the reverse approach: the images are incised or etched into the surface of metal plates.
Lithography is a process in which the printed and non-printed areas of the plate lie on the same plane. The image is drawn on a smooth surface and the print is created through direct pressure.
Screenprint images (also referred to as serigraphs and silkscreen) are created as parts of a screen are blocked out so that ink prints only on selected areas of the paper.
A fifth category, known as “giclée” or “Iris” prints, has become popular over the last few years. Giclée technology employs high-resolution ink-jet printers to reproduce scanned images; most giclées are made with archival inks and papers. The resulting images, often archived after many trial runs, have exceptional texture, clarity, and tonal gradation.
Original prints made with the four “fine art” printmaking techniques are pulled by hand and should be thought of not as copies, but as original works existing in multiple impressions. Each print within the edition is signed and numbered by the artist.
