Giclée

Giclée is a form of the French verb 'giclée' which means 'to spray'... or otherwise 'that which is sprayed by a nozzle.' So what is a 'giclée print' really? In the fine art world a giclée is the latest technology of preproduction printing. A high resolution digital capture is made of the original artwork. It is then processed on a powerful computer and sent to a highly specialized type of ink-jet printer where inks are sprayed onto an archival art paper or synthetic canvas media.

The primary benefits of a limited reproduction giclée to an art buyer are:

The quality is generally superb to that of a print made conventionally by an offset printing process. This is because offset prints are made up of a series of dots known as 'dot pattern' to try to reproduce the 'continuous tone' of the original art, while giclée printers layer ink colors onto the paper by spray, forming a continuous tone appearance.

Prints may last up to 100-200 years or more! This is possible when specialized fade resistant, pigment (not dye based) inks are combined with properly matched 100% cotton fiber watercolor papers or certain archival canvas products, ultraviolet protective glazing and displayed under proper lighting conditions. Although material and production costs are much higher to produce a giclée print, many artists feel the quality is worthy of the additional expense.

Giclée prints are enjoying unprecedented growth in the art market. However, make certain before buying any limited reproduction, and in particular a giclée, that it has been produced with archival materials. Quality minded publishers always state the archival materials used or archival expectations either on the print itself or in an attached certificate.