I’ve been thinking about getting some good quality Art Prints. (a confession) I have two Renoirs from Walmart in my living room. I’d like to take a couple steps above a $14.99 framed Walmart print.
I realize the biggest cost is the matting and framing. So it makes sense to spend a little more on the print that’s going into a $125 matted frame with glass that won’t fade it.
I’m thinking of the following. I’m a newbie at this and really need advice. Which process gives a better print worth the cost of a professional matting/frame?
Canvas print - can be stretched and framed. No matting or glass needed
giclée print - giclée (French for “to spray”) is a printing process where millions of ink droplets are sprayed onto the paper’s surface.
Requires matting and glass
As long as you’re not looking for resale value, whatever you like to look at is just perfect. How’s that for definitive? Prints are, of course, nothing more than copies of an original artwork. Even stone lithographs and woodcuts are produced by the thousands. A limited run print may have a bit more value, but it depends on the artist. For instance, I have a few Fred Machetanz stone lithos, which were printed in a limited run of 100, value somewhere between $2,000-$5,000 each, depending on the market. A color print by the same artist runs about $200-500. Numbering on prints is meaningless, although artists use them because uneducated buyers think that lower numbers mean something (they don’t), and they’ll pay more for #3 of 1000 than for #945/1000. That’s just the art market.
Frames for prints, if done at a framing shop with matting, will usually far exceed the value of the print (unless it’s one of those rare Art Deco cruise ship posters or something), so unless you’re planning to keep it for a very long time, or just don’t care about the expense, I wouldn’t go that direction.
A giclée print can be on either paper or stretched canvas. Just FYI. Good ones are almost a new match for the original piece, the exceptions being paintings which have thick paint where the texture is an element of the painting.
FYI, “giclée” is just a cost-increasing term for a really big inkjet print. It could be a four-color crap job or a 6+ color nice one. The paper quality matters; I’ve seen some spectacular giclées on pearlescent satin papers.
In the end, print type doesn’t matter too much. It’s all in the framing.
I should have asked if anyone knew art.com reputation. They seem to cover nearly every artist I was looking for.
Except Lawrence Alma-Tadema Bluebells Searched all over the web and can’t find anyone selling a print. Found a bunch of web sites that will paint a fake. But, that’s not what I want. Art.com does have other paintings by Lawrence Alma-Tadema. http://allart.biz/photos/image/Bluebells.html
I’ll probably order two giclée prints mounted and sealed on wood. They have sort of a contemporary feel to them. If they look really nice then I’ll order a few more. No framing needed either and that’s a big cost saver.
I’m avoiding ebay because I’m afraid of scams. Might get something printed on a 12 year old HP deskjet.
For the style question, just remember to buy what you love. As for the frame, check out what they have at the shop. Until you see it in person, you can’t really tell if modern will work with or clash.
Besides the printing techniques already mentioned, there’s giclee on canvas painted/texturized to look like brush strokes and others where an actual human painted some areas. Not neccessarily by the artist.
I’d like to take a couple steps above a $14.99 framed Walmart print. 