What is Giclee Print?

A Giclee Print is a print produced on a professional multi-colour ink-jet printer. Current ink-jet printers frequently have between 8 and 12 colours. This number of colours enables printing of a very high quality and close matching of the vibrant colours in an artist palette. These are colours that might be required on a Giclee Print.

Giclee is a French word for a spray or squirt of liquid. Early Giclee Prints were produced on Iris Graphics printers (later Scitex) in the early 1990s. The printers were used for high quality colour proofing, but artists were attracted by the ability to produce one off prints on demand. Consistent results were difficult to achieve and inks suffered from fading after a few years.

Improvements in ink-jet technology and the introduction of fade resistant inks has meant that the market for Giclee Prints and other large format applications has grown, with Ink-jet printing now replacing screen printing in some applications. Giclee Print is produced on a variety of surfaces including paper, canvas and vinyl.

The benefit to the artist is being able to print on demand from one to many copies. Being able to produce a Limited Edition Giclee Print or Giclee Canvas Print no longer requires a large investment. It has also enabled many people to purchase Giclee Prints at affordable prices. A cynic might suggest that being able to reproduce Contemporary Art so cheaply has devalued it. An alternative view would be that there are benefits to both the struggling artist and the customer. I will let you decide.

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