What is Giclée?
And Why Is It The Next Best Thing to Owning the Original?

Giclée (jee-clay) is an advanced printmaking process for creating high quality fine art reproductions. It was a French term adapted to describe the digital printmaking process that uses the spray of tiny ink droplets from a nozzle. However, the attainable quality that Giclée printmaking affords makes the reproduction virtually indistinguishable from the original artwork. The result is wide acceptance of high quality Giclées by galleries, museums, and private collectors.

How does a Giclée differ from a lithographic traditional print?
Giclée printmaking derives its quality from its seemingly “dotless” imaging technology which differs from traditional fine art prints which relies on printing screen pattern dots to reproduce full-range color. Because traditional offset printing dot patterns are detectable to the unaided eye, it is less desirable than Giclée fine art prints for fine art reproduction. Traditional offset prints are typically restricted to papers that widely vary from what the original artwork was created on — especially when reproducing oil on canvas. The Giclée process enables reproduction on virtually the same media as the original artwork whether it is on canvas, textured watercolor paper, or specialty fine art papers. The result is a reproduction that is virtually indistinguishable from the original artwork.

I have heard that reproductions fade over time, what about Giclée?
Museum-quality Giclée reproductions are recognized as "the next best thing” to owning the original and can be found in the world's finest museums and art galleries. Based on independent research and testing, there are various image permanence ratings for each combination of ink and media used in Giclee printmaking. Wilhelm Imaging Research's image permanence ratings have been provided to the public about expected display-life for various ink and media combinations used in Giclee printmaking today. Our Giclée reproductions offer an image stability rating of greater than 80 years* due to the archival-grade pigment inks and acid-free media we exclusively use at Art by Crim.