TFAO Digital Library

Topical Information: Prints and Reproductions

 

General

Prints are made in multiples. The total number of prints created of one image is called an edition. Lithographs and other multiples hand-made by the artist -- considered originals -- usually have an artist's signature and the number of the work out of the series, e.g. 5/15, meaning the fifth work of a series of fifteen in total. The signature and numbers are hand-written by the artist.

A reproduction is made without an artist's involvement. A reproduction may be mounted on cardboard or another kind of board. Borrow a high power magnifying glass (the kind jewelers use) or a microscope and look at a color picture in a magazine. If the magnification is powerful enough, you will see microscopic colored dots in a pattern. Next, use this same magnifying glass or microscope and focus on the image you are studying. If you see the same type of array of dots in your picture you have a machine-made reproduction.

Some reproductions are very well done and may have no dots to see. They can be on canvas or paper on board and even be embossed to duplicate the brush marks of an original painting. A Giclee (ghee-clay) print is a machine-made reproduction of very high quality made by an Iris digital ink jet printer. A Giclee print has extremely small pixels of color, with no perceptible dot pattern, that may equate to resolution of a digital print at 1,800 dots per inch. A Giclee print may be hand signed and may have dabs of paint applied by the artist to enable the print to be sold as an original work of art. Machine-made reproductions usually do not have hand-made signatures. Machine-made reproductions often have stock identification numbers on the back of the art work.

A copyright symbol followed by a date and name of creator is not a sure sign of either a reproduction or an original. Some artists place a copyright symbol and date near their signature on original works. Paintings which are believed to have been created prior to common use of the copyright notice and symbol should be absent the copyright notice. According to About Inc. "Copyright notice was required under the 1976 Copyright Act. This requirement was eliminated when the United States adhered to the Berne Convention, effective March 1, 1989." If a reproduction was made years after the original work was created the copyright symbol and date relate to the reproduction work.

 

From Resource Library

Resource Library articles referencing printmakers in America:

 

Other online resources

 

Valuations and Purchases

Gordon's Print Price Annual contains auction prices and Lawrence's Dealer Print Prices contains retail prices. Both volumes are available in some public and museum libraries. As an alternate to Gordon's Print Price Annual, try Contemporary Print Portfolio. A Guide to Auction Prices, Jeseph E. Zanatta, editor, or ArtNet. If you discover that an artwork is fraudulently represented, report it to the National Fraud Information Center at 1-800-876-7060. If you want a reproduction, find out which museums own the artist's work. Call the museums to see if a museum owns the original painting. If you find the museum that owns the painting call the museum's bookstore to see if they will sell you a reproduction of the painting. Also see our notes on the secondary market below. Some art museum curators can help you in determining printmaking techniques, but they are not allowed to assign dollar values to works of art.

 

Secondary Market for Prints

When you, a collector, seek to resell your print you become involved in what is called the "secondary market." To find another collector who wants your print, thanks to the Internet, you can auction your print through one of the online auction companies at a low cost. If your print is valuable enough, one of the bricks-and-mortar auction houses may take it for consignment. There are three further strategies which will lead you to art dealers who buy prints. The first approach is to contact the retail gallery that first sold the print or another gallery that sells similar prints. Ask the gallery for referrals to dealers that buy prints similar to yours. The second approach is to go to a gallery that sells prints and ask a salesperson to show you a recent issue of Art Business News, which is the trade publication for the art print business. Ask to see the "secondary market" advertising section in the back of the issue. You will find there names and phone numbers of many dealers who purchase prints. The third approach is to use a search engine on the Internet. Type in the name of the artist followed by "secondary market" and see what the search engine retrieves. You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

Books on Prints

 

TFAO also suggests these DVD or VHS videos:

Roy Lichtenstein: The Art of the Graphic Image is a 25 minute National Gallery of Art video. "Renowned pop artist Roy Lichtenstein discusses his printmaking career over the course of two decades. This is an intimate glimpse of the artist at work, both in his own studios and at two of the most innovative printmaking workshops in the United States-Gemini G.E.L., California, and Tyler Graphics Ltd., New York." This DVD is lent free of charge through the National Gallery of Art's Division of Education (go to NGA Loan Materials)
 
Tamarind Institute's The Art of Lithography: Working on Plate is a 23 minute 42 second VHS video in which artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Master Printer Jeffrey Sippel collaborate to create a four-color lithograph from aluminum plates, demonstrating the special techniques used in plate lithography. Available through Tamarind Institute of the University of New Mexico.

Vermillion Editions: Right to Print. As one of this country's most distinguished print studios, Vermillion Editions attracts artists from across the nation to Minnesota to work with master printer Steven Andersen. This program opens with a brief overview of modern American printmaking and then goes behind the scenes into the studio, where painters Sam Gilliam and T.L. Solien collaborate with the Vermillion staff to make highly complex prints on paper. Also included are interviews with New York artists Harmony Hammon, Red Grooms, and Arakawa, who all have experienced the intense creative stimulation offered by Andersen and Vermillion Editions. 55 minute 1990 video from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Related classroom materials can be found at the Walker Art Center..
 
Amon Carter Museum Composites:
Description source: Amon Carter Museum Teacher Resource Center. The Museum contains a comprehensive lending library including many videos.
 

TFAO does not maintain a lending library of videos or sell videos. Click here for information on how to borrow or purchase copies of VHS videos and DVDs listed in TFAO's Videos -DVD/VHS, an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format.

As of 3/4/08 TFAO Digital Library contained 316 pages referencing the phrase "Printmaking." To search TFAO's web site please click here.

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