The Definition
Giclee (zhee-klay) - The French word "giclée" is a feminine noun that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The word may have been derived from the French verb "gicler" meaning "to squirt".
The Term
The term "giclee print" connotes a highly sophisticated, high resolution printmaking technology where images are printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The giclee printing process provides better color accuracy and overall quality than other means of reproduction.
The Process
Giclee prints are created using inkjet technology, but far more sophisticated than your desktop printer. Typically, professional 8 to 12-Color ink-jet printers are used. These modern technology printers use pigmented inks and have finer, more numerous and replaceable printheads resulting in a wider colour gamut, finer detail and the ability to use various media to print on. The ink is sprayed onto the page, actually mixing the color on the page to create truer shades and hues.
The Advantages
Giclee printing offers many advantages to artists and photographers who do not find it feasible to mass produce their work, but want to reproduce their art as needed, or on-demand. The prohibitive up-front cost of mass production for an edition is eliminated. Also, since many artists now paint only digitally, there is no "original" that can be hung on a wall. Giclees solve that problem, while creating a whole new vibrant medium for art.
Giclees are superior to traditional lithography in nearly every way. The colors are brighter, last longer, and are so high-resolution that they are virtually 'continuous tone', rather than tiny dots. The range, or "gamut" of colour for giclees is far beyond that of lithography, and details are crisper.
Giclees have evolved into the new darlings of the art world. They are coveted by collectors for their fidelity and quality, and desired by galleries and artists alike because they don't have to be produced in huge quantities with their large layout of capital and storage.
Another tremendous advantage of giclee printing is that digital images can be reproduced to almost any size and onto various media, giving the artist the ability to customize prints for a specific client. Giclee printing has also become popular with photographers who are applying their pictures to stretched canvas and other digital art papers to give images a whole new quality.
