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Giclée - The Fine Art Poster
 by Hilary L
The rapid advances in the technology of color copy machines has led to an entirely new area of high-end, fine art; the Giclée art poster. It is created using a specially modified inkjet printer that creates images of incredible depth, saturation and color.
The name "giclée" comes from the French word for nozzle and is intended to describe the art print without adding the negative connotations of computer or printer. This type of poster was introduced in the early 1990s and has since gained a devoted following of avid collectors and connoisseurs.
Technology may drive the actual production of these pieces but they are, indeed, true works of art. The poster itself is produced with archival quality inks and printed on substrates that are intended to last for decades if not longer. The process itself utilizes the CMYK method so color variation is virtually unlimited and the variety of substrates includes canvas, matte and gloss photo paper as well as an extremely durable textured vinyl.
These days, giclée prints are serious business and have been fully embraced by the art community. Unlike the traditional method of creating art posters, with giclée, the artist does not have to cede control of the process to the printer for economic or technological reasons. Instead, the process allows artists to completely control their work. Successful artists have even purchased their own equipment and hired their own technicians.
The control and freedom that the giclée process affords the artist has resulted in higher quality print runs of the fine art poster. Renowned artists such as Annie Liebowitz, Chuck Close and Wolfgang Tillmans have seen their giclée prints sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Nevertheless, the process also allows the smaller collector to find a beautifully crafted, affordable art poster that is a work of art.
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