Giclee vs Lithograph

When I describe one of our prints you will see me use the term Museum Quality Limited Edition Giclee’s printed on 100% Acid Free Hot Press Signature Paper.

That’s quite a mouthful I know and deserves an explanation. First off is what the heck is a Giclee? To put it simply, Giclee is mainly a process. The process of producing a large-format, high resolution image on an industrial inkjet printer. This is NOT a desktop inkjet printer you can buy at the store. 

A printer that produces a Giclee has been adapted to produce a fine-art print, that is better than traditional silver halide, or even a 4 color offset lithograph press.

You word Giclee is actually derived from the French word gicleur, which means nozzle. A high quality giclee printer sprays ink  a onto the substrate using a nozzle smaller than a human hair.

The Giclee process uses fade resident pigment-based inks. The color inks are more than the standard CMYK 4 color process used in a standard litho. A Giclee is typically created using at least 8 or more, which increases the color gamut, and resolution.

This process provides better color accuracy than any other means of reproduction. You will find giclee prints at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and the Museum of Modern Art.