Giclée

The contemporary Giclee has become a valuable part of the limited edition fine art world. “Giclee” is a French term which means to spray ink. The pronunciation of giclee is “zhee-clay.”

Essentially, a giclee print is the reproduction of an original work of art (created by conventional means, such as painting, drawing, etc.) using a highly specialized inkjet printer.

Giclees have a higher resolution than offset lithographs and the dynamic color range is greater than that of a serigraph. Giclees are created by a method of printing in which the image is digitally enhanced on a computer to match the original fine art. A high-resolution inkjet printer, which sprays millions of microscopic droplets of ink onto various substrates to create an image with smooth tonal gradation. In the art world this is generally regarded as the highest quality reproduction available.

Today, images reproduced using the Giclee Process are of such a high quality that they can be found on display at museums around the world, including The Louvre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim.