Prints Defined

There are two kinds of prints: original prints and reproduction prints. Because these two very different things are both called prints there is a lot of confusion about them.

An original print is an artwork that was designed to be a print. A matrix was made by the artist that was used to make multiple copies, all of which are original. The artist can make this matrix by painting on a litho stone, scratching or engraving a plate, painting a stencil screen, carving a wood or lino block or using photographic exposure methods on these surfaces. (Photography can also fit in here as well.) Then the artist or another person pulls the prints from the matrix.

With an original print there is no other “original” to sell for more with the reproductions being sold for less. The prints are the originals. The reproductions will differ not only in being a different media but also in size, colour and intention.

In addition to the traditional printmaking techniques we now also have digital printmaking. An “original digital print” is even more confusing, but if the matrix is a software program that the artist “paints in” the result would still be an original print. At first it seems like a copy because it came out of an inkjet printer. But if it was conceived as a print, didn’t exist outside of the screen (there isn’t another version that is the “original”) and was made by the artist then it fits the definition of “original print”, doesn’t it?

It stops being an original print when the first instance of it is something else. A print made of a scan or photograph of a watercolour or a drawing for instance is not an original print but a reproduction print. The artwork was not conceived of as a print but as a painting. The original is the painting. The prints are copies of another artwork.

The purpose of printmaking is to make multiple copies. (Therefore many people don’t think that a monoprint is really a print. I agree, I think a monoprint is a painting with a transfer process involved.) The amount of copies can vary. Some print runs go until the matrix is too worn to make any more quality prints. Some are limited editions. A small edition of original prints by a well-known artist can sell for as much as paintings would.

Creating a “limited edition” of a reproduction print can be used to create a sense of scarcity to add value to a low-value product. Even a very high-quality print like a giclee print (archival quality inkjet print) that is a reproduction of an artwork is still a copy. Since the purpose it to allow buyers to own a nice copy of something they couldn’t afford otherwise, or to allow the existence of more than one copy of a lovely picture there is nothing wrong with them. But the terminology has been so confused that original prints are being denigrated as “just prints” and reproduction prints are being mistakenly collected as investments.

Finally, since digital printmaking is still relatively new I want to remind those of you making digital prints, either original or reproduction, to think of the quality of your materials just like you would for making a painting or an etching. Just like other art materials there are high and low quality versions. Ink is the most obvious. Original cartridges are so much more expensive than refilled or compatible cartridges that you must realise there is more difference than just the brand name. It is the kind of ink in the cartridge. Pigmented ink will not fade. The inks used in cheap cartridges are dyes and they fade very quickly. UV sprays will not be enough to help. Another consideration is good paper with an inkjet coating so the pigment sits on top nice and bright rather than sinking into the paper fibres. A fixative with UV protectant is a nice final touch.

If you sell prints, how do you explain things to those new to prints?