Most people, who cannot afford to own an original piece of art, can buy a copy of their masterworks which is not such a bad idea, and these are called art prints.
basically there are two types of art prints:.
- Artist Produced Works: As it is obvious by the name, these are more authentic and also priced higher.
- Mechanically reproduced Pictures or Reproductions: These are the more economic, but however have no investment value.
An artist produced work; an art print is an authorized copy of an original work created by the artist himself or other skilled craftsmen. This is rarely worth more than the original, but if the print quality is excellent and the production numbers are low, it may still have significant value in the art world.
Prints are produced by drawing or carving an image onto a hard surface such as a wood block, metal plate, or stone. This surface is then inked and the image is transferred to paper by the application of pressure, thus creating an impression, or print. A reproduction is a copy of an already existing work. It is just a photo-mechanically reproduced image, often scanned and then mechanically printed en-masse. There is no intervention of the artist. Reproductions are in essence posters, and have little or no monetary value.
These categories are further divided in:
- Limited edition prints
A limited-edition print is one in which a limit is placed on the number of impressions pulled in order to create a scarcity of the print. Limited editions are usually numbered and are often signed by the artist himself to increase prestige, rarity and to induce building collections.
The number of prints in any edition is established by the artist beforehand.
Each impression in the edition is signed and numbered by the artist in pencil. There are usually two numbers separated by a slash, (for example: 3/50). This means that 50 prints are the total impressions of this numbered edition, while 3 is the specific designation for that particular impression.
Prints are not signed and numbered in the order in which they were printed. Therefore, an impression with a lower number is not more valuable or better than an impression with a higher number. Once an edition is complete the original block, plate or stone is either defaced or destroyed so that no more can be made.
- Open edition prints are one which can be continued to be printed after its original press run and can be reprinted. Open editions are usually what we find in common stores. They are not signed and produced in massive quantities.
METHODS:
- To Manually Produce Art Prints:
Many different ways are possible like Wood Block Print, Photograph, Monoprint, Engraving, Etching, Dry point engraving, Aquatint, Lithograph etc.
If there is one thing common in all of these processes, it is that the print is individually printed one at a time by the artist. The key is that they are hand processed rather than machine reproduced.
- To Mechanically Reproduce Prints:
Any image can be reproduced into million copies through printing. This is of course not the actual art but just a photo copy.
TIPS TO BUY:
- Buy what you like: The foremost importance of any art is that it should please its buyer; otherwise, it’s of little use.
- Painting vs. Print: An original will have textured brush strokes, while a print will be a flat smooth one, similar to in book images.
- Educate Yourself: The key is a buyer educating himself and deciding what kind of images he wants in his collections, and what he can afford.
- Research Online: It is better if you research online and read about the art print and the painting whose art print you are buying. Prints signed by artists are more valuable than just mechanically reproduced images.
- Read Description: While buying, be careful to read the full description of the artwork to know its originality.
- Ask the expert: Like curators, art collectors, art enthusiasts.
- Hand printed prints vs. Machine produced: The former has much higher value which can be further increased when prints are hand colored with inks, watercolors, acrylic or pencils.
- Price of the Print: It is generally based on the size of the edition; prints from a limited edition, are worth more than those from an unlimited edition. The smaller the edition, the more valuable it is.
Authenticity: Many artists sell their work accompanying their prints with documentation, A Certificate of Authenticity. This states in detail the kind of print, details of the edition size, the number of the print being sold, the paper used as well as artist’s information and signature.
