With todays digital printing techniques it is possible to print multiple images with little or no degradation of the image from one print to the next, so why would an artist want to limit the number of copies printed from each artwork?
I've watched print technology develop over the past 30 or so years and today the print quality is better than at any time in the past. When making a print of a particular work, however, I've chosen to limit each edition to 120 prints for several reasons.
First, even though todays print quality is very high, and the print is almost indistinguisable from the original work, I want people to know this is a print rather than an original painting. In a limited editiion there will always be an edition number such as 10/120 and the artist's signature on the print outside the actual work. The 10 indicates this is the tenth print of an edition of 120 prints. After 120 prints are made, no more will be printed so the purchaser knows there will not be an unlimited number of these images made. This adds to the value and clarity of the image so you know this is not just a commerical run of thousands of images.
Secondly, even though the quality of todays Giclée print is of a very high quality, a printer can develop problems after long use and the print head may degrade or the print shop may upgrade or change to a different print technology and the quality could change over time. With a limited edition the purchaser knows what is being acquired and the artist has full control of the process.
Third, fine art printers trade organizations have over the years developed standards for quality art prints. While fineart.co.uk recommends limited edition size be kept under 850, I've chosen to be much more careful in order to have full control of the working process and quality of each image by limiting my edition size to 120 prints each.
Lastly, in my opinion only recently has the art and technology of Giclée printmaking developed the inks and ground bases to truly last over time. Early Giclée printing inks degraded in color within a few years and only in the last few years are inks of sufficient quality to reliably be warranted for more than 75 years. Todays inks should last for many generations if the work is protected and kept in a good environment. In preparing the painting image for Giclée printing, I use a Nikon Camera or scanner with at least 2200 dpi resolution and do color corrections using Photoshop CS5 which allows the most up to date software control available.
© Copyright by Paul Wolber
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