Canvas editions infuse art sales: prints on canvas, particularly giclees, are a hot commodity for dealers and collectors

Enhancements in printing technology, combined with increasing recognition by the art-buying public, have been infusing sales of limited-edition prints on canvas.

Sales of giclees on canvas, particularly, have surged. According to Art Business News sources, giclees on canvas appeal to customers because they more closely resemble original oil and acrylic works than similar reproductions on paper.

"There have been tremendous improvements in printing technology over the past five years," stated Jay Brown, owner of Gallery One in Mentor, Ohio. Basically, there are three different ways to make a canvas edition: there's the offset lithograph process in which inks come out in dots; the canvas transfer process in which an image is printed on a paper layer and adhered to canvas; and there's the giclee process, "which is the most sensible," he said.

"Not only are giclees printed directly on the canvas, but they use a broader spectrum of color and, with the computer technology, you can get right down to the nitty-gritty and replicate the artwork," Brown said.

Nate Dickinson, owner of Pearl Publishing, a printing and publishing operation based in Portland, Ore., refers to Iris printing (an integral component of the giclee printing process) as "the Rolls Royce of the printing industry."

"We definitely see a trend toward printing on canvas," Dickinson said. "When we opened in 1998, we did not print on canvas. Now, giclees on canvas account for half of our business, which is substantial."

As a distributor of art, Dickinson affirms that the trend is nationwide. "We publish five artists nationally, and when we exhibit at Artexpo, we sell art to other galleries. People are [always] wowed when they see the reproductions. They have the look and feel of an original, and people like to see a print that is framed without glass. Canvas has an elegance and stature that is separate from other prints."

Giclees on canvas account for about two-thirds of the sales volume at the Greenwich Workshop (GWS), a fine art publisher based in Shelton, Conn. "We are doing more canvases than paper," noted Gretchen Trainer, production manager. "For the past year and a half, we have produced 55 to 60 percent of our works on canvases. The reproductions have a higher perceived value than paper prints, and buyers can frame it like an original work, without glass, which gives them the feeling of owning a masterpiece."

Giclees are viewed as the next-best-thing to an original, noted Mark Staples of Staples Fine Art. "It's become a national phenomena," said the owner of the Richmond, Va.-based printmaking business.

Norm Choiniere, president of Champlain Collection, a gallery/framing/publishing operation in St. Albans, Vt., agreed. "Our market regards giclees on canvas as much better quality prints than giclees paper. Giclees are viewed as being much closer to the original work of art than other reproductions. We have seen people drop $1,000 on a framed giclee because it looks so close to the original. We published 85 canvas editions of "October Song" by Fred Swan, which have sold out. However, the paper editions are still in stock."

Printing Advancements

As digital technology has evolved and equipment has improved, prices have come down in the printing marketplace, noted Marcel Medved, director of special products for Tara Materials of Lawrenceville, Ga., a distributor of canvases for printing.

"Originally, the Iris [also known as ink-jet] printers that produced high-end giclees cost about $20,000," said Medved. "Now, for $10,000 you can get a printer that almost matches what an Iris does. Plus, the digital technology has made it a lot cheaper to do small runs and allows publishers to be more flexible. Once the initial setup costs of priming are completed, such as the scanning of the artwork and manipulating the colors to get them right, theoretically, you can produce one print or 10. You can continue printing the product one day, one month or one year later. You don't have to complete a full run or warehouse inventory with this technology."

The detail in color reproduction has also been enhanced over time, said Trainer of GWS. "We use a Roland printer, which provides great detail and color intensity and vibrancy in the giclee canvases," she said. "Basically, the longevity is the same as paper prints but this is a very direct process. You capture the image, work on it on a computer and output it on canvas. There is no film, there is no stripping, and it's gratifying because you can correct errors right away. Also, it allows us to print on demand. If we have only 50 sales, we run 50 editions. This is appealing because it eliminates the need to complete a full press run all at once, and we don't have to hold inventory in the warehouse."

Giclees on canvas have won over many who were initially skeptical, noted Kevin Rich, president of Hunter Editions, a printing business located in Kennebunk, Maine.