Curating Prints |
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Curating your prints has two main steps:
Step one:
Involves reviewing the quality of each print, and selecting those that meet your level of quality.
For example: If you printed 12 images, but 2 have smudges, 1 is light (under inked or salty), 1 is crooked, then you have 8 good impressions. You could sign them a couple of different ways: All from 1/8-8/8; or 1/6-6/6 & 2-AP for example.
Step two:
Involves the signing of the prints. Prints are ONLY signed with a pencil (2H is recommended), never use a sharpie or ball-point pen. Signing involves writing/printing the title of the work or untitled; the edition number (see below) and the artists signature.
Step one:
Involves reviewing the quality of each print, and selecting those that meet your level of quality.
For example: If you printed 12 images, but 2 have smudges, 1 is light (under inked or salty), 1 is crooked, then you have 8 good impressions. You could sign them a couple of different ways: All from 1/8-8/8; or 1/6-6/6 & 2-AP for example.
Step two:
Involves the signing of the prints. Prints are ONLY signed with a pencil (2H is recommended), never use a sharpie or ball-point pen. Signing involves writing/printing the title of the work or untitled; the edition number (see below) and the artists signature.
What do those numbers mean on the print?
Since there are often several impressions made of a particular image, it is important to keep track of how many prints are made, both for the protection of the artist as well as the patron. For this reason, printmakers place special designations or numbers on their prints for easy identification.
Below are listed some of the more common designations you will find on prints.
TP
Trial Proof; Trial proofs are pulled to decide the choice of color, inks and paper. The best one becomes the BAT.
AP
Artist Proof; Typically represents 10% of the edition. These works are out of the edition and are kept by the artist or for the artists use.
PP
Printers Proof; These proofs are given to the printer who collaborated with the master printer and the artist. They may be dedicated personally or simply marked P.P. or “Printers Proof”.
BAT
Bon a Tier; (French for “Good to Pull”). “Good to pull” proof is the first impression that meets the aesthetic and technical standards of the artist. It is the guide against which each print in the edition is compared and becomes the property of the master printer at the end of the run.
1/20
Edition number: The second number represents the number of identical impressions made of the image, in this case 20. The prints would be numbered 1/20, 2/20 up to 20/20. The first number does not indicate the order it was pulled and the quality among all the prints is the same.
*Typically prints pulled by hand will be numbered in editions of 200 or less. Many contemporary printmakers pull relatively small editions ranging from 10-50. By comparison prints printed on an offset litho machine or digital prints can number in the thousands or tens of thousands, and are essentially glorified posters.
Limited Edition: what does it mean?
Traditionally, most fine arts prints were pulled in limited runs. When working from a woodblock or etching plate a certain amount of breakdown occurs, which typically limits how many good prints an artist pulls. In the case of woodcuts or etchings often the plates were “striked” by carving or scratching an X across the plate to destroy the image, eliminating the chance of re-printing the plate at a future date. Furthermore, the less number of prints in an edition the more valuable each print is. Scarcity= value.
Open Edition:
This is often the case with digital technologies like inkjet prints, where they can be printed on demand. Prints in an open edition typically cost much less than those from a limited edition. Some artists working in a traditional medium might use an open edition as well. Drive by press sometimes used the infinity symbol, and as a particular block wore out, it was recut.
Lithography; Art, Misrepresentation and Buyer Beware.
Perhaps the greatest confusion regards the medium of lithography. Developed in 1789, lithographs were originally hand drawn on and printed off of specially prepared lithographic lime stones. Later aluminum plate lithography was developed which allowed the artist to still draw directly on the plate. In both cases the work was typically drawn by the artist and hand printed by either the artist or a print assistant. Artists today still use these processes.
With the invention of offset lithography in the 1950’s, a process which is now used to print books, posters, milk cartons and just about everything else you see that’s printed. The artist has largely been taken out of the equation. This process allows you to take a photo of an original drawing or painting, reduce it down to the four process printing colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black-CMYK), and then print off thousands or hundred’s of thousands of prints easily and cheaply, (This is how they make posters you buy at museums of famous paintings or postcards.) Unfortunately, some galleries try to represent these as original lithographs, when in actuality, although technically lithographs, they are essentially poster quality reproductions of another original artwork. People often pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars for these poster quality lithographs. In general, if you’re in a gallery looking at a painting and also an exact lithographic print of the same painting next to it- then it’s essentially a poster or if the edition number is over 1000; Buyer beware.
*It should be noted too, that some artists utilize offset lithography and photolithography within a limited edition context and that not all offset lithographs are merely posters.
Since there are often several impressions made of a particular image, it is important to keep track of how many prints are made, both for the protection of the artist as well as the patron. For this reason, printmakers place special designations or numbers on their prints for easy identification.
Below are listed some of the more common designations you will find on prints.
TP
Trial Proof; Trial proofs are pulled to decide the choice of color, inks and paper. The best one becomes the BAT.
AP
Artist Proof; Typically represents 10% of the edition. These works are out of the edition and are kept by the artist or for the artists use.
PP
Printers Proof; These proofs are given to the printer who collaborated with the master printer and the artist. They may be dedicated personally or simply marked P.P. or “Printers Proof”.
BAT
Bon a Tier; (French for “Good to Pull”). “Good to pull” proof is the first impression that meets the aesthetic and technical standards of the artist. It is the guide against which each print in the edition is compared and becomes the property of the master printer at the end of the run.
1/20
Edition number: The second number represents the number of identical impressions made of the image, in this case 20. The prints would be numbered 1/20, 2/20 up to 20/20. The first number does not indicate the order it was pulled and the quality among all the prints is the same.
*Typically prints pulled by hand will be numbered in editions of 200 or less. Many contemporary printmakers pull relatively small editions ranging from 10-50. By comparison prints printed on an offset litho machine or digital prints can number in the thousands or tens of thousands, and are essentially glorified posters.
Limited Edition: what does it mean?
Traditionally, most fine arts prints were pulled in limited runs. When working from a woodblock or etching plate a certain amount of breakdown occurs, which typically limits how many good prints an artist pulls. In the case of woodcuts or etchings often the plates were “striked” by carving or scratching an X across the plate to destroy the image, eliminating the chance of re-printing the plate at a future date. Furthermore, the less number of prints in an edition the more valuable each print is. Scarcity= value.
Open Edition:
This is often the case with digital technologies like inkjet prints, where they can be printed on demand. Prints in an open edition typically cost much less than those from a limited edition. Some artists working in a traditional medium might use an open edition as well. Drive by press sometimes used the infinity symbol, and as a particular block wore out, it was recut.
Lithography; Art, Misrepresentation and Buyer Beware.
Perhaps the greatest confusion regards the medium of lithography. Developed in 1789, lithographs were originally hand drawn on and printed off of specially prepared lithographic lime stones. Later aluminum plate lithography was developed which allowed the artist to still draw directly on the plate. In both cases the work was typically drawn by the artist and hand printed by either the artist or a print assistant. Artists today still use these processes.
With the invention of offset lithography in the 1950’s, a process which is now used to print books, posters, milk cartons and just about everything else you see that’s printed. The artist has largely been taken out of the equation. This process allows you to take a photo of an original drawing or painting, reduce it down to the four process printing colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black-CMYK), and then print off thousands or hundred’s of thousands of prints easily and cheaply, (This is how they make posters you buy at museums of famous paintings or postcards.) Unfortunately, some galleries try to represent these as original lithographs, when in actuality, although technically lithographs, they are essentially poster quality reproductions of another original artwork. People often pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars for these poster quality lithographs. In general, if you’re in a gallery looking at a painting and also an exact lithographic print of the same painting next to it- then it’s essentially a poster or if the edition number is over 1000; Buyer beware.
*It should be noted too, that some artists utilize offset lithography and photolithography within a limited edition context and that not all offset lithographs are merely posters.
Reminder: Prints are ONLY signed with a pencil (2H is recommended), never use a sharpie or ball-point pen.
