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THE COMPLETE
GUIDE TO
LIMITED EDITION ART PRINTS
How to Identify, Invest & Care for Your Collection
by: Jay Brown |
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CHAPTER 5
- THE CANVAS PRINT REVOLUTION |
The Canvas Print Defined
The most recent advancement for offset lithographic art
collectors has been the development of processes that can take the artist’s
original paintings and replicate them on canvas. The philosophy is brilliant in
theory and is revolutionizing the way the art world views the limited edition
print.
The goal of any art reproduction is to make it look as
much like the original art as possible. Until recently, if an artist painted
their original art on canvas, the print had to be reproduced on paper. Also, the
original art could be displayed without glass and matting, while the print would
need both for protection. In reality, when the paper print was framed it didn’t
look like the original art — it looked like the print that it was. Today, we can
replicate the original painting as a print on canvas. We can display it without
glass and matting. And, above all we can make it look not like a print, but like
an original painting.
Normally the canvas print reproductions are presented
on a stretched canvas, just like the original art. They still carry the
traditional hand signature and numbering, just like the paper reproductions, and
they are often coated with an ultraviolet protective coating which helps the
inks resist fading. With reasonable care they should last a long time, if not
forever.
To keep a canvas print clean, all you need to do is
wipe the image off with a very soft cotton cloth. If necessary, a little
distilled water can be added to make the cloth tacky. If the piece gets
extremely soiled from a spilled drink or from smoke damage, a restorer can often
clean the picture off and bring it back to mint condition.
So far, the public response and collectibility of
canvas prints has been tremendous. Because it’s a rather new movement and
relatively more expensive than the traditional paper print (about twice the
price), a number of publishers are releasing split limited editions — a portion
of the edition on paper and a portion on canvas. The publishers who have been
doing canvas prints for a while are finding that the canvas editions now sell
out faster than the paper editions; and the collectors are finding out that the
secondary market is showing greater increases in demand for the canvas as well.
It’s important to understand that this is a new
process. It hasn’t proven itself to withstand time as other more traditional
reproduction methods have done. But, the experts do feel it’s a viable process
and a number of the nation’s leading artists and publishers are showing strong
support for the technology by releasing more and more canvas reproductions every
year.
The Fine Art of Canvas Print Production
There are two main ways to produce canvas prints —
canvas transferring and printing directly on the canvas. Both techniques produce
high-quality results that, based on today’s technology, come as close as
possible to replicating an artist’s original painting.
There is no doubt that the goal when making a
reproduction is to make it look as much like the original art as possible. For
years, the best technology could only offer reproductions onto paper. If the
artist had painted their original work on canvas and displayed it glass-free,
then the paper print that had to be displayed with matting and glass was a far
cry from the original. The new canvas printing technology has taken the art of
the reproduction to the next level.
Canvas transferring is the most common of the
techniques used today to make canvas reproductions. The process begins with a
standard offset paper print made in the traditional fashion from the original
painting. Then the print is coated with a series of special chemicals designed
to allow the paper and the ink to separate. When the paper is removed, an ink
film remains. Then the canvas is prepped with an adhesive and the film is
carefully laid upon it. Pressure is applied which bonds the film and the canvas
together. The canvas is then set aside to dry.
The other common canvas print making methods rely on
printing directly on the canvas. One method is direct offset printing. Simply, a
piece of canvas is run through the offset press in a fashion no different than
the way a paper offset print is produced.
Other methods include Repligraphy, which uses a
hot-melt color-dye printing system, creating an oil-based film that adheres
directly to the canvas; and Artagraphs that feature a mold of the artist’s
original brush strokes and texture.
All of these processes are rather new and have yet to
stand the test of time. It seems logical that the techniques that feature direct
printing on the canvas will be the future of printmaking. With this method there
is no risk of the film, which is adhered to the canvas, delaminating or
separating, a problem that can occur any time something is glued with an
adhesive to something else. For now, however, these processes are
revolutionizing the print world and they bring great excitement and anticipation
to artists and publishers worldwide. As the art reproduction technology embarks
on a new century of development, canvas printmaking appears to be poised to take
over the art world.
Adding a Few Little Highlights
“A little dab here and a little dab there” is becoming
the way for canvas prints. “Highlighting,” as it is commonly known, is the
process of applying paint on a canvas print to give it an element of texture and
further the original art illusion. A number of artists actually do their own
highlighting. However, some prefer to defer the work to artisans who either work
directly for them or the company responsible for producing the canvas prints.
In most cases a template or map is created identifying
the areas where the artisan should apply their oil paint. However, because the
process is hand-done as opposed to machine-done, there can be slight differences
from one print to another. To help assure consistency between the images, with
smaller print runs, the same artisan normally does all of the highlighting. With
larger print runs this isn’t usually possible. Most highlighted prints will have
between 30 and 100 areas painted. The highlighting can range from a
pinhead-sized dab, to a one- or two-inch-long stroke.
If you are wondering if your canvas print has been
highlighted, take a look at the print from the side under good lighting.
Usually, the texture will be evident. If you’re still not sure, you can lightly
wipe your hand across the print and if it has been highlighted, you will
undoubtedly feel the texture. Remember that touching the print is never
recommended, though.
Distinguishing Traits of Canvas Prints
Let’s hear a round of applause for the world’s
printers, publishers, and artists. They must be doing their job pretty darn
well. With their textures and highlights now becoming more the standard than the
exception, they are making it harder and harder for collectors to differentiate
a print on canvas from an original painting.
Eventually, prints are going to be duplicates of
original art. It’s inevitable. But until the day comes that DNA testing is the
only way to determine what’s what and which is which, there will be clues that
collectors can look for to help them make the determination.
The first clue is always to look for limited edition
print numbers. These are normally found on the bottom right or left of the work
in the standard xx/yy format. If they are evident then the question is answered
— it’s a print. However, if the numbers are not visible, then the work in
question could be an open edition canvas print or just numbered in a less
traditional spot.
The next thing that a collector can look for takes a
little practice. Canvas prints are generally either completely flat or they have
little applications of hand-applied paint called highlights. If the picture is
completely flat to the touch, then it’s probably a canvas print reproduction.
With most original paintings there will be areas of texture, sometimes only
slight like that in an acrylic painting and other times severe, as with an oil
painting created with a palette brush. When there isn’t even a fragment of these
textures, then the picture is most likely a print.
If the art has little applications of paint instead of
the traditional broad brushstrokes, then that’s what is commonly called canvas
print highlighting. The highlights are normally applied during the canvas
printing process by trained artisans. Each highlight is simply a “dab” of paint
— much different than a normal artist’s brushstroke.
If all else fails, get a high-powered microscope or
magnifying glass and look carefully at the image. If it is a print, then it may
have been created using the canvas transfer process or direct offset printing
onto the canvas. Either way, it’s simply an offset lithograph on canvas and it
can be identified by the standard dot pattern visible on all offset lithographic
products when magnified.
And, last but not least, don’t be afraid to consult a
gallery that represents original art and canvas reproductions. The
differentiating of a canvas print from an original work of art can be very
difficult if you haven’t done it a few times before. And, as the next round of
technology takes the canvas art reproduction to the next level, it’s going to
get harder and harder to arrive at the correct conclusions.
Within the next few years, it’s likely that prints will
be made so well that they’ll truly be duplicates of the original art. When that
day comes, we’ll not only provide a round of applause for the offset
lithographic art industry, but we’ll make it a rousing standing ovation. The
industry will have reached perfection.
The Future of Canvas Prints
Canvas art reproductions are the future of the art
world. They have the ability to revolutionize the way we perceive art prints,
and they will undoubtedly be the choice print medium for the next generation.
Over the next few years you can expect to see nearly
every artist that paints in oil and acrylic, as well as the other various
mediums that don’t necessitate being covered with glass, to move to canvas
prints. It only makes sense. If the goal is to replicate the original art as
similarly as possible, canvas prints are without a doubt the future of print
collecting.
For artists that generally paint on paper and board —
watercolorists for instance — the paper reproduction best replicates their work.
So, the paper print will probably never go away, it will just be used more
selectively to capture the specific painting techniques that it best replicates.
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