About the Giclée Process

This photo shows a close up of a giclée on canvas.

The Giclée Process

Artists and art purveyors have always sought ways to reproduce moving, popular images that preserve the qualities of the original. The giclee process is a remarkable innovation in this effort, created and refined over the past two decades.

High Fidelity
A giclée is a very high fidelity version of an image or flat artwork based on a high resolution digital scan or image capture. Giclées are created using an Iris printer or more frequently newer types of large format printers, primarily from Epson Corporation.

Archival
Our Giclées are made using a fully archival (100+ years) inks and substrates, specially treated canvas that replicates the look and texture of fine art canvas. Finished giclées on canvas are given a protective topcoat that shields it from moisture and any damaging ultraviolet light. Giclées on Paper are created using very heavy weight matte finish paper.

Surprising Depth and Color
The virtually continuous tone inkjet technology, with its micro drop size and 1800 dpi perceived resolution, has the ability to reproduce 512 levels of gray per color. The result is an image of surprising depth of color and range of light to dark. The result exceeds the quality of prints on paper in terms of clarity and color.

Like an Original but More Accessible
Today, giclées are commonly found in fine art galleries around the country and most people who see a well made giclée on canvas never suspect that they are not looking at an original oil painting. The biggest difference is the price, giclées are extremely affordable when compared to the cost of acquiring original works of art.

Inspected by the Artist
To ensure the production quality and color accuracy, every giclée sold by Segnatura Fine Arts is inspected by the artist.

Learn more about Giclées on Wikipedia

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Highest Quality

We work with digital services provider Gamma One Conversions to produce our high quality giclées. Gamma One counts as its clients MOMA, The Pushkin and Hermitage Museums in Russia,The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum, The National Gallery and more.

“I think most people never notice the difference between an original oil and a giclée. I’m a painter and I have a very hard time distinguishing between the two.”
– Leonard Porter

“(Segnatura’s) giclée reproductions of the original oil paintings are of extremely high quality with very fine resolution.”
— James McCrery, Principal, McCrery Architects
 

Giclées, like this one are almost indistinguishable from original oil paintings.