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Giclée,
commonly pronounced "zhee-clay," is the use of the ink-jet printing
process for making fine art large format digital images. The term—from the
French verb gicler meaning "to squirt, to spray"—first applied to "Iris
prints" created in the early 1990s on the Scitex "Iris Graphics Models
3024, 3047, 4012 or Realist" colour drum piezo-head inkjet proofer, a
commercial printer designed to preview what a print will look like before
mass production begins.
The term, sometimes anglicized as giclee,
is used to describe any high-resolution, large-format ink-jet printer
output with fade-resistant dye- or pigment-based inks. It is common for
these printers to use between six and twelve colour inks. The use of
dye-based inks requires special coating to avoid fading.
In the past few years, giclée, as a fine
art reproduction technology, is mostly associated with Archival Pigmented
inks and Ultra Chrome Inks (which are guaranteed to last up to 200 years),
rather than with dye-based inks which are more suitable for commercial
output since commercial banners do not need to last a life time.
The word giclée was coined by Jack Duganne
to represent any digital print used as fine art. Its intent was to
distinguish commercial digital prints from fine art prints. In much the
same way that the word serigraph is used to denote a fine art silk screen
print, the word giclée is to be used to denote a fine art digital print.
Though originally intended for proofing,
many artists and photographers use ink-jet printers as an alternative to
lithography, serigraphy or serilith for limited edition original prints or
reproductions. The cost of producing limited edition runs is greatly
reduced compared to alternative printing methods.
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