Giclee, Giclees, and Giclee Art Information

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What is a Giclee?

The late 1980’s saw a proliferation of commercial digital printers, and with this rapid increase in the availability of printers came the expansion of the fine art reproduction industry. Originally created using IRIS printers, these reproductions were not considered high enough in quality to be seriously distributed commercially. These reproductions were simply used to check color and get client approvals before starting a print run, and could be considered the genesis of giclee.

History of the Giclee

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, printmaker Jack Duganne was producing high-quality images using printers at his studio that differed from what commercial fine art printmakers were doing with their IRIS printers. Duganne wanted to separate himself from the negative connotations associated with the reproductions being created by IRIS printers, and set out to find a new name for his high-quality reproductions. Inspired by the French word for inkjet (jet d'encre), Duganne named his prints after the French word for nozzle (le gicleur). Since nozzles do all the spraying in fine art reproductions, he figured the name would be appropriate. Now all he had to do was turn his newfound term into a brand name. Duganne simply went with the feminine word for spray in French (la giclee), and the new term was born. Pronounced “zhee-clay”, his new term has now become the defining term in the lexicon of fine art and photographic printmakers in the industry.

However, there were and are still big-name printmakers who refuse to use the fine art gicleeterm. Graham Nash and Mac Holbert came up with "digigraph," to describe the artwork they were doing involving photographs. Photographers like it and prefer it to giclee, but artists and printmakers doing reproductions have generally stuck with the term giclee. Photographers have also adopted several other terms to refer to their work, such as "original digital prints," "inkjet prints," and "pigment prints."

The Giclee Printers Association

In order to avoid confusion as to what a “giclee” print truly is, a group of printmakers formed the “Giclee Printers Association” (GPA) in 2001. The GPA came up with its own standards for what constitutes real giclee, even coining the term "Tru Giclée" to describe these giclee prints. The GPA is only concerned with reproduction printing, and its members must meet nine standards in order for them (and their customers) to display the Tru Giclée logo.

In 2003 the GPA recognized that only a small fraction of printmakers could meet the original requirements set by the GPA to display their product as Tru Giclée, so the GPA instituted a lower-threshold standard, "Tru Décor," which applies to the much larger decor-art market.

Over the past few years this organization has been very quiet as the gicleendustry evolved and fine art printmakers established their own higher standards that are more appropriate for the technologies available today.

Here are some other resources on giclee printing and fine art inkjet printer technologies. Also, try visiting industry blogs for more information on the giclee and giclee canvas art. 

Please also visit these other helpful pages on Giclee:

 Giclee, Giclees, and Giclee Art Information
Giclee Canvas Art, Giclee Canvas
Giclee Printing, Giclee Print, Giclee Prints
Giclee Art Prints, Giclee Art Print, Fine Art Giclee
Giclee Art Reproduction, Giclee Reproduction, Giclee Reproductions
The Definition of Fine Art Giclee