{"id":31749,"date":"2019-01-23T13:50:39","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T13:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/?p=31749"},"modified":"2019-01-23T13:50:39","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T13:50:39","slug":"ask-the-collector-with-holly-hager-collecting-101-prints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/ask-the-collector-with-holly-hager-collecting-101-prints\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask the Collector with Holly Hager Collecting 101: Prints"},"content":{"rendered":"

Painting or print\u2014can you tell which one is which? These images are details from works by <\/span>Colbert Mashile<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Guy Buffet<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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When you\u2019re new to art, one of the biggest challenges is understanding prints. To the untrained eye, they can look the same as other kinds of works. So how can you tell the difference between prints, paintings, and drawings?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Last year, friends came to me twice wondering if their friends had gotten good deals, maybe incredible deals, on art. One bought a Salvador Dali, and the other bought a Marc Chagall. You probably know these artists. They\u2019re giants in the Western canon.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Both buys were purely financial investments. The Chagall was from a dealer. The Dali was from someone who\u2019d inherited it. Neither buyer knew anything about art. Since both artists are household names, each thought they\u2019d bought way below market. They paid thousands but thought they\u2019d gotten paintings worth hundreds of thousands. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Both actually bought prints and paid above retail. The Dali was selling online for $200. If these buyers had been investing in themselves, they would\u2019ve been thrilled to wake up to masterworks for the rest of their lives. Instead, they were really disappointed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What happened? They mistook prints for paintings. At first, that\u2019s a really easy mistake to make. Once you understand the difference, though, it\u2019s just as easy to tell them apart.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Details of the grass in the Mashile and Buffet above both look like brush strokes and other handmade marks\u2014in person as well as on the screen.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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What is a print?<\/strong> Prints are made by carving, cutting, etching, or adhering materials to a plate, block, or fabric. The plate, block, or fabric is then inked, \u00a0and the ink is transferred onto paper using a printing press. Multi-colored prints are typically achieved through layers of printing from plates inked in each different color. (I\u2019m leaving photography out of this for now.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Like any medium, printmaking allows artists to achieve unique effects. It isn\u2019t just a way to make multiple prints of the same image; although it\u2019s most often used for that. Unique prints are called monotypes. Prints can also be less expensive reproductions of paintings and drawings\u2014which is what tripped up my friends\u2019 friends with the Dali and the Chagall.<\/span><\/p>\n

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People often confuse prints with drawings and paintings because they see the layers of ink on the surface of the print and assume that this texture is paint.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Why are prints generally more affordable than drawings and paintings?<\/strong> There are two main reasons\u2014rarity and durability.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Whenever a work is unique, it represents more of the artist\u2019s creativity and labor. Multiples, or editioned works, allow more of us to enjoy a single image made by the artist. That means the artist doesn\u2019t have to put as much work into those pieces as they would if all of them were unique. That also means an editioned print isn\u2019t as rare as a unique piece. In addition, there\u2019s a vast difference in rarity between open edition prints (the artist could print as many as they want forever), big limited editions (200+), and small editions (\u226420). Chagall, in particular, had a habit of printing massive editions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Then there\u2019s durability, which often impacts the condition of the work over time. One of the reasons paintings are so coveted is that canvas is way more durable than paper. If you tear a hole in canvas, it can be mended\u2014sometimes seamlessly. Remember that kid who tripped at a museum and ripped a hole in a 17th-century Baroque masterpiece? That painting was restored. In comparison, if you tear a hole in a work on paper, you\u2019re pretty much screwed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Paper is also one of the least expensive materials. More durable materials are usually more expensive. A work on paper costs less for an artist to make than a bronze or a stretched canvas.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The two works on the left are unique works, including the Mashile and a drawing by Jeaneen Barnhart<\/a>. The other three, including the Buffet, a Norman Catherine<\/a>, and a flea-market find that even stumped Google, are prints clearly marked with edition numbers.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Here\u2019s how to tell what\u2019s a print:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Wide borders\/Bleeds<\/strong>\u2014Prints have to go through presses. So the sheet of paper is larger than the image printed on it, and the image often has a more definitive edge than other types of works (where the plate presses down to make the image). Some artists leave wide borders on their drawings, but they rarely do on paintings. A wide border and a harder edge aren\u2019t definitive identifiers, but they\u2019re clues. Word to the wise, the border of a print should never be cut off. Artists, that also means collectors have to frame the whole sheet. So, when you\u2019re giving dimensions for prints, always give the sheet size, not just the size of the image.<\/p>\n

2. Texture<\/strong>\u2014Compare the irregular texture of the yellow pastel drawing above with the regularity of the artist\u2019s print (the one labeled EA). The more even\/regular the texture, the more likely the work is to be a print. Like borders, texture isn\u2019t definitive. Some paintings are so smooth and some drawings are so dense that they look like prints.<\/p>\n

3. Signatures<\/strong>\u2014I\u2019ve never seen a signature on a painting that wasn\u2019t painted as well. Painters also typically overpaint their signatures on the image. (Check out the painted signature on the Mashile.) Signatures on prints are normally in pencil on the bottom border of the print. Signatures on drawings are a bit tougher to distinguish because they, too, are often in pencil.<\/p>\n

4. Edition Numbers<\/strong>\u2014Edition numbers definitively identify a work as a print. On Western works, they\u2019re usually on the bottom left of the print, while the signature is on the bottom right. (Eastern works are a whole other ballgame.) The first number is the work number. The second is the size of the edition. In other words, the Norman Catherine above is #17 of an edition of 45 (i.e., 17\/45).<\/p>\n

5. Artist Prints<\/strong>\u2014If a work is labeled with AP (or EA \u201c\u00e9preuve d’artiste\u201d and a couple other iterations), it\u2019s an Artist Print. Prints are usually made collaboratively by an artist and a printer. The artist makes the image, and the printer makes the prints. To be sure that the prints are what the artist intended, the printer will usually make one (an Artist Print) for the artist to approve before making the rest. If the artist is happy, the print run will go ahead with only one proof. If the artist isn\u2019t happy, the printer will make revisions and another print for the artist to proof. Usually, it only takes 1-2 proofs for the artist to be happy. Then the printer runs the actual edition. Artist Prints aren\u2019t counted in the edition size.<\/p>\n

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Any reputable dealer won\u2019t conceal print numbers from you. The Chagall referenced above was clearly labeled with edition numbers, but it was also labeled as an original. That\u2019s legitimate. A print is an original work by the artist, but it can be misleading. First-time buyers see \u201coriginal\u2019 and often think it means \u201cunique\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you\u2019re looking at a work and you\u2019re not sure what it is, here\u2019s your new best friends for figuring it out. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Google image search<\/span><\/a> is like having Antiques Roadshow in your pocket. Take a photo of the work with your phone. Go to Google images. Click the camera icon, and upload the photo. If the work is by an artist with any established market, Google will tell you the name of the work and the artist. Plus, you also might learn how much the work\u2019s selling for elsewhere. That\u2019s how I found out that the Dali print was currently valued at only $200. Literally, it took me less than a minute.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Also research anything you see written on or about the work\u2014either on the border, in the description, or on the label. Look them up in my fav fingertip guides for decoding printmaking terminology:<\/span><\/p>\n

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