Amour d'Art

FAYUM RECREATED

FAYUM RECREATED!

Fayum® Art Technology (FAT) is a way of producing multiple unique works of art. It requires transferring images to a specially prepared surface called Levkas (a pancake-like soft substance mounted on wood) which by itself is a formidable task. The term “Levkas” (which means “white” in Greek) comes from the Greek island of the same name.

The main work in preparation of Fayum® comes after the image transfer and consists of treatment of the surface by dry brush, palette knife, different types of paint, wax, acid and other means done by hand by an experienced Fayum® Master-Painter. The end result is a unique work of art made by utilizing ancient technologies and modern materials.

Fayum® and Icon masters of the past use only very special kind of Eastern European wood to adhere to the strictest possible standards of icon and Fayum® preparation. Baltic Birch that is used in Fayums® comes from Karelia, Finland. In the past it was exclusively used to make icons and furniture for Russian tsars and aristocracy.

The Art of DESTINO

In 1937, Salvador Dali wrote to his dear friend Andre Breton, founder of the surrealist art movement in Paris, and said, "I have come to America and I am in contact with three great American surrealists - the Marx Brothers, Cecil B. DeMille, and Walt Disney." Breton envisioned Surrealism as an art form that would draw its content from the unexplored realm of the subconscious human mind, ferreting out unparalleled honesty and otherworldly images that would turn the world's concept of art on its head. In such total abandon, Breton and others believed the world would find absolute freedom.

By the 1930s, Surrealism, a stepchild of Dadaism (anti-art), had exploded into the vanguard art scene in Europe with artists such as Man Ray, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte, Wassily Kandinski, Miro and Salvador Dali. Soon, Surrealist influence began to stretch across the Atlantic sea into the United States, where artists Andre Masson, Marcel Duchamp and Arshile Gorky had already emigrated by the mid 1920s. But to many, America's first great surrealist artists were animation pioneers: Walt Disney, Max Fleischer, and Tex Avery.

Walt Disney found an unexpected artistic soul mate in Salvador Dali, who he may have met as early as 1937. "We have to keep breaking new trails," Disney said at the time. "Ordinarily good story ideas don't come easily and have to be fought for. Dali is communicative. He bubbles with ideas."

At a dinner party held by movie mogul Jack Warner in 1945, the concept of collaboration between Disney and Dali began to evolve. Disney had been compiling short features for theatrical release. "Destino" was the name of a Mexican ballad that Disney had envisioned as a vehicle for a musical short film project. Dali was attracted to Destino's title and the concept of destiny attracting two lovers. In late 1946, Dali began arriving at the Disney Studio every morning at eight-thirty and working until five at night. Twenty seconds of film, several paintings, various pen-and-ink drawings and many storyboards came out of this eight month period during which Dali was an employee of Walt Disney Studios. He hinted in his own newsletter, Dali News, that the collaborative film effort would "offer to the world the first vision of 'psychological relief'."

Then, destiny itself took over, and the project was put on hold by Disney in 1947 as a result of post-World War II changes and other studio commitments. In 1999, Roy Disney, Walt Disney's nephew, became inspired to finish "Destino" after the release of "Fantasia 2000" - a film richly laden with outlandish, surrealistic imagery that was no doubt influenced in part by Surrealism.

Now fully realized and invigorated with the help of 3D computer technology, the new "Destino" project was kept as close as possible to the original vision laid out by Disney and Dali in 1946. Director Dominique Monfery and producer Baker Bloodworth utilized many traditional techniques of animated filmmaking as well as cutting-edge technology to emulate what they termed the "plastic quality" of Dali's multi-dimensional imagery. Fifty-seven years later, the brainchild of Dali and Disney was finally born. "Destino" is, according to the curator of the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation, "the perfect combination of Dali and Disney".

Salvador Dali was a pioneer in the realm of printmaking in the twentieth century. All printing methods used by Collectors Editions in the publication of Destino artwork are the same ones used by Salvador Dali throughout his career, performed the same way, with Dali's artistic vision and sensibilities kept firmly in mind.

SERIGRAPHY
Serigraphy, ("Seri", the Latin word for silk, and the word "grapho", a Greek term meaning "to write or draw"), was first recognized as a fine art medium in the late 1930s. Serigraphy utilizes a color stencil printing process, involving the direct transfer of an image when a squeegee is used to push ink through a screen onto a substrate. Each color requires a stencil. Using extreme pressure, the image is pressed onto paper. Passes or colors can range from 10 to 200 plus colors, depending on the complexity of the original that is being reproduced. Screen-printing is the most versatile type of printing process, and is still widely used today in creating and producing high quality representations of original artwork.

Serigraphy reached its heyday in the 1950s, when the studio of master printer Lutpold Domberger in Stuttgart, Germany, came to be favored by those on the cutting edge of the Op Art movement.
Domberger's perfectionism was a perfect match for the artistic visions of Joseph Albers and Victor Vasarely. Jackson Pollack also utilized serigraphy, and the process was the elite method of choice for Andy Warhol, whose preoccupation with it brought the medium to new levels of legitimacy.

STONE LITHOGRAPHY
Stone lithography is one of the most prestigious traditions in the history of printmaking artistry. Pioneered in 1796 by Aloys Senefelder, the process is a highly skilled combination of a careful chemical mix and the masterful application of the image in a greasy medium to the face ofthe printing stone. Masters such as Goya, Delacroix, Manet, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Daumier, Degas, Whistler, Rauschenburg, Johns and Dali were all captivated by this process of "stone writing". Color lithography became exceedingly popular in the late 1890s at the hands of French advertising poster pioneer Jules Cheret. Working with artists like Henri de Toulouse-Latrec, Cheret utilized the streets of Paris as his own outdoor art gallery, papering them with hundreds of beautifully colored lithographs and advertisements. Stone lithography was most popular during the first World War and used for most of the Hollywood movie posters of the 1920s. Because it requires the skill of a vanishing breed of expert craftsmen, it is rarely used today.

ETCHING
Perfected by Rembrandt, the etching process was originally developed over 300 years ago using copper plates and wax. It is a time-consuming, hand-worked process, with the finished product being hand pulled and embellished by hand. Each etching is a work of art in and of itself, a creation of the combined efforts of the original artist's vision and the skilled mastery of the craftsman whose job it is to make that supreme vision a reality. Today, etchings are still printed individually by hand, just as they were originally, using copper plates. The polished surface of the plate is coated with liquid asphaltum and allowed to dry. The drawing is scratched through the asphaltum with a needle exposing the metal, which is then immersed in a nitric acid solution, which "etches" the scratched lines into the plate. When the plate and paper are rolled between the steel rollers of the press under extreme pressure, the paper is embossed over the plate and the ink is transferred from the plate to the paper. The plate must be re-inked by hand and wiped for each etching printed. When the edition is completed, the plate is "cancelled" by being defaced and is retired in the artist's archives. Dali is known for utilizing etching as a medium for printing throughout his career.

VAN GOGH STOLEN FOR SECOND TIME FROM EGYPTIAN MUSEUM

Van Gogh Stolen from Egyptian Museum for the Second Time

By telegraph.co.uk

The work, which goes by the name “Poppy Flowers” and “Vase with Flowers”, vanished from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum on the banks of the River Nile in central Cairo on Sunday.

It is the second time that the canvas by the Dutch-born post-impressionist has been stolen from the museum. Thieves previously made off with it in 1978, before authorities recovered it two years later at an undisclosed location in Kuwait.

Egypt’s minister of culture, Farouk Hosni, said that police had launched an investigation into the theft, and that authorities at all the country’s airports and seaports were on the look-out for it.

The one-foot-by-one-foot painting resembles a flower scene painted by the French artist Adolphe Monticelli, whose work deeply affected the young van Gogh. The Monticelli painting also is part of the Khalil collection.

The theft of the work for the second time is embarrassing for the museum authorities, who are understood to be facing an inquiry into claims that security at the museum was lax. Exact details of the first theft of the painting have never been disclosed. When it was recovered, Egypt’s then-interior minister said three Egyptians involved in the heist had been arrested and informed police where the canvas was hidden. It remains unknown whether the thieves were ever charged or tried, or whether any kind of “ransom” was paid for the painting’s return.

Experts have said they believed the Cairo canvas was painted around 1887. Most of the canvasses for which van Gogh is remembered were painted in 29 months of frenzied activity before his suicide in 1890 at age 37.

The Khalil collection is home to one of the Middle East’s finest collections of 19th and 20th century art, put together by the politician Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil, who died in 1953.

Other works in the collection, all from the 19th-century French school, are by Paul Gauguin, Gustave Courbet, Francois Millet, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Auguste Renoir and Auguste Rodin.

Art Definitions, Print Terms & Abbreviations

Printmaking Processes

Blind - Printing using an uninked plate to produce the subtle embossed texture of a white-on-white image, highlighted by the shadow of the relief image on the uninked paper. This technique is used in many Japanese prints.

Chiarographs – (keer-ograph) is a fusion of traditional printmaking and the latest digital technology. The characteristic of the Chiarograph medium is unique : while each one has a pattern or part of an image that is repeated, the individual hand painting preparation results in a one of a kind print. Thus, no two prints are identical. The beauty of this media is also in its spontaneity and its combination of printmaking and painting.

Collograph - Printing technique in which proofs are pulled from a block on which the artwork or design is built up like a collage, creating relief.

Drypoint - Printing technique of intaglio engraving in which a hard, steel needle incises lines on a metal plate, creating a burr that yields a characteristically soft and velvety line in the final print.

Etching - Printing technique in which a metal plate is first covered with an acid-resistant material, then worked with an etching needle to create an intaglio image. The exposed metal is eaten away in an acid bath, creating depressed lines that are later inked for printing.

Fillet - Accent: A detail, brushstroke, or area of color placed in a painting for emphasis. ... Details that define an object or piece of art. Accession .... Fillet A thin moulding used as an accent in framing inside another moulding, ...

Gouache - Pronounced (gwash) like squash Gouache is a painting medium similar to watercolor, but heavier and more opaque because a gum substance is added to the mixture of ground pigment and water. Gouaches, like watercolors, are usually on paper. Why not just use Watercolor? Watercolor is more about light than is gouache. And, frankly, gouache is a lot easier to control than watercolor. It's a quick, direct medium and works well for a sketchy kind of painting.

Giclée or Iris– (zhee-clay ) French for *sprayed ink* A state-of-the-art printmaking that gives a vibrant color rendition of an original painting. Giclees are produced one at a time. A giclee is created by a digital printers tiny ink jets that spray millions of droplets of ink, acrylic or oil paints onto fine art paper or canvas. This printing process can take up to an hour or more to complete, depending on the size of the print. Whether on fine art paper or canvas, each glicee piece is coated with a protective finish. Giclée printing offers one of the highest degree of accuracy and richness of color available in any reproduction techniques. The giclee developed and intended for the fine art market.

Lithograph - Printing technique using a planographic process in which prints are pulled on a special press from a flat stone or metal surface that has been chemically sensitized so that ink sticks only to the design areas and is repelled by the non-image areas. Lithography was invented in 1798 in Germany by Alois Senefelder

Mixed media or Mixed-media - A technique involving the use of two or more artistic media, such as ink and pastel or painting and collage, that are combined in a single composition. The term intermedia is used synonymously

Monotype - One-of-a-kind print made by painting on a sheet of metal or glass and transferring the still-wet painting onto a sheet of paper by hand or with an etching press. If enough paint remains on the master plate, additional prints can be made, however, the reprint will have substantial variations from the original image. Monotype printing is not a multiple-replica process since each print is unique.

Planographic - The process to print impressions from a smooth surface rather than creating incised or relief areas on the plate. The term was devised to describe lithography.

Serigraphy (Silk-screen) – A hand printing technique (based on stenciling) that ink or paint is brushed through a fine silk screen or other fine fabric, portions of which have been masked for impermeability, directly onto paper or canvas. A different portion of the screen must be masked for each color. Each color must dry before the next is applied.

Hand Embellished - Many paper or canvas editions include brushstrokes done by hand by the artist. The embellishing enhance both the look (added texture) and value of the work

Low Inventory - A limited edition that is almost sold out at the publishing company. There is usually less than 5% of the edition remaining.

Publisher Sold Out - No inventory of that edition remains at the publisher. We may have the art for sale still so call for our availability.

EMBELLISHED GICLÉE -A giclée is "embellished" when the artist adds to the finished print using an art medium such as pastel, pen, acrylic, etc. As each print is individually done, no two will be alike. The artist may just add a few strokes, or actually change the look of the original piece. Embellished prints are typically more expensive because, in effect, the artist is actually creating an original piece of art from each print.

Sericel - Sometimes called serigraph cels. A cel on which the image is silk-screened applying each individual color to the cel, one at a time. Every distinct shade is a separate screen, and a separate pass in the procedure. As a result of this fine art operation, each color is flawlessly reproduced. Sericels are also created in limited quantities, typically 2500 to 5000 pieces. Because of their larger edition size, sericels are the most affordable type of animation art, ideal for the beginning collector. Sericels are sometimes signed by the artist and/or have lithographic backgrounds.

Limited Edition Cel - As with production cels, limiteds can have either hand-inked or xerographic outlines, and are also hand-painted. The major difference, as its name implies, is that the limited editions are created in smaller limited quantities; generally 250 to 500 cels. Because of these small edition sizes, limiteds can also be very collectible. Some limiteds are exact reproductions of the frames of the film they represent. Others are based on contemporary interpretations of classic characters or scenes by their animators. Chuck Jones limited editions are always hand-numbered on the cel.

Limited Edition - Set of identical prints numbered in succession and signed by the artist. The total number of prints if fixed or "limited" by the artist who supervises the printing. All additional prints have been destroyed.

Montage (Collage) - An artwork comprising of portions of various existing images such as from photographs or prints and arranged so that they join, overlap or blend to create a new image

Multiple Originals - A set of identical fine prints in which the artist personally conceived the image, created the master plates and executed or supervised the entire printing process. Example: etching.

Multiple Reproductions - A set of identical fine prints reproducing the image of an original artwork created by a non-printing process. Example: serigraph of an oil on canvas.

Open Edition - A series of prints or objects in an art edition that has an unlimited number of copies .

Original Print - One-of-a-kind print in which the artist personally conceived the image, created the master plates and executed the entire printing process.

Provenance - Record of ownership for a work of art, ideally from the time it left the artist's studio to it's present location, thus creating an unbroken ownership history.

Remarque - Small sketch in the margin of an art print or additional enhancements by the artist on some or all of the final prints within an edition.

Restrike - Additional prints made from a master plate, block, lithograph stone, etc. after the original edition has been exhausted.

Color-variant Suite - A set of identical prints in different color schemes.

Abbreviations Used in Art

AP - Artist's Proof (see definition)

CP - Cancellation Proof (see definition)

Del - (Latin, delineavit) He (she) drew it. Generally inscribed next to the artist's signature.

M.E. Museum Edition

PP - Printers Proof (see definition)

TP - Trial Proof

Art Styles and Movements

Abstract - A 20th century style of painting in which non-representational lines, colors, shapes, and forms replace accurate visual depiction of objects, landscape, and figures. The subject is often stylized, blurred, repeated or broken down into basic forms so that it becomes unrecognizable. Intangible subjects such as thoughts, emotions, and time are often expressed in abstract art form.

Agamographs - Agamographs are a "kinetic" type of print designed by Agam, which use lenticular lenses to produce different images according to where the viewer is positioned.

Among Agam’s most notable agamographs is his large scale Complex Vision, which has been in place at Birmingham, Alabama’s Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital in the US since 1969.

Art Nouveau - A painting, printmaking, decorative design, and architectural style developed in England in the 1880s. Art Nouveau, primarily an ornamental style, was not only a protest against the sterile Realism, but against the whole drift toward industrialization and mechanization and the unnatural artifacts they produced. The style is characterized by the usage of sinuous, graceful, cursive lines, interlaced patterns, flowers, plants, insects and other motifs inspired by nature.

Cubism - An art style developed in 1908 by Picasso and Braque whereby the artist breaks down the natural forms of the subjects into geometric shapes and creates a new kind of pictorial space. In contrast to traditional painting styles where the perspective of subjects is fixed and complete, cubist work can portray the subject from multiple perspectives.

Dadaism - An art style founded by Hans Arp in Zurich after World War I which challenged the established canons of art, thoughts, morality, etc. Disgusted with the war and society in general, Dadaists expressed their feelings by creating "non-art." The term Dada, a nonsense or baby-talk term, symbolizes the loss of meaning in the European culture. Dada art is difficult to interpret since there is no common foundation. Since Dadaists did not claim that the objects they created were art, all objects (including found objects that were retrieved from waste bins and such, could be incorporated to create non-art.

Genre - (zhän'rÉÂÂ??) A realistic style of painting that depicts scenes from everyday life.

Expressionism - An art movement of the early 20th century in which traditional adherence to realism and proportion was replaced by the artist's emotional connection to the subject. These paintings are often abstract, the subject matter distorted in color and form to emphasize and express the intense emotion of the artist.

Impressionism - An art movement founded in France in the last third of the 19th century. Impressionist artists sought to break up light into its component- colors and render its ephemeral play on various objects. The artist's vision was intensely centered on light and the ways it transforms the visible world. This style of painting is characterized by short brush strokes of bright colors used to recreate visual impressions of the subject and to capture the light, climate and atmosphere of the subject: at a specific moment in time. The chosen colors represent light- which is broken down into its spectrum components and re-combined by the eyes into another color when viewed at a distance (an optical mixture). The term was first used in 1874 by a journalist ridiculing a landscape by Monet called Impressionist-Sunrise.

Pop Art - A style of art which seeks its inspiration from commercial art and items of mass culture (such as comic strips, popular foods and brand name packaging). Pop art was first developed in New York City in the late 1950's and soon became the dominant avant-garde art form in the United States.

Realism - A style of painting which depicts subject matter (form, color, space) as it appears in actuality or ordinary visual experience without distortion or stylization.

Romanticism - An art style which emphasizes the personal, emotional and dramatic through the use of exotic, literary, or historical subject matter.

Surrealism - An art style developed in Europe in the 1920s, characterized by using the subconscious as a source of creativity to liberate pictorial subjects and ideas. Surrealist paintings often depict unexpected or irrational objects in an atmosphere of fantasy, creating a dream-like scenario.

Symbolism - An art style developed in the late 19th century characterized by the incorporation of symbols and ideas, usually spiritual or mystical in nature, which represent the inner life of people. Traditional modeled, pictorial depictions are replaced or contrasted by flat mosaic-like surfaces decoratively embellished with figures and design elements.

TrompeL'oeil (Trick of the Eye) - A style of painting in which architectural details are rendered in extremely fine detail in order to create the illusion of tactile (tangible) and spatial qualities. This form of printing was first used by the Romans thousands of years ago in frescoes and murals. TrompeL'oeil can be thought of as a form of architectural realism.

HC - (French, Hors d'Commerce) Prints from an edition intended to be used as samples to show to dealers and galleries

E.A. - (French, épreuve d'artist) An artist's proof (see definition)

Trial Proof - Pre-cursor to a limited edition series, these initial prints are pulled so that the artist may examine, refine and perfect the prints to the desired final state. Trial proofs are generally not signed.

Printer's Proof - Print retained by the printer as a reference. Artists often sign these prints as a gesture of appreciation.

Hors d'Commerce Proof - Print identical to the edition print intended to be used as samples to show to dealers and galleries. Hors d'Commerce (abbreviated to H.C.) proofs may or may not be signed by the artist.

Cancellation Proof - Final print made once an edition series has been finished to show that the plate has been marred/mutilated by the artist, and will never be used again to make more prints of the edition.

Artist's Proof Print intended for the artist's personal use. It is common practice to reserve approximately ten percent of an edition as artist's proofs, although this figure can be higher. The artist's proof is sometimes referred to by it's French épreuve d'artist (abbreviation E.A.). Artist's proofs can be distinguished by the abbreviation AP or E.A.

Proofs are prints authorized by the artist in addition to the limited signed and numbered edition. The total size of an art edition consists of the signed and numbered prints plus all outstanding proofs. If a set of proofs consists of more than one print, numbers are inscribed to indicate the number of the prints within the total number of the particular type of proof, (e.g., AP 10/50 means the tenth print in a set of fifty identical prints authorized as artist proofs). Proofs are generally signed by the artist as validation of the prints.

Print Proof Types

Common Art Print Terms

Mezzotint - A reverse engraving process used on a copper or steel plate to produce illustrations in relief with effects of light and shadow. The surface of a master plate is roughened with a tool called a rocker so that if inked, it will print solid black. The areas to be white or gray in the print are rubbed down so as not to take ink. It was widely used in the 18th and 19th centuries to reproduce portraits and other paintings, but became obsolete with the introduction of photo-engraving.

Offset Lithography - A special photo-mechanical technique in which the image to be printed is transferred to the negative plates and printed onto paper. Offset lithography is very well adapted to color printing

Common Art Definitions & Abbreviations

Printmaking Processes

Planographic - The process to print impressions from a smooth surface rather than creating incised or relief areas on the plate. The term was devised to describe lithography.

Chiarographs - The Chiarograph is a fusion of traditional printmaking and the latest digital technology. The characteristic of the Chiarograph medium is unique : while each one has a pattern or part of an image that is repeated, the individual hand painting preparation results in a one of a kind print. Thus, no two prints are identical. The beauty of this media is also in its spontaneity and its combination of printmaking and painting.

Collograph - Printing technique in which proofs are pulled from a block on which the artwork or design is built up like a collage, creating relief.

Drypoint - Printing technique of intaglio engraving in which a hard, steel needle incises lines on a metal plate, creating a burr that yields a characteristically soft and velvety line in the final print.

Giclées are Museum quality Fine-Art reproductions, also called Archival Prints. These are the result of highly advanced digital printing technology.

A Fine-art Giclée is the closest to an original painting you can get. These artworks are made with an ultra-high-resolution fine-art printer, using seven cartridges of the very finest archival inks on acid free paper. Independent testing by Wilhelm Imaging Research Inc. (a world-leader in image-longevity testing) has established that these "Archival-Prints" or Giclées will last more than 200 years before any noticeable shift in color integrity occurs. Unlike regular printed reproductions, Giclées are truly durable "Museum quality" Fine-Art reproductions.

The color and artistic value, quality of materials, and overall looks make a Fine-art Giclée much more valuable and much more expensive to produce than any other type of reproduction. Its Market value increases even more, if it is of a limited edition of 100 pieces or less, and if it has been pencil signed and numbered by the Artist. Giclées are usually accompanied by an Authenticity Certificate" indicating title of the original, and size of the limited edition.

A Fine-art Giclée is created by tiny jets spraying millions of droplets of archival, pigmented inks onto a sheet of fine art, acid free paper or onto cotton canvas. This spray of ink, more that 4 million droplets per second, whirls onto paper spinning on a drum at 250 inches per second. Hence the name giclée is French for "fine spray."

Precise computer calculations control seven ink jets that together produce 512 shades of dense, special quality ink. The information controlling the jets comes directly from a computer - no printing film or plates are involved. The computer's information is scanned directly from the artist's original work or a digital image of it. An art print emerges, of a superior quality than a serigraph or lithograph. A true Museum-quality Fine-Art reproduction.

Serigraphy (Silk-screen) - A printing technique that makes use of a squeegee to force ink directly onto a piece of paper or canvas through a stencil creating an image on a screen of silk or other fine fabric with an impermeable substance. Serigraphy differs from most other printing in that its color areas are paint films rather than printing ink stains.

Acid-free Paper or Canvas - Paper or canvas treated to neutralize its natural acidity in order to protect fine art and photographic prints from discoloration and deterioration.

Common Art Print Terms

Acid-free Paper or Canvas - Paper or canvas treated to neutralize its natural acidity in order to protect fine art and photographic prints from discoloration and deterioration.

Canvas Transfer - Art reproduction on canvas which is created by a process such as serigraphy, photomechanical or giclée printing. Some processes can even recreate the texture, brush strokes and aged appearance of the original work.

Color-variant Suite - A set of identical prints in different color schemes.

Impression - Fine art made by any printing stamping process.

Limited Edition ? A limited number of identical prints numbered in succession and signed and supervised by the artist. Any additional prints have been destroyed.

Montage (Collage) - An artwork comprising of portions of various existing images such as from photographs or prints and arranged so that they join, overlap or blend to create a new image.

Multiple Originals - A set of identical fine prints in which the artist personally conceived the image, created the master plates and executed or supervised the entire printing process. Example: etching

Original Print - One-of-a-kind print in which the artist personally conceived the image, created the master plates and executed the entire printing process.

Remarque - Additional enhancements by the artist on some or all of the final prints within an edition.

Multiple Reproductions - A set of identical fine prints reproducing the image of an original artwork created by a non-printing process. Example: serigraph of an oil on canvas.

Open Edition - A series of prints or objects in an art edition that has an unlimited number of copies.

Print Proof Types

Proofs are prints authorized by the artist in addition to the limited signed and numbered edition. The total size of an art edition consists of the signed and numbered prints plus all outstanding proofs. If a set of proofs consists of more than one print, numbers are inscribed to indicate the number of the prints within the total number of the particular type of proof, (e.g., AP 5/20 means the fifth print in a set of twenty identical prints authorized as artist proofs). Proofs are generally signed by the artist as validation of the prints.

Artist's Proof (AP) - Print intended for the artist's personal use. It is common practice to reserve approximately ten percent of an edition as artist's proofs, although this figure can be higher. The artist's proof is sometimes referred to by its French épreuve d'artist (abbreviation E.A.). Artist's proofs can be distinguished by the abbreviation AP or E.A., commonly on the lower left of the work.

Hors d'Commerce Proof (HC) - Print identical to the edition print intended to be used as samples to show to dealers and galleries. These proofs may or may not be signed by the artist.

Printer's Proof (PP) - Print retained by the printer as a reference. Artists often sign these prints as a gesture of appreciation.

Trial Proof (TP) - Pre-cursor to a limited edition series, these initial prints are pulled so that the artist may examine, refine and perfect the prints to the desired final state. Trial proofs are generally not signed.

Abbreviations Used in Art

AP - Artist's Proof (see definition)

Del - (Latin, delineavit) He (she) drew it. Generally inscribed next to the artist's signature.

HC - (French, Hors d'Commerce) Prints from an edition intended to be used as samples to show to dealers and galleries.

PP - Printer's proof (see definition)

ME - Museum Edition

TP - Trial proof (see definition)