ANSWERS: 3
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A lithograph is a print. It is a specific technique. Lithographs are printed from either a stone, a zinc plate or from a plastic foil on which a drawing is made. The drawing can be made with a greasy chalk or with lithographic ink. It is then "fixed" by a chemical process, and the stone, plate or foil is dampened with water, which covers only the parts of the surface that has not been drawn on. Then a printing ink is applied which stays only where the drawing was made, because the water repels the ink. Lithography is a "flat" printing technique, in contrast to Intaglio prints - etchings for instance, where the printing ink stays in the incisions made into the plate, and in contrast to wood- or linocuts, where the color is printed from the surface that has not been cut.
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A lithograph is a print!!!
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1) "I would like to approach the answer to your question assuming you don't have much information about the difference between hand lithograph and offset lithography. This way I can give a more complete answer. When a hand lithograph is made the artist draws directly on the printing element. (stone, aluminum, Mylar, etc.) From this drawing the prints are inked and pulled. One drawing for each different color. Each print records the unique mark of the artist and their hand. When prints are made using offset lithography, an original (painting, drawing, watercolor etc.) Are taken to a commercial printer. The printer photographs the original and then converts all the colors into a combination of 4. (Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black) A negative is made for each of these colors and a photographic plate is prepared for printing. They are run, usually all at once on large high speed presses. The mark of the artist is lost in the translation from original to photograph and then color separation. Depending on the printer, colors can vary drastically from the original. A common way to tell if a print is a hand lithograph or an offset lithograph is to look at the print under magnification. Marks from a hand lithograph will show a random dot pattern created by the tooth of the surface drawn on. Inks may lay directly on top of others and it will have a very rich look. Prints from an offset press will show a mechanical dot pattern from the color separations. Each color generates a separate dot pattern that when combined produce a very small circle or "rosette". The dot patterns look like the dot from the newspaper comics but smaller. You can easily see these dots under small magnification or sometimes with the naked eye. All the dots line up in neat little rows. If you can see these dots it is a sure sign of camera and commercial involvement. If the dots are random and you purchased the print from a reputable dealer it is most likely a hand drawn lithograph." Source and further information: http://www.stonescrayons.com/litho.html 2) "A giclee in usually nothing more than a very high quality REPRODUCTION of something usually a photo of a painting or a photo itself. These can be made in the thousands and regardless of what guarantee you get… more can be done anytime by simply changing then a small fractional amount and calling it a “second state” then a third yadda yadda yadda - you get the picture. A lithograph can be one of three things. It can be offset litho “read magazine and repros in the 1000s” or original litho from either a stone or plate printed by hand either by the artist or a professional who is trained in that kind of work, me for instance. That litho is a 40 step process by hand in fairly small editions and they are numbered ands signed by the artist with a certificate of authenticity that gives date, paper type, artist, printer and number in the edition and how that amount is split up (artist proofs, printer proofs collectors proofs museum proofs regular edition, preferred edition - usualy on very fine paper. Canvas is just that… either painting down on an exceptable substrate such as canvas, masonite etc. Then there are prints on canvas - again another reproduction. Prints can refer to anything from a book plate to a real hand made print like litho above or just another big batch run off by high speed machinery and barely worth the paper they are printed on even if they are signed by hand. You are basically either buying it because you like kittens or horses or whatever or you are paying for a name. A fine art print with documentation which is the seller’s siguature and a registered stamp on it to boot. The very best thing that you can do is study study study. Get to know what it is you want to buy and then pick something that you really like to look at before a profit ibecomes a factor. It may never do what you want it to in the market but you would still have it for the original reason that you bought - [because] you liked it." Source and further information: http://gicleeartprintsblog.com/fine-art-reproduction/difference-between-giclee-lithograph-and-print
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