A Short Guide to Buying Original Art Prints: 10 Things You Ought to Know By Roger Walton in Art Business Advice General Art Advice Collecting original art prints by famous artists has become increasingly popular now that people realize that they can actually afford it. Original art has been copied for centuries. Students would learn how to paint like a master by emulating a masterwork. Often reproductions have been used to provide a less expensive version of a popular painting. While only one individual or institution can own an original painting, thousands of people can own a copy or reproduction of that.
A study of visual techniques for the identification of watercolorpigments was carried out at the Williamstown Art Conservation Centerduring the Fall of 1995. This paper is an overview of thecollaborative project which was divided into three phases. PhaseOne: a visual study of watercolor pigments by students fromWilliams College. Phase Two: the results of my Getty Advancedresearch project involving the visual study of watercolor pigmentsin selected artworks, followed by positive identification of thosepigments through scientific analysis. Phase Three: theimplications both these studies had on a condition survey carriedout concurrently by the Williamstown paper lab of 500 Americanwatercolors and drawings owned by the Williams College Museum ofArt.IntroductionFig.
Prendergast sketchbook from Williams College collection.The college museum received an extensive collection ofwatercolors, paintings and sketch books by Maurice Prendergast from his widow, with the specific mandate that portions ofthe collection be on exhibit at all times. It is this mandate whichspurred the curators of the museum to have their collectionsurveyed, as well as, form exhibition guidelines to protect theartworks. In addition to the usual condition and treatmentobservations, the Williamstown conservators carrying out the surveysought to evaluate the effects of exhibition, and to assign eachwork a lightfastness category based on the present visual appearanceof the media, the paper support and the artwork's collatedexhibition history. Since decisions regarding the lightfastnessand relative fading of various watercolor media would rely on visualobservations by the conservators on-site, it was necessary to testthe assumption that watercolor pigments could be accuratelyidentified visually.Phase IThe initial phase of the study was undertaken by fiveundergraduate students as a Winter Study course at Williams Collegetaught by James Martin, Director of Analytical Services at theWilliamstown Center.
Their objective was to evaluate if pigmentscould be visually identified using tools which would be availableduring the on-site survey: visible and long-wave ultraviolet light,and infrared reflectography. The students began their project bylisting watercolor pigments that were used between 1760 and 1950,the period inclusive of the artworks to be surveyed. These pigments(in combination with historical and chemical information) were usedto create a searchable database.From the more than one hundred pigments included in the database,fifty-five were selected for identification using a series of blindtrials. These pigments were selected based on common usage inhistoric watercolors, low toxicity, and commercial availability inhigh-quality paint from Winsor-Newton. Three additional colors wereprepared from dry pigments, gum arabic, and glycerin: Manganeseblue, indigo, and Lac dye.Fig.
Bands of watercolor washes brushed out on test sheet.The selected colors were brushed in narrow bands ontosmooth and rough sheets of 100 percent rag watercolor paper. Eachband represented a gradation of pure color, from opaque to atransparent wash. Each band was labeled by common name, Color Indexname, and Color Index number. The students examined each colorusing visible and long-wave ultraviolet light, and infraredreflectography, then noted characteristic features.Small portions of each band were cut out as chips, and randomlynumbered. The students then attempted to match each color chip tothe band from which it was cut.
Many colors were misidentified.Reds, oranges, and yellows proved most difficult to successfullymatch. In some cases, fugitive pigments were confused withlightfast pigments.
Among the possible reasons the students gavefor confusion or uncertainty were the visual effects of pigmentconcentration (e.g., wash vs. Opaque), and the color and texture ofthe paper support.Fig. Copy of Sargent watercolor with coded color chips used for identification.In a final exercise, the students attempted to visually identifypigments in an actual watercolor drawing. This exerciseintroduced two new variables in testing: the use of mixed colors,and application of overlapping colors. No consensus was reached onthe identity of the pigments.
This is a good question. Paintings are a little different because an oil painting has to be created from scratch and therefore is one of a kind and only needs a signature. So they are always original even though they may be similar. The only exception would be if I was planning on painting a series of the exact same painting over and over again to create dozens or even hundreds then they should be technically numbered. This is fairly rare except with a few unscrupulous companies I am aware of or mass produced paintings from other companies. You do have to be careful in the art market. I don’t know the painting but artists sometimes produce similar paintings sometimes the viewer may not be aware of subtle changes the slight differences of the paintings or sometimes the format is changed a painting is enlarged.
So the answer is yes an artist can produce two originals of the same painting. Now if he is producing dozens then that is another conversation entirely. I have a question about selling prints that I have altered with pastel. I had some prints produced and due to a time limitation, didn’t have a chance to adequately colour proof them.
Eventually this will be corrected. However, I do have 4 prints which I felt were too yellow. I thought to try adjusting them with pastel and was quite happy with the result. So, my question is, how do I sell this.
Eventually the rest of the edition will be colour corrected. There will be 100 in the edition. So, do I number these as part of the edition? Or do I call them A/P.obviously the 4 will be somewhat different from the rest of the edition. Hi Kevin,I have an issue with a gallery asking me for prints, I make editions already (normally 10). These are hand assemblage/collages of digital photos on art paper(Giclee), they CAN’T be rolled so shipping is costly.
The galley asks if I can do ‘flat’ roll-able prints. (which i could)How do i go about this without devaluing my art – can I have ‘signed ‘ open editions of these limited editions???is that weird?I though of making sure they are smaller by 30%, is the a way to write that they are open edition? Ie; ‘OE’Am I digging a hole here?Thnks. Hello Sandy,This can surely be a dilemma for artists wondering if they should make prints of their work.
If you do editioned prints you can control the number of reproductions. With of course open editions they are essentially posters.
It really boils down to how you feel about your branding. I think making them smaller is a good idea so as not to be confused with the other edition. Since you already have the other edition I would be tempted to make this one an open edition. I Think you are on the right track. I don’t know if that helps. Best of luck.
Hi Kevin,Great that you share your knowledge to help out artists. I’m currently doing an ink pen drawing but want to keep the original and have a series of 10 – 20 prints (yet to decide number of prints) reproduced by a professional printer and sell the prints. I will number and sign the series 1/10 etc. Is it possible to do 2 extra prints as A/P. Artists Proofs as I wanted to gift these two to family members. I read all of the above replies but still a bit unsure how to proceed as I’ve never done this before. Your advice will be greatly appreciated.
Hello Jorge,I want again to clarify for the record I am not an art appraiser. I am an artist in the art world and the article is about accepted norms. For anything beyond the general idea of the article or specific questions about a particular piece, it would be necessary to contact an expert appraiser. There isn’t enough to go on with this image. The rule of thumb with art is to buy and keep what you enjoy.
If you are collecting to make money it’s like the stock market or the lottery nothing is a sure thing but those that do collect for money have a team of professionals tracking the careers and marketability of specific artists and so on. For 99.9 percent of us that isn’t our paradigm. With a painting with such a low price tag with numbers that don’t specify an edition.
If it were me I would assume the thing is decor art something to be kept if I liked it but otherwise I wouldn’t assume it would be worth anything. To be clear that is my speculation since I am not an expert.
I hope that helps. Thank you for contacting me.
I appreciate it. In terms of the painting, you would be well served to research the artist, edition numbers are supposed to be written on the painting but some have put them on the back. That number on the back could also be an inventory number so some research would be a good idea. The white signature may or may not mean anything. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough information to make a definitive decision but it’s a little strange so I would find out what you can about it.Have a great day.
Hello Dale,This is a really good question. We are talking about intellectual property rights. So this is just my understanding I am not a lawyer but after years of negotiating production rights for illustrations and paintings I understand some industry norms, I can tell you when you purchase a painting you don’t purchase the intellectual property rights of that painting unless otherwise negotiated by a special contract giving you the rights to the image.
You purchase the right to possess the painting but not to the rights of the reproducing the image, or selling the rights of the image to anyone else. These rights remain with the artist.Since the artist has passed away I would assume the intellectual property rights transfer to the family. Again this is pure speculation because there can always be special circumstances so you would want to talk to a lawyer that specializes in intellectual property rights to see what yours and the family’s rights are to the image.