CURIOUS ART BAR
LIMITED EDITIONS BUYERS GUIDE AND PRO TIPS
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CURIOUS ART BAR
LIMITED EDITIONS BUYERS GUIDE AND PRO TIPS
#1
SMALLER EDITIONS ARE MORE VALUABLE Prints and Photographs produced in quantities over 200 are considered reproduction works, rather than the 'fine art' classification of a limited-edition series. A smaller series enables the artist to approve each work individually and then personally sign, number and name each piece after their approval. Artists restrict the total produced in an edition to ensure each individual work will retain its value and uniqueness for the owner. PRO TIP: GET IN EARLY When edition sizes are small, for example one of 30 instead of 100, each artwork in the edition becomes rarer, and therefore more valuable to the market. It is not uncommon for the last pieces of an edition to achieve a higher price as the availability diminishes. Buying early will ensure the best value for the work. Barbara Hamilton
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CURIOUS ART BAR
LIMITED EDITIONS BUYERS GUIDE AND PRO TIPS
#2
BUYERS GUIDE: QUALITY EQUALS COLLECTIBILITY A sign of a quality fine art print will be the artists obsession with paper quality and their relationship with an artisan printer. Through history artists have sought out artisan printers with intimate knowledge of techniques that both enhance and work purposefully with the artwork created for limited edition. Picasso himself was prolific in his print artwork series, developing new techniques that improved the medium while working with master printers like Francisco de Goya. PRO TIP: CHOOSE LIMITED EDITIONS PRINTED WITH HALLMARK PAPER AND PRINT QUALITY The St James Whittings' limited editions use Hahnemuhle 'German Etching' archival museum grade fine art paper, and are faithfully printed in creative partnership with the Australian boutique fine art production specialist, cie-elle. Barbara Hamilton
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CURIOUS ART BAR
LIMITED EDITIONS BUYERS GUIDE AND PRO TIPS
#3
BUYERS GUIDE: WHAT IS THE VALUE OF TITLED ART? Not a lot, based on the lack of originality used when naming many of the worlds most loved and valuable artworks! Artists seemingly ran out of creativity by the time they signed and named artworks for authentication. Examples are Monet's 'Water Lilies' named simply after the subject, Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers', Warhol's 'Campbell's Soup Cans', Klimt's 'The Kiss" or Paul Klee's 'Red Balloon'. Other titles, like Vemeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' leave us curious by taking our focus to a central and illuminated pearl earring. The title is both evocative and informing. Another such title is Catherine Whitting's 'Winton Ridge' from the St James Whitting Elementals range. Inspired by the writings of one of Australia's most talented story tellers, Tim Winton, Catherine recasts words into art. PRO TIP: WELL TITLED ART CAN COMPLETE A PICTURE! The real value of an artwork titled to provide clues and insight into the artists intentions, is its ability to add another level of enjoyment and appreciation for the work. Barbara Hamilton
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CURIOUS ART BAR
LIMITED EDITIONS BUYERS GUIDE AND PRO TIPS
#4
BUYERS GUIDE: ARTIST COLLABORATIONS Throughout art history, artists including the great masters, have collaborated in different ways. Masters including Leonardo da Vinci who himself started as an assistant, routinely used studio assistants to complete artworks. Some of the most famous (and unlikely) pairings evolved as two established and talented artists tested the belief that opposing styles could become elevated when combined to create new and untried techniques. Christo and Jeanne-Claude had a 55 year collaboration and though Jeanne-Claude passed away in 2005, Christos 2016 project ‘Floating Piers’ in Italy is the realisation of a project conceived together in 1970. Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney, the unlikeliest of pairings, collaborated on many projects including an animated short movie. They also had a lasting personal friendship. There are many reasons artists collaborate but the most often described is the desire to push technical and stylistic oppositions to create innovative artworks. PRO TIP: VALUE STUDIOS THAT OFFER COLLABORATION SJW art studio have many iterations of their individual styles and have purposefully created works combining and featuring the hand of both artists. Collaboration is an integral and motivating element in their artistic practice, engaging and developing new techniques to merge digital and painted mediums. Barbara Hamilton
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CURIOUS ART BAR
LIMITED EDITIONS BUYERS GUIDE AND PRO TIPS
#5
BUYERS GUIDE: WHAT IS Giclée? (zhee-clay) Fine art and technology, had already walked hand in hand for centuries, when one of the first commercial prints in 1455 was used to create an affordable Bible, reducing the 20 years it took to create them by hand. Fast forward to 1989, and the newly coined term Giclée was used to describe an extremely high-quality print produced by the most modern printmaking techniques. Giclée prints are the highest quality fine art prints, used by artists to make individual or low-run reproductions of original two-dimensional artwork, using archival quality inks, onto acid free fine art paper. Giclée's are so close to the original they are hard to identify. If you look at the side of the canvas sometimes you can tell because there is no height to the brushstrokes, but on a smooth painting the difference is almost imperceptible. Artists who have created two-dimensional works using techniques that were expressly suitable for Giclée are the likes of Jackson Pollack, Robert Rauschenberg, John Olsen, Norman Lindsay and Mark Rothko. PRO TIP: THE IMPORTANCE OF ARCHIVAL PAPER & INKS Ensure you buy limited edition works where archival inks and papers have been used so the quality of the print is rated for 100-200 hundred years. Inferior papers will yellow, fade and crack over time. Barbara Hamilton
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CURIOUS ART BAR
LIMITED EDITIONS BUYERS GUIDE AND PRO TIPS
#6
BUYERS GUIDE: WHAT IS A SJW LIMITED EDITION? Simply put, a fine art Limited Edition print means that there will only ever be a certain number of prints produced and once they are sold, they will never be available again. SJW limit the number of prints in an edition to 30 and this may consist of various size prints. Each SJW fine art Limited Edition print will be exactly the same. While they are not all printed at the same time, each print in an edition is printed on the same paper, with the same inks, by the same artisan print house. When you buy a Limited Edition print from SJW, it will be signed, titled and numbered on the front of the print. It will also come with a signed certificate of authenticity which is included with the tube roll or attached to the back of a framed print. There are also a small number of Artist’s Proofs available once the edition has sold out. These are not included in the number of prints in the edition. PRO TIP: THE BENEFITS OF BUYING EARLY Fine art Limited Edition prints are not always numbered and signed in order. Buying early in the edition will mean you will pay the best price and possibly secure a number that might be meaningful to you personally. Barbara Hamilton
www.curiouaartbar.com sales@curiousartbar.com
CURIOUS ART BAR
LIMITED EDITIONS BUYERS GUIDE AND PRO TIPS
#7
BUYERS GUIDE: WHAT IS A SJW ARTIST PROOF? (AP) Artists proofs are the first test prints that are signed off (approved) then held by the printer to ensure each of the Limited Edition prints are reproduced identically. Sometimes perceived to have a higher value because they are the artist’s own copies. Artists may limit their Artist’s Proof prints to 10-15% of the edition but SJW believe that’s unnecessary and only produce two. One held by the artist and one held by the printer. Each artist handles pricing slightly differently but it is usual for the price of a fine art Limited Edition print to increase as the edition comes closer to being sold out. For example, the first 10 prints may be sold at one price, the next 10 sold at that price plus 10% and the last 10 sold at the original price plus 20%. The Artist’s Proofs are usually the last to be sold and are sold at the highest price. Sometimes the artists proofs are not released for sale. PRO TIP: RESERVING THE ARTISTS PROOF The Artist’s Proofs can be highly desirable to some collectors. It is worth considering placing an expression of interest for the AP and purchasing it in advance of the closing of the edition to secure it. Barbara Hamilton
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CURIOUS ART BAR
LIMITED EDITIONS COMPLIMENTRY CURATION FOR YOUR ART
'View From My Room'
'Mustard Seed' 'Wildflowers' 'Natures Cathedral' 'On The Line'
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CURIOUS ART BAR
CONTACT US
CURIOUS ART BAR PO BOX 1499, NORTH SYDNEY NSW. AUSTRALIA 2059 sales@curiousartbar.com www.curiousartbar.com M: 0410 484 237
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