Prints Collecting Guide (2024)

From woodcuts to lithographs, originals and editions, the importance of different types of paper, and much more.Illustrated with standout works offered at Christie’s

• Collecting Guides

10 October 2024

A print is any work of art made in multiple iterations, created through a transfer process. There are many different types of prints, and the process is constantly evolving, but the four best-known techniques are etching, lithography, screenprint and woodcut.

Lithography: The artist draws onto stone using a grease-based medium — normally special lithographic crayons, or greasy ink known as tusche. The stone is then treated with a chemical solution that ensures the image will attract printing ink, and that blank areas repel ink and attract water. A solvent ‘fixes’ the image, and the surface is dampened with water. Oil-based ink is then applied to the stone with a roller, adhering only to the image. Finally, the stone is placed on a lithographic press and covered with damp paper and board — a pressure bar ensuring force is evenly applied across the image. The image is printed in reverse, with separate stones used for complex images of multiple colours.

Lithography opened up printmaking to artists otherwise reluctant to learn the technical skills needed to create woodcuts or etchings, since many of the same tools, such as brushes and pencils, can be used. Lithography was first made famous by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the 19th century, but has been embraced by many of the major artists of the Post-War period, including Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, David Hockney and Jasper Johns.

Screenprint: An image is cut into a sheet of paper or plastic film, creating a stencil. This stencil is then placed in a frame, which has a layer of fine mesh stretched across it, forming a ‘screen’. A sheet of paper is placed below the screen, and ink is pushed through the stencil from above, using a rubber blade or squeegee. Only cut-out portions of the stencil print allow ink though to the sheet of paper. In addition to stencils, a photographic image can be reproduced on the screen using light-sensitive gelatins. This was a hugely important innovation for Andy Warhol and other members of the Pop generation, who would appropriate commercial photographs and popular images in tandem with the technique.

Woodcut: An image is sketched on a block of wood before the surface is carved into with gouging tools. The resulting raised portions of the block are then coated in ink using a roller. A sheet of paper is placed on top and pressure is applied, leaving an impression of the block’s raised areas in reverse. Woodcut is the oldest printmaking process. It was of particular interest to the German Expressionists including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and it continues to be relevant today — artists such as Donald Judd, Damien Hirst and Helen Frankenthaler have all used it.

Although printmaking involves reproducing an image, a print is more than just a copy of an original. Fine art prints are something else entirely, resulting from a close collaboration between the artist and the print studio. Printers — the people who work with the artist to produce an edition — are highly skilled technicians, and are often artists in their own right.

Prints are not made in large production runs intended solely for commercial sale. A limited number (known as an edition) are produced, with prescribed routes for initial sale — either through the artist, a commercial gallery or a publisher. As a result they are true works of art, and as important to the artist as drawings or other works on paper.

Lucian Freudwould create etchings only in black and white following his days in the painting studio, whileEllsworth Kellyapplied the same fastidious understanding of colour and form to his editioned work. Some artists consistently make prints for their entire career — Jasper Johns and Pablo Picasso are famously prolific examples —while others come to printmaking in bursts of activity, such asBarnett Newman. Typically these periods can be aligned to working with a particular print workshop.

An ‘original’ print is technically a unique work given it is generally produced as a limited number of impressions (collectively known as an edition), and each print is given an edition number, typically written as a fraction — for example, 5/30. The number to the right of the slash indicates the edition size (in this example, 30"), while the figure to the left is the individual print’s number.

An artist may also produce a limited number of artist’s proofs, often marked A/P, that are identical in nature to the standard edition. Here again, fractions may be used to indicate the total number of proofs, and the print number (e.g. A/P 1/4). Other proofs may be made at an earlier stage, as the artist and printer develop an image or test different compositions. These are known as state proofs, trial proofs or colour proofs. These can be unique, with differences in colour combinations, paper types or size. Andy Warhol started to sell his trial proofs as unique colour-combinations separate from the edition, and they’re now some of the most coveted works in his print market.

Our condition report also notes whether an item is the full sheet or with full margins, which means that the paper has not been trimmed in some fashion, itself an issue that affects the value.

Christie’s cataloguing also indicates where a work was published — namely the studio where a print was made. These workshops can be huge production studios with large-scale equipment or small-scale operations with only a few employees. Some really famous names to pay attention to for Post-War and Contemporary prints are ULAEin West Islip, Long Island Tyler Graphics in Mount Kisco, Gemini G.E.L. in L.A., and Paragon Press in London. That's just a small selection, however, and we are always finding out about new studios.

The majority of the prints sold at Christie’s are signed — though not all prints are issued with a signature. Warhol and Picasso both stamp-signed some of their prints, and some larger portfolio editions were only signed on the title page. Don’t be alarmed if a print is only initialled. It doesn’t mean that it is worth less — indeed, some artists only initial their prints, such as Richard Diebenkorn and Lucian Freud.

Three key tips: if a print has bright colours, don’t hang it in direct sunlight; ensure a print is kept away from any source of moisture; don’t trim the sheet to try to fit it in a smaller frame. Framing is something our team is happy to discuss with you — we’re very used to being asked these questions.