Judging the Authenticity of Prints by The Masters:
by David Rudd Cycleback

Chapter 21 : What is an Original Print?

(c) cycleback 2003, 2005 all rights reserved

Most people have a sound idea what is original and what is not. I don’t have to tell the person on the street that a Xerox copy of the Mona Lisa isn’t the original. There are, however, gray areas and areas of different legitimate points of view. An original print is a print where the graphics are brand new. It is not a reproduction or copy of something that existed before. Traditionally, only hand made prints were been considered original prints. In fact, hand made prints are often referred to as ’original prints.’ I don’t use the term that way as a handmade print can copy another print and that’s not originality. Most photomechanical prints reproduce another image and these are rightly not called original. There are, however, cases were a photomechanical print can be considered original. For example, a handmade print may incorporate photomechanical printing or a collage may juxtapose a number of photomechanical images unique way. Many of us have computer graphics programs that allow us to sketch a brand new design by moving the mouse or our finger across the touch pad. Most, not all, original prints are hand made prints, and most photomechanical prints, not all, are not original prints. An original print by a famous artist is an original print where the printing plate was made by the artist and the printing was done or closely supervised/approved by the artist. While artists often have assistants who help in the preparing of the plate and the printing, an original Picasso can’t have been made without Picasso’s approval or awareness. There will be debates about how involved an artist was in the making of a particular print. If the artist ‘telephoned it in’ and his assistants did most of the work, many collectors will not consider the work an original of the artist, or at least entirely by the artist. Artists sometimes take the original printing plate and print a new edition from this plate years later. Sometimes the later prints will be different, perhaps in new colors and/or different states. Many collectors consider these later prints to be originals, while others do not. Either way, later prints made by the artist often have strong financial value. This is especially if the printed have short limited editions and are artist signed and numbered. Sometimes the printing plates exist after the artist’s death and are used to make more prints. These prints are not original, though some of these restrikes have some value if antique and rare. Some famous artists have made photomechanical reproductions of their art. If limited edition and artist signed, these reproductions can have value, but they are not original. cycleback.com................conceits main (c) david rudd cycleback, cyclback.com all rights reserved

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