Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1
Taken from here: http://www.customdesignworkshop.com/cdw/art_glossary.asp
drawing into something more sublime through one or another of the
processes of serial reproduction”.2
Outside the world of fine art, ‘print’ has developed another meaning to the 'fine art'
one defined above. This secondary meaning has been created by marketers not
artists and is literally applied to anything from posters to high quality drum scanned
reproductions of old masters. Almost without exception prints sold under the
marketing definition are in fine art terms, reproductions. They may be sold as
‘Giclée’, ‘fine art limited editions’, ‘artist prints’ or one of a myriad other terms, but
unless the image was “conceived and executed …specifically in the context” of that
print medium and has not been copied from other media, they remain reproductions.
Incidentally this marketing usage of the print has also degraded the meaning of
giclée since that has also been increasingly used to mean a reproduction.
The parallel categories of prints and printmaking used by Etsy are unhelpful in this
context. They add even more uncertainty to an already muddled situation and should
be merged, probably as ‘printmaking’. I will come back to the sub-categories included
in print, but not printmaking later.
There is a related question of how to tag reproductions. As things stand there is a
main art sub-category of reproductions, but the majority of such appear to be placed
in other categories, sometimes print or printmaking but sometimes even the original
medium.
Etsy guidelines on tagging seem quite clear:
• If the word describes what something is, don't use that unless your item *is*
that.
A reproduction of a painting is not a painting, so a reproduction should not
use 'painting' as a tag.
• What is the main material?
A reproduction of an oil painting doesn't use oil paint, so a reproduction
should not use 'oil' as a tag.
• What method or technique did you use to make it?
A reproduction of an oil painting is not painted so should not be tagged
'painting'.
• Are there synonyms?
Painting is not a synonym for reproduction, so reproductions should not be
tagged ‘painting’.
Given the current state of search, tagging a reproduction with the media of the
original image is potentially misleading and may in some legal jurisdictions be illegal.
Unless originals and reproductions can be clearly separated it should be avoided.
Use of ‘print’ as a synonym for reproduction is grossly misleading and should not be
possible.
Two other areas of uncertainty for the printmaking category remain, photography
(both digital and film) and ‘digital art’ (the meaning of which is of itself subject to
much uncertainty).
The idea of a fine art print does not traditionally include photographs, but the concept
of fine art photography is well established and it is traditional to talk of a photographic
print. Photography could be incorporated into the Printmaking category, but would
probably be best left outside as now.
2
Taken from: http://www.worldprintmakers.com/english/pmdef.htm
A much greater difficulty arises with digital art. One suggestion in this thread
(http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6301596&page=58#post-
43165985) was for a specific category with sub-categories as below:
3-D algorithmic animation collage
drawing fractal illustration mixed media
montage painting photomanipulation pixel
vector
Should digital art be a main category in any case? Should it be a part of printmaking
instead, in which case should a digital print be described as an ‘original print’ in the
same way as say a linocut?
As for the suggested sub-categories, they again mix up media, style and to a degree,
subject. Pixel and vector are in any case redundant, since all the others are either
pixel based e.g. painting or vector based e.g. fractals. Photomanipulation is
ambiguous, since it could equally be in photography, depending on the degree of
manipulation. It is not necessarily a digital process in any case. What is digital mixed
media? I’m not aware of anyone selling video art on Etsy, so I am not sure how
animation would fit in. If it were to be included where would non-digital animation go?
I have not found anyone selling moving images on Etsy, so other than digital collage
sheets (which would be a Supply) it seems reasonable to assume all digital artists on
Etsy are selling a physical image. It seems probable that most digital artists see
themselves as working within the printmaking tradition, although terms like digital
painting are also common. However since digital images are by definition multiples it
seems most appropriate that digital art should be placed within printmaking.
There remains the question of whether digital prints are also ‘original prints’ in the
same manner as linocuts etc. In my view the test is the same - is the image made by
or under the direction of the artist? If so, then it would be an 'original print'. I'm not
sure how that would affect those prints produced and sent to the buyer without the
artist seeing them but as I understand it that is not allowed on Etsy anyway.
Like ‘print’, ‘giclée’ is a much abused term. Giclée is a printing process but as with
linocut etc it is also used to describe the prints made by that process. It properly
describes the output from Iris printers that can produce variable size dots and use
dye based inks.3 Giclée is also often used to mean prints from high-end inkjets using
pigment-based inks. These should properly be described simply as archival (if that
applies) and pigment based prints.
It has also been debased to mean simply reproduction. A giclée print is not of itself a
reproduction. The test of a reproduction remains that described earlier and is
independent of the printing process.
Recommended:
1. Original, print, reproduction and giclée should be clearly defined by Etsy
along the lines set out here.
2. Use of original and reproduction as tags for the same item should be
impossible. Until this can be achieved by programming means it should be set
out in new guidelines.
3. Use of ‘print’ in isolation as a synonym for ‘reproduction’ should be prohibited.
3
Giclée , the short history of inkjet digital printmaking:
http://www.worldprintmakers.com/english/giclee.htm (article written about 2002)
4. Unless originals and reproductions can be easily separated in searches, use
of the original materials as tags for reproductions should be prohibited.
5. Photography should remain as a separate art category
6. Digital art should be included within printmaking.
Appendix: Art categories and sub-categories on Etsy
The sub-categories within Art are repeated below.
aceo collage drawing fiber art
illustration mixed media painting photography
print printmaking reproduction sculpture
These are a mess. ACEO is a format, not a medium; the difference between print
and printmaking is obscure, while reproduction is at odds with the rest. How does a
reproduction fit with the idea of Handmade in the first place?
As you know these sub-categories are further sub-divided. The first of these, ACEO
appears to have the other main categories as sub-categories below it. I can
understand the logic of this since ACEOs are a very popular format. However, the
problem of distinguishing between print and printmaking and the appropriateness of
reproduction still apply. If these are indeed tags and not hierarchical categories it
creates major problems for search unless the searcher is skilled in Etsy search
syntax.
The Collage sub-categories are extremely confused.
abstract digital original collage
painting paper photo
portrait print surreal
The selection seems arbitrary. They mix styles, medium and subject, it isn’t clear why
‘original collage’ is thought to be needed while reproduction isn’t, why ‘painting’ is
there at all, or why ‘abstract’, ‘portrait’ and ‘surreal’ are in the list, but not say
maritime or landscape. Why is ‘paper’ there but not fabric? Why not mixed media?
Why is ‘print’ repeated from the top level of art categories? How can a collage also
be a print? Where is ‘printmaking’?
Drawing is even more confused.
abstract charcoal digital ink
landscape marker original original drawing
pastel pencil pop portrait
print surreal
Again styles are mixed with media and subject, but added to that are other strange
things. What for example is the difference between ‘original’ and ‘original drawing’?
What does ‘pop’ mean? How can a drawing also be a print? Many people think of
pastel as being a form of painting. How would you categorise ink and wash? Where
is ‘printmaking’?
Fibre art (sorry – I’m English!) Why is this here at all? How is it different from crochet,
knitting or needlecraft? On a related point does the search pick up fiber/fibre?
Confusion also reigns within the Illustration category.
Abstract charcoal digital fashion
ink landscape marker nude
original illustration pastel pencil pop
portrait print still life surreal
Styles, subject and medium are again mixed up. Why original illustration (and not
reproduction)? Still life appears here but not in drawing – why? What is an illustration
as opposed to other forms of art? Do cartoons go in drawing or illustration? At the
moment they are in neither. Again ‘print’ appears but not ‘printmaking’ (or
reproduction).
Mixed Media gets worse.
3d altered assemblage book
mixed media mosaic scrapbooking
original
How does 3d differ from sculpture? Altered what? What is a mixed media book?
Does it mean altered book? Yet again why do we have ‘mixed media original’?
Mosaic is just wrong. It is a medium in its own right. If it has to be at this level it
should surely be under Collage? This time neither print, printmaking or reproduction
appear.
Painting has the usual mix of media, subject and style.
abstract acrylic canvas digital
encaustic gouache landscape oil
original painting pop portrait print
reproduction still life surreal watercolor
Why original painting? Why print? Why is reproduction suddenly in there (especially
when it also has a category of its own) although still no printmaking? Why some
subjects and not others – e.g. still life, maritime, aircraft, animals, nude? Why canvas
but not paper or board?
Photography is equally confused, in fact almost bizarre.
abstract black and white collage cyanotype
digital film landscape lomography
macro nature pinhole polaroid
pop portrait surreal ttv
We have the usual mixture of medium (film/digital), subject and style, plus other
options unique to photography. Why cyanotype, but not sepia or platinum or gold
toning? Why black and white but not colour? Lomography and Polaroid are about
types of camera so why not 35mm, medium format, large format? Is pop here a
subject (music) or a style? If a style what does it mean? Why no fashion or nude as
subjects? What about urban, photojournalism, candid? Why ttv? (I had to Google it to
even find out what it was.) Why not photography with other vintage cameras? Toy
cameras?
The Prints and Printmaking categories raise many questions, starting of course with
why both? What is the difference if any? Linked to these is the Reproduction
category, which has sub-categories that overlap with both, but doesn’t include the
categories that one might assume are actually being reproduced.
Prints has these sub-categories
aquatint collograph digital drypoint
engraving etching giclee gocco
letterpress linocut lithograph mixed media
monotype screenprint stencil woodblock
I understand that at some stage the printmaking category was added, printmakers
haven’t apparently expressed concern over the terminology. It isn’t clear however
why the existing print category was retained, unless it was in related to some
confused thinking about the nature of an original print and the idea of a reproduction.
Why are digital and giclée included in ‘print’, but not in ‘printmaking’?
The concept of prints as multiple originals is inseparable from the idea of an edition –
whether limited or open – and yet these terms are not included in either prints or
printmaking, only in reproductions.
Gocco is simply a form of screen print made using a particular piece of commercially
available equipment. Once produced I’m not sure it can be identified as being
specifically produced that way? If not why is it separately listed? Linocut is there but
not woodblock – or is woodblock meant to be a part of engraving?
Sculpture is not an area I have great knowledge of but also appears to have
problems.
abstract animal assemblage ceramic
clay fiber figure found object
glass installation metal mixed media
mobile mosaic painted paper
people plaster stone wood
Again there is a mixture of styles, materials and subject. What is the difference
between ‘people’ and ‘figure’, or ‘assemblage’ and ‘mixed media’? Is mosaic a form
of sculpture in its own right? What is the appropriate category for a sculpture
assembled from pieces of wood – ‘assemblage’ or ‘wood’?