Art Print Appreciation

Generally the difference is in the level of quality. Wall posters are typically printed in large volume on less expensive paper, fine-art posters are printed on high-quality paper, and fine-art prints are printed with careful attention to true color reproduction on high-quality paper.

Print making is a type of artwork, it is done between an artist and a master printer. The artist does an original, then the printer transfers the image using the techniques that earned him his title. This is done with various types of ink using various styles. Prints are limited in number and the blocks from which they are printed are destroyed once the artist decides to stop printing. In a sense every print is an original. Posters are simply printer-printed replicas of original pieces, they are printed in mass quantities and do not (in most cases) involve the artist in any way.

Sometimes, there is no difference at all.

But, if someone were to sell me an “art printl,” I would expect the quality of the printing to be exceptional.

The products, usually sold as “fine art prints” are, often, ordinary posters, falsely mislabeled. The prints that hold very real value are the limited edition, numbered prints, usually signed and numbered by the artist. “Limited Edition” could still mean thousands of prints, but the idea is that, once the run is finished, the plates are destroyed so that no more can be made, which would reduce the value of existing plates. When the prints are numbered, it indicates which print out of the total number planned. If the buyer knows, before purchasing, how many prints will be made, he can make a better choice about what a fair price may be. A print, out of a run of 500, would be worth much more than one from a run of 10,000.

The way you formed the question, you would place the same value on a poster print from ebay as you would an original oil painting of the same image. They both hang on a wall, right?