The Fine Art Print: Edition & Material

Wolf-Kettler-Archival-Limited-Edition-Fine-Art-Photography-Print-Detail

Exhibition Quality

My archival, exhibition-quality limited edition photography prints are authentic photographs without any digital manipulation. The only adjustments I make are ones that would also occur in a traditional darkroom. The finished print expresses what I observed in the viewfinder when I pressed the shutter release button.

The print is the artwork

We are all used to seeing photography on the computer screen or other device in the form of endless recreations. An exhibition quality print is a physical object - an original which offers (as Susan Sontag states in her seminal work 'On Photography') visual pleasures which are not reproducible.

My prints are crafted individually in-house by myself, using the finest archival quality photographic materials - acid-free, pH neutral papers and archival inks, which will resist fading and maintain colour vibrancy for decades. The colours are meticulously calibrated to match the precise colour tone, saturation and contrast of the original photograph.

Acquiring a print

Prints are available to buy during exhibitions and anytime from Saatchi Art.

Explore my work and browse prints

You can also go directly to Saatchi Art, who handle the sale of my works.

This page deals mainly with limited edition prints from my core artistic activities. Prints from private commissions are, of course, entirely private and only available directly from my studio.

My comments about the quality of prints and choice of papers applies.

Private Commissions

The Limited Edition

Limited editions are prints produced in a set size (number of prints), print and paper size, and paper type. Collectors can be assured that the number of reproductions is restricted.

The number will be shown on a print. For instance, if you buy the third print from a limited edition of six, this will be written as 3/6 in pencil in the margin below the print.

Whilst there is no standard for edition sizes, the general rule is the smaller the more special and potentially more valuable. Once an edition exceeds perhaps fifty, maybe fewer, the designation ‘limited’ becomes a largely technical term.

My edition sizes are, depending on the series, from three to twelve.

My limited edition prints are numbered and signed by myself by hand and accompanied by a Certificate Of Authenticity.

See how other collectors describe the tactile presence of these fine papers.

The Artist’s Proof

Artists typically produce one or two prints known as an Artist’s Proof - a lesser known treasure among collectors. These are the first prints to be produced of a series. They will be marked as A/P or AP. If they come on sale at all, they are often more valuable than the numbered prints from an edition. Some experts say that artist's proofs and prints numbered 1 in a series are the most desirable to own.

Whilst all images on this website are watermarked, prints are, of course, never watermarked.

Eastern & Western Papers

The paper, on which a photograph is printed, is a fundamental part of the photograph as a physical object.

The specific paper, which carries a work of art — a drawing, painting, photograph, writing — influences the way, in which we experience the work. It is not just a supporting medium in the background but becomes a physically and intellectually inseparable part of the finished work. The printed photograph no longer only contains the visual information but becomes a physical object in its own right.

In Western culture we often have little appreciation of the qualities of paper. We usually only notice whether it is bright or off-white, thick or thin, shiny or matt, smooth or rough - if we notice anything at all.

Western papermaking focuses on uniform density and often a smooth surface. In Western style paper the fibres used (wood pulp or cotton rag) tend to be short and produce paper lacking internal strength. Inevitably, it is necessary to produce thick, heavy and cardboard-like paper. This is what in Western culture we have come to think of as “good” paper.

By contrast, traditional Japanese papermaking (Washi) uses organic plant fibres — in particular Kozo — that are much longer. This produces elegant paper with a unique tactile presence that is noticeably thinner but crisp and delicate yet very strong.

The term washi - wa (Japanese) and shi (paper) - refers to traditional, handmade paper.

It was only when I attended a workshop to learn how to make paper that I realised that the techniques for making thin papers show the real skills of the papermaker.

This delicate-yet-strong paradox of papers made in the Japanese tradition draws a parallel to our home, planet Earth, and also the human existence.

The Paper Archive

Papers in use