Giclée Is an Art Word That Needs to Die

I first heard the word giclée in 1996 directly from Graham Nash and Mac Holbert when I attended a one-on-one digital imaging seminar that was hosted by Apple in Atlanta, Georgia. When they told me what it meant, we had a conversation about it. At the time, I wasn’t convinced it was the right word – and interestingly, history has largely vindicated that view.

The word was coined (invented) by printmaker Jack Duganne back in 1990. He was working with Graham Nash at Nash’s newly formed fine art print shop called appropriately enough: Nash Editions. Duganne wanted a name for a new type of print they produced on a modified Iris Graphics 3047 prepress proof inkjet printer. This printer was about the size of a washing machine. It had a large, rotating drum that paper was attached to. The inkjet printheads were stationary while the paper was spun on the drum. The printer that Nash bought was modified to accept Arches watercolor paper. The inkjet heads had to be shaved down to allow for the thickness of the water color paper. Needless to say, Nash’s brand new $126,000 printer’s warranty was voided with that modification. But, wow! The results!

Graham Nash showed me several prints he had made using his modified Iris printer. At that seminar, he had his Iris there so I was able to see it in action. The prints he made were rich, velvety, black and white images made from his personal photographs. Nash told me he was a photographer first, a musician second. He took up performing and recording music in order to fund his first passion - photography. And, of course, his gig with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young was a huge success.

Nash initially wanted to call the prints he made on his modified Iris digigraphs. However, he eventually acquiesced to Duganne’s phrase giclée. Duganne wanted a word that would differentiate the prints that Nash Editions produced from regular commercial Iris prints then used as proofs in the commercial printing industry. Back when I did digital prepress work, I would send out work to printshops that had Iris ink jet printers and Tektronix dye sublimination printers to proof print jobs. Those printers were amazing in that capacity. Modifying an Iris Graphics 3047 to produce beautiful archival fine art prints is a logical conclusion in hindsight. I’m truly amazed at Nash’s vision for the potential of this printer back in the early 1990’s.

So how was the word giclée concocted? Duganne based giclée on two French words. The first was gicleur, the French technical term for a jet or a nozzle. The second word was the associated verb gicler. It’s meaning: ‘to squirt out.’ To Duganne that sounded like an inkjet printer, but with a now much more pretentious and sophisticated word: giclée.

The problem I saw immediately with the use of this totally made up French sounding name was that it was so obscure no one would understand what it meant. You would have to explain it. If someone asked: “What is this print?” and the answer is: “It’s a giclée.” Well, that person has learned almost nothing. But if the answer is: “It’s an archival ink jet print made with pigment inks on 100% acid free paper” – they’ve learned something meaningful about the print they are contemplating purchasing. To me, that’s a compelling argument for 100% clarity instead of using obscure fancy-pants art-world jargon.

Frankly, it’s time for artists, galleries, and fine art printers to stop using giclée in their marketing. If it’s on your website, remove it. This word needs to die.

Perhaps one of the most compelling reasons to stop using it is because the very people involved with coining the word giclée have quietly stopped using it themselves. I’d like to think Graham Nash finally took my objection to its use to heart - but I’m sure after 30 plus years he wouldn’t know me from Adam. However, I’m glad he has stopped using and promoting it.

The greatest irony is that the word giclée was invented to make digital printing sound more respectable. Thirty-five years later, digital printing has earned that respect–and now the word itself is what’s become outdated. Besides, once you discover what gicler can mean in French (ahem, it’s a bit risque)… you may decide it’s time to retire the word anyway.

May giclée be forever excised!