Care and Feeding of Prints for Archival Permanence

I am always asked, "How should I take care of my fine art prints?" Well, there are a few guidelines that are always true which I'll mention here. Regardless of the type of print you have purchased you should not feel silly asking the artist how to care for your purchase. After all, there's nothing worse than spending good money for something that loses its brilliance over time. So here are a few tips and tricks.


- Always store or exhibit photographs in a cool, dry place, even if framed, away from direct sources of heat. It is especially bad to hang any art piece directly above a heater or radiator.


- Never handle the prints unless absolutely necessary.


- Always use cotton gloves when picking up a print and always use both hands to stabilize the print. There's nothing worse than waving the print around in the air.


- Never place a print in direct sunlight for any extended period even if it's framed with UV protecting glass.


- You should never mount or frame with non-archival adhesive either in contact with or close to the prints. In fact, all mounting material should be archival, acid free material.


- Artists should always make prints with white border areas to protect the image area from handling damage, and to enable framers to cover a minimal area of image.


Archival Permanence of Giclée prints


Since FineArtAmerica.com offers giclee prints I thought it would be a good idea to mention the archival quality of giclee’s. Giclee prints are made digitally with quality inks on high quality printers. The materials used are archival and there is no evidence to support the idea that giclees are not going to last. In fact evidence shows that giclee prints are at least as archival as any commercially available photo paper.


As with any fine art print, regardless of the medium, giclees should never be in contact with air, UV light, or atmospheric pollutants.

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