Art, it is agreed, is vital to an interior – and for those of us with less deep pockets and walls to adorn, prints are often mooted as a clever solution. Produced in multiples, they can be priced lower than a unique painting or sculpture, which is why they’re known as the most democratic art form. However, as a mode of creative expression practiced by some of the greatest artists in the canon of art history from Albrecht Dürer to Andy Warhol, they can be expensive as well as gloriously affordable – and for good reason: ‘there’re one of the oldest forms of image making, there’s something almost primeval about them, and a magic that you don’t get with any other medium,’ says Lyndsey Ingram. And so, because to be informed is to be empowered, it’s worth beginning with a quick skip around some of the vital terminology.
Key is whether something is an original or a non-original print. An original print is a work of art which has been conceived by the artist to be realised as a print – whether through relief (woodcut and linocut), intaglio (etching and engraving), lithography, screenprint, or monotype – and it will be signed and numbered. A non-original print is a copy of an artwork reproduced by a digital, photographic or commercial process – which does not negate the decorative value or quality. Moreover, they too can occasionally still be costlier than you might imagine if, like a 1980 Francis Bacon exhibition poster, they’re rare – or if they have made with the artist’s approval and signed.
Which brings us on to the other aspects that affect value. Scarcity will be informed by type of edition, whether that’s numbered, timed or open. Then there’s condition: in 1960, with a rallying call of ‘art for all!’, Peter Blake produced 10,000 of his famous Babe Rainbow silkscreens on tin, priced at £1 each – but they’re not all still as bright, shiny, unscratched and undented as they were then. Stature of the artist is another consideration: our love and admiration for Peter sees many of us, today, gladly paying rather more than a pound for a Babe Rainbow, even one that’s a bit bashed up. But we also do that because of the aesthetic allure – which always matters, particularly when it comes to deciding whether we’re going to part with our cash and take something home. To which end, here are some of our favourite places to find the loveliest prints, in all their forms, and at a wide range of prices:
