If you want to hear some non-printmaker artists get really defensive really fast, suggest that they stop calling their reproductions and derivatives 'prints'.
What is a reproduction or derivative?
A reproduction is exactly that... a copy of an original artwork. Reproductions are a very important part of the art world. A derivative is a type of reproduction, but the term is generally used to describe items that are not strictly defined as being a piece of art. Good examples of derivatives include coffee mugs, tee shirts, greeting cards and any other item that a reproduction of the art is placed on. These make great gifts, and can be an important part of an artist's income, but these are not something that is going to be mistaken for fine art.
Giclée and the Dumbing-down of High Quality Reproductions
Reproductions that are intended to be sold as display art can also be an important part of an artist's income. Many artists who produce art that is a single piece and sell it for big dollars also have reproductions made that they sell for a lot less (this includes some printmakers... especially those who make monotype). A buyer who loves the art, but cannot afford the price for an original, can purchase the reproduction at a lower cost. Win - win... artist makes some money. Buyer gets some art.
'Giclée' is a French term that basically means a very high quality reproduction that is produced with fine art papers, archival inks, and printed on machines that are so refined that the piece they produce is perfect in almost every way, and is considered to be 'museum quality'. The cost to produce a giclée is pretty high, so the price of a gicée reproduction is also high. Most artists also produce the giclée as limited editions. Some artists also do some kind of embellishment to the giclée to make each copy unique... a dab of paint here, and swipe of ink there... Violá! Artist-touched! It's still a copy of the original... but so what? It's a very nice copy.
At some point an enterprising artist somewhere realized that reproductions made with cheaper paper, cheaper ink, and lower quality printing machines cost a lot less than the high quality giclée. Who really needs museum quality? So started the race to the bottom. Now there are people printing copies of drawings and paintings onto glossy pamphlet paper and selling them in a cheap frame for $25. (or less)
The art police said, 'non! non! non!' to calling these very low-quality reproductions 'giclée', because that term must be preserved for high quality copies. So what should the cheap copies be called? They were made using a cheap printer... so let's call them... PRINTS!
And that's how an entire genre of fine art got thrown under a bus.
Forced Redefining
Thanks to the overuse of the word 'print' to describe a reproduction, printmakers around the world try to use modifying terminology so art buyers are aware that what they are looking at is original art and not a reproduction. A printmaker might describe the art as being a 'handmade print' or an 'original print', or use the method in the name such as 'linocut print' or 'intaglio print'. Potential buyers who are not familiar with printmaking still will not understand, because all they see is the word 'print', and if that person is only interested in an original piece of art the printmakers may never get the opportunity to explain what they do.
The next logical strategy is to remove the word 'print' from the description and simply identify the art as 'linocut', 'collagraph', 'monotype', etc... Dropping the word print has the advantage of providing a conversation starter with a potential buyer. "Are you familiar with mezzotint? No?... Let me explain!" Unfortunately, dropping the word 'print' can be more confusing in a gallery setting where a buyer approaches a beautiful print that they think is a watercolor painting, reads 'collagraph' under the title, has no idea what that is, and asks the gallery sitter, 'Have any watercolors?'
Give 'Print' Back!
Printmaking is an ancient and respected art. Pretty much everyone has done it in one form or another, even if it was only once, in grade school, with a potato. The one term that unifies all different types of printmakers has been taken from us and used as a name for inferior art. Yes... that was said. A digital machine-printed copy of a masterpiece is inferior as art to a handmade linocut PRINT of a little boy taking a pee on the word 'Giclée'. (That would be an AWESOME sticker... hmmmm.)
I have no issue with any artist producing reproductions or derivatives of their art. That is a personal and business decision that we should all respect. I make derivatives... stickers! People like them and buy them. I do not make reproductions of my prints, even though I have some pieces, like "Hound Yoga", that are sold out and people would buy reproductions of. My art. My choice.
I just want the term 'print' back. Not going to happen... but a printmaker can dream.