Artist's Proofs
Prints are constantly pulled from the pile to check for quality. If there’s a problem, the presses are stopped and they go back through the prints until they find where the problem started. The imperfect prints are removed from the edition and destroyed, the problem is corrected, and then the presses are started up again.
In the past, those sample prints, or proofs, were set aside and signed as a separate edition of the same image.
Now however, artist proofs aren’t typically the exact prints that were pulled for the tests: there’s just too many. What’s called ‘artist’s proofs’ today are typically an extension of the print run that are signed and numbered by the artist as a separate edition of the same image.
Meaning, they’re exactly the same image and the same quality as the Limited Edition Prints.
Why?! Mostly, it’s as a sort of homage to the past, but now the demand for them is because there’s “less” of them.
For instance, Owen typically publishes 1968 Limited Edition Prints of his drawings, and has 196 Artist’s Proofs, so there’s one tenth as many Proofs as Prints.
Now remember, it’s exactly the same image! The ONLY difference is the way the artist signs and numbers them – even Owen couldn’t tell a Print from a Proof of his own work!
So why bother?
People like the aura of exclusivity that Proofs have: because it’s signed as a separate and much smaller edition (even though it’s the same image).
To a lot of people they’re more exclusive, so they pay a premium to get it.
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