Signing Your Work

I'm posting this here because I have gotten some very helpful answers on other

topics from the participants of this forum. I hope it is an appropriate topic

for the forum.

 

I'm curious to know if you sign your work, and, if so, how do you sign it?

Specifically, I'd like to know where you sign, what you use to sign, and what

other information, if any, you include with your signature.

 

For example, do you sign on the mat or on the print? If you sign the print, do

you sign on the front or on the back? If you sign on the front, do you sign on

the image or on the border? Do you include a name for the image, or just your

signature? On the right side of the print or on the left? Do you include a

date? Do you use pencil, pen, or something else?

 

Thanks in advance for any answers. I've learned more from this forum than from

any of the others I monitor.

When I sell a print that is intended to be hung on the wall, I write its title (if it has one) on the

front, lower left, outside the image area, with pencil. On the lower right I write my name and

the year of production. This way clients are able to choose if they want to include this

information within the mat frame or under the mat. Signing the mat is overly vain IMO and

quite useless, because this makes it very easy to separate the signature from the artwork,

which defies the function of signing: authenticating the artwork as an original print from the

signer. Signing within the image area is a deterioration of the image, I think. Pencil is

chemically stable and will not leak trough the paper over time or oxidize, as ink would

probably do.

Thanks, Erik. Yours is exactly the kind of answer I'm seeking.

Hi Joel

 

When it comes for signing my prints, if I'm printing traditional silver gelatin prints or digital archival inkjet prints on a matte surface paper, I sign my signature in pencil on the bottom left corner just under the print area. If it is part of an edition, I put the edition number in the center bottom underneath the print area. At the bottom right corner under the print image I put the date.

 

When I'm printing and signing my digital archival injket prints on a more luster or glossy surface, I do the same as above, but use an archival pigment-based marker.

 

I was just reading about how W.E. Smith would sign his prints. Smith would sign right on his prints with a pen BUT he had a piece of paper in between the pen and the print. By doing this he only left an impression on the actual print. You would only see his signature up close. Kinda neat.

 

Cheers,

Sid

Thanks for the information, Sid. Would you please tell me more about the archival pigment-based marker, such as a brand name?

It's 'traditional' to sign in the lower right hand corner of the print, with the year of what we

now call 'capture' & the year of the print (Joel Barry, 2004/2006). You want to sign close

enough to the image so that the signature will show in a 'reveal' type of mat with about 3/

8" revealed.

 

If you go to museums & galleries, you'll see that most artists don't write titles on their

prints. If you choose to do so, they go in the lower left & the Edition/print in the middle.

 

The common practice is to put Edition/print number on the left.

Whoops, both Sid & I said something confusing: Actually the print number precedes the

number of prints in the edition, so that "3/25" means the third print in an edition of 25. If

you haven't decided how many you're going to print, you can write "OE 3" - the third print

in an Open Edition.

I just write on the back of the frame. Title, where it was taken, date and signature.

 

P

I also glue a 4x5" piece of paper to the back of the print mounting (the board facing the back of the frame) that gives:

 

Photographer

Title

Date

Location

Details of the shoot (lighting, filters, or info I care to share).

Technical details (usually not very detailed, but usually format, camera system and lens, film type, and almost always the printing method)

Thanks for all the answers. I appreciate your help.

Joel,

 

I just ordered a new set of these from DickBlick http://www.dickblick.com/zz207/57/

Thanks, Sid. I went to a local Michaels store and found something similar.