Here you can find all you ever wanted to know about the graphic arts but never dared to ask !
The graphic arts (from the ancient Greek graphein, to write) are defined as all technical procedures (drawing, prints, graphic design, etc.) enabling the visual conception or presentation of artistic work.
By extension, they encompass all image reproduction procedures, like photography. Graphic art auctions thus include posters and drawings in watercolour, gouache and graphite on paper.
The art of the line found in Old Master and contemporary drawings rivals with prints: images obtained by printing from an engraved or drawn support – engravings, lithographs, screen prints, etc., the essential point being to make an imprint.
Online graphic arts sales also feature photographs, from Gustave le Gray's albumen prints to contemporary prints by Nan Goldin, and even Street art works, with tags, stencils and graffiti that have travelled from the street to the auction room. Did you know? One of Banksy's fake £10 notes, distributed free to the crowd in Notting Hill in 2004, can now fetch €500 at Drouot.
