Where (else) to Buy Museum-Quality Affordable Prints Online
To know us is to know we aren’t gatekeepers, so we’re sharing some of our favorite sources for purchasing fine art prints online (that aren’t us!). When we’re working on art consulting projects and we don’t have prints from our collection that will suit, we make a beeline to see what these groups have available. While there are plenty of studios that sell very high quality digital prints, we’ve focused our attention on sources for limited edition, autographic (read: hand-printed) pieces.
The online art business is now a multi-billion dollar enterprise. While it's incredibly exciting that more and more people are using the web to discover and support emerging contemporary artists, not all art sales platforms are created equal - particularly where prints are concerned. For those who want to start or build on a contemporary art collection, buying prints can be a wonderful way to have work from prominent artists without the hefty price tag of paintings or sculptures.
Far from exhaustive, below we've included some of our favorite sources for purchasing museum-quality, fine art prints online. We are featuring groups who offer online purchasing directly through their website, however you should know that there are many more exceptional print publishers who would gladly send information on currently available pieces if contacted via email or phone.
We use the term, "fine art print" to encompass pieces that have been originally produced as editioned prints, not reproductions of existing works. They’re all printed using autographic techniques such as silkscreen, lithographic, etching, relief (linoleum/woodcut/letterpress) or monoprint techniques and have been produced in a limited and finite edition.
Rocca Luis César, Ensayo para un picnic, V, 2023. Silkscreen print.
Uprise Art
We're really fascinated by the model that Uprise uses, which is that they emulate the traditional artist/gallery relationship but take it online. They present their artists at numerous art fairs every year and sell their work with regional exclusivity. Which means, if an artist is approached by a traditional gallery for representation, they will move on from Uprise.
Another really innovative element to their business model is the payment plans they offer for the purchase of more substantially priced items over a period of time. Additionally, they have cultivated strong relationships with designers and brands through their art consulting services and offered many of their artists an exceptional platform for large-scale commissions.
The pieces offered in their "Prints" section represent a wonderful range of screenprint, etchings, woodcut and some beautiful mixed media monoprints ("one-offs" made using the printing press but not editioned.)
Jules de Balincourt, Merging Islands, lithograph.
Edition Copenhagen
Edition Copenhagen was established 1959 and is a lithographic workshop and gallery space located in the Christianshavn district of Copenhagen. Edition Copenhagen has three partners Rasmus Urwald, Dannie Vieten and Peter Wissing Sørensen and is one of the leading lithographic workshops in the world. The intention of the owners is to create a haven, where the artist can roam freely in order to continue developing the printing process and to pass on the knowledge of lithography as a unique medium of artistic expression.
Each year Edition Copenhagen invites a number of international and Danish artists to create lithographs in the workshop. All of the invited artists have exhibited widely in galleries, contemporary art centers and museums around the world. Besides inviting established artists Edition Copenhagen also aims at working with new and upcoming artists.
A view of the Limited Works their Instagram
Limited Works
Also based in Copenhagen is Limited Works. They too have a brick and mortar location but also a very easy to navigate website for purchasing works online. They specialize dealing in art on paper and collaborate with both Danish and international artists to share both unique drawings and paintings but of most interest to us – a wide range of graphics such as screen prints, etchings, lithographs, relief prints and risographs.
Morten Halborg Møller founded Limited Works and he takes enormous pride in being able to promote carefully selected artworks, which might not be found elsewhere and which helps support the future generation of Copenhagen’s art scene .
Elise Ferguson "Paw, B", 2023. Screenprinted underglaze and glaze on handmade ceramic tile.
Kingsland Editions
Kingsland Editions is a Brooklyn-based fine art screen print and publishing studio established by Sara Gates. They work directly with artists to create and publish original limited edition prints and multiples.
Releasing several new print editions each year, each edition is a close collaboration with a contemporary artist and completed using the highest standards of craftsmanship. Gates established the studio with the belief that art is for everyone, that it should be accessible and is a conversation that anyone can enjoy being a part of.
What inspired me most about Kingsland’s output is their enthusiasm for expanding beyond typical print materials and developing new techniques for realizing each artist’s vision.
Elizabeth Peyton Thursday (Tony), 2000. Lithograph on silkscreened pearlescent ground.
Counter Editions, UK
Counter Editions veers from what might strictly constitute "affordable" for many, but they're included as the prints and multiples they produce are from leading contemporary artists (Tracey Emin, John Baldessari, Howard Hodgkin, Rachel Whiteread, Martin Creed) and would constitute an investment in starting a serious contemporary print collection.
Founded in 2000 Counter Editions collaborates closely with the artist to produce exclusive editions in different mediums including screen print, photography, etching, fine art lithography, collage and bronze.
They have become the UK's leading website for buying contemporary art. For all print collectors, there is great importance in which collections pieces from a specific press are placed - prints from Counter Editions have been purchased by numerous international collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Kunstmuseum Zurich, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the British Council.
Abigail McLellan, Starry Orchid, 2001. Screenprint.
Glasgow Print Studio
We’re long-time fans of Glasgow Print Studio, both Graham and I have spent time printing our own work over the years and their online print store is both extensive and representative of the diverse group of artists who produce editions in their printshop. The quality of the prints is exceptional - this is a place where very talented printmakers produce new work!
If you’re ever visiting Glasgow, they also have a brick and mortar store in the ground floor under the printshop where you can flip through (and long for) their prints in person.
Magnus Dahl, Drawings descending from sky II, Monotype.
ed. art
ed. art was founded by Elisabeth Blennow Calälv with the mission to allow more people to surround themselves with thought-provoking, high-quality art. She had noticed during her years working in an art gallery that many folks found it too difficult to navigate the art world, felt that galleries were inaccessible, and the prices of original artworks was often out of their reach.
Simultaneously, she saw that there was a large amount of edition artworks languishing in the galleries’ and artists' storage flatfiles, without being shown. From these two challenges, the idea of ed. art was born; an online shop where Scandinavia's best editioned works on paper would be gathered, available to both seasoned collectors and those that may be acquiring art for the first time..