Vintage Cyanotypes

Find a variety of vintage cyanotypes available on 1stDibs. There are many Contemporary versions of these works for sale. These items have long been popular, with older editions for sale from the 20th Century and newer versions made as recently as the 21st Century. If you’re looking to add vintage cyanotypes that pop against an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include that feature elements of blue, beige, purple and more. Many versions of these artworks are appealing in their rich colors and composition, but Kind of Cyan and Rosie Emerson produced especially popular works that are worth a look. The range of these distinct pieces — often created in c print, emulsion and film — can elevate any room of your home.

Prices for art of this kind can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — vintage cyanotypes in our inventory begin at $290 and can go as high as $1,300, while the average can fetch as much as $390.

Kind of Cyan is an art collective based in Barcelona, Spain, that specializes in producing cyanotype prints, also known as sun prints. This 19th-century printing technique uses UV-light to create images with a rich, intense blue hue that is both nostalgic and contemporary. The collective's archive includes a range of medium to large sized works that are perfect for filling large walls and open spaces. Each piece is either part of a small edition or a completely unique monotype, ensuring that every artwork is one-of-a-kind. Through their use of the cyanotype process, Kind of Cyan creates visually stunning works that are both nostalgic and contemporary. Their prints capture the essence of the natural world and evoke a sense of wonder and awe, with a deep appreciation for the history of photography and an understanding of design fundamentals that will beautifully enhance any space.

Decorating with fine art prints — whether they’re figurative prints, abstract prints or another variety — has always been a practical way of bringing a space to life as well as bringing works by an artist you love into your home.

Pursued in the 1960s and ’70s, largely by Pop artists drawn to its associations with mass production, advertising, packaging and seriality, as well as those challenging the primacy of the Abstract Expressionist brushstroke, printmaking was embraced in the 1980s by painters and conceptual artists ranging from David Salle and Elizabeth Murray to Adrian Piper and Sherrie Levine.

Printmaking is the transfer of an image from one surface to another. An artist takes a material like stone, metal, wood or wax, carves, incises, draws or otherwise marks it with an image, inks or paints it and then transfers the image to a piece of paper or other material.

Fine art prints are frequently confused with their more commercial counterparts. After all, our closest connection to the printed image is through mass-produced newspapers, magazines and books, and many people don’t realize that even though prints are editions, they start with an original image created by an artist with the intent of reproducing it in a small batch. Fine art prints are created in strictly limited editions — 20 or 30 or maybe 50 — and are always based on an image created specifically to be made into an edition.

Many people think of revered Dutch artist Rembrandt as a painter but may not know that he was a printmaker as well. His prints have been preserved in time along with the work of other celebrated printmakers such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol. These fine art prints are still highly sought after by collectors.

“It’s another tool in the artist’s toolbox, just like painting or sculpture or anything else that an artist uses in the service of mark making or expressing him- or herself,” says International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) vice president Betsy Senior, of New York’s Betsy Senior Fine Art, Inc.

Because artist’s editions tend to be more affordable and available than his or her unique works, they’re more accessible and can be a great opportunity to bring a variety of colors, textures and shapes into a space.

For tight corners, select small fine art prints as opposed to the oversized bold piece you’ll hang as a focal point in the dining area. But be careful not to choose something that is too big for your space. And feel free to lean into it if need be — not every work needs picture-hanging hooks. Leaning a larger fine art print against the wall behind a bookcase can add a stylish installation-type dynamic to your living room. (Read more about how to arrange wall art here.)

Find fine art prints for sale on 1stDibs today.