Generally, galleries offer experienced collectors, institutions and museums large-format single print editions, or works with 3-5 prints, costing 4-5 figure prices. As an alternative, there are the mass-produced, indistinct, masterpiece reproductions found in museum shops. There is a gap in the market for those who have outgrown industrially produced art, and are looking for affordable and authentic works. LUMAS was established to fill that gap by creating a new space for art appealing to new collectors and all art lovers.
LUMAS offers a huge variety of works from 160 established photographers, up-and-coming newcomers, and historical archives. More than 1,400 hand-signed originals are available in limited editions of 75-150 prints. This printing of a limited edition of photographs enables us to offer affordable prices ranging from $100 to $700, for open editions starting even at $70. LUMAS wants to be able to offer large format, high-grade artistic photographs with museum quality.
If the number of prints is specified, this is the maximum number of copies in which the motif appears in the given format. All prints are hand-signed by the artists. The principle: the owner of a photograph in a limited edition of, for example, 75 copies shares the rights to the artwork with just 74 other people worldwide. In doing this, the purchase is made affordable for everyone.
LUMAS agrees in a contract with each artist as to how often an artwork can be printed. Furthermore, the artists commit themselves to providing editions in multiple sizes. Under German law, you have the legal right to demand that LUMAS and the artist keep the edition within the stated number of prints. Besides the defined edition sizes at LUMAS, the artist reserves the right to offer a few prints – usually in considerably larger formats – to galleries and museums. This is of course essential for the work to become known. If you would like to receive more details, the LUMAS hotline can inform you about how one of our works is represented as a whole on the art market. There are 2 to 10 so-called artist proofs in addition to the numbered edition prints. These proofs are made available to the artist for the purpose of quality control. Under special circumstances, marked as artist proofs, they will be sold by LUMAS at increased prices once the edition has sold out.
Together with the artists and their gallery representatives, LUMAS determines the individual price for each edition. The significance of the artist's work, its size and number of prints all play a role in the pricing. If, for example, a museum work measuring 100 x 120cm, in an edition of five prints, is sold for $12,000, LUMAS would offer an edition measuring 50 x 60cm. By offering a quarter of the size, the price would be calculated to be $3,000. If you increase the number of prints by a factor of 20 to 100, each buyer must only pay a 20th – or just $150 per print. Due to higher production costs, the calculated price would be rounded up to $200. This is the underlying principle behind LUMAS – affordable prices achieved by offering somewhat larger editions with no reduction in artistic quality or craftsmanship. Both museum works and the LUMAS Editions are comparably, fairly priced artworks.
Occasionally LUMAS increases the price of editions, if they achieve the status of ‘bestseller’ or ‘last prints’. The ‘bestsellers’ are where at least 50% of the edition have been sold, ‘last prints’ where at least 75% of the edition have been sold. When a work achieves the status of ‘sold’, this means that no examples remain for sale on LUMAS.COM. However, there is still the possibility that individual prints, or prints being returned from art fairs, can still be found at one of our galleries. ‘Sold’ works are those with the highest price level at LUMAS.
If the number of prints is not mentioned, the edition is neither limited nor signed – and therefore especially affordable. Open Editions are all “real” photo prints with a certification sticker.
The measurements of the photographic paper are given. If, in addition, a (smaller) image size is given, this means the artist has chosen a white boarder of the given additional width.
LUMAS Editions are Color Lambda Prints, created at our partner lab, WhiteWall, on Fujicolor Crystal Archive photo paper. You can find more details here. When there are exceptions to this technique, it is mentioned in the edition details.
LUMAS keeps most works available for you. Therefore, the delivery time ranges between 14-21 days. Contact your local gallery to find out if individual works are available immediately.
If not otherwise stated, all editions displayed are printed by LUMAS and are therefore available exclusively from LUMAS only.
High-end offers from galleries with five-digit prices present the best opportunity for appreciation. However, their edition spin-offs show – as can be seen at specialized auctions – astounding potential, simply due to their limited status. Once the edition has sold out, there is a marked demand for the pieces. The price sometimes rises only slightly, but sometimes also by a multiple of five or ten.
We see ourselves not as a gallery per se, but rather as the partner of galleries. While galleries sell small editions at higher prices to museums and experienced collectors, LUMAS offers larger editions at lower prices for a broader public. LUMAS cooperates closely with many leading and new galleries – while the galleries simply emphasize artistic quality, LUMAS seeks to offer both artistic quality and wide-reaching distribution.
The LUMAS Satisfaction Guarantee
For all online orders at LUMAS we offer a 14-day return policy.
