Featured Large (image alone 21" x 32"), Pencil Signed Photo? Print? by Claude Butcher - What is This?

I got to a local thrift store early every morning - both to be sure I am first or near the front of the line when they opened + my friend who manages another thrift store in the same strip mall lets me in early before everyone else as long as they are unloading the trucks with the new donations - and this is one of the things I found;
It is a large (just the black & white photo/print area is 21" x 32" w/frame 36" x 30.5") pencil signed photo? print? by renown photographer Claude Butcher.

What is this - a photo or a print? I looked at his website at the same Dunes, Port St. Joseph, and it comes in different sizes but none matching mine?
It also said that he hand prints each one (Below from his website/Dunes 1983 (I also found a Dunes 3 2003 on same website) link):

Analog – Archival Silver Gelatin Photograph
Clyde’s silver gelatin black and white images are created using an 8” x 10”, 11” x 14”, or 12” x 20” view camera. Clyde prints his images in his own darkroom on fiber-base paper in a limited edition. The photographs are selenium toned, then mounted and matted to current archival standards. His images come in sizes from 8” x 10” inches to 5’x 8’ feet. His love of art and nature is seen in the exceptional detail and more subtle textures of his photography. Each photograph is individually hand printed in the darkroom and will vary based on factors such as artist preference, chemistry and temperature.

So - what do I have? Is it one of the ones from the process above? It's pencil signed which is good, but the description printed on the lower left make me wonder if it's a photo, print or even a poster?

Once again I bought too much stuff and there's some that I'm questioning now - so I'm hoping this is the real deal which would make up for everything I bought today!

Thank you very much in advance!

 

It might be a giclee print - photo printed on a big digital printer. If this guy sells them to the tourist trade that would be my guess. It's an easy way to make a buck and he controls 100% of production.

 

Then why would the write out say it's a silver gelatin print? It sure looks like one to me.

 

No idea and it might well be. Gelatin prints are reserved for fine art printing these days. The sizes quoted are the size of the negatives, not the prints. The biggest I've ever used myself is a 2x2 inch - straight load stuff, no cannisters. If this guy is using sheet film then this could be a real gelatin print easily. Giclees are done from digital images for the most part.

 

They only thing that concerns me is that if you blow up the image, I can see what looks like a serrated edge. If you were printing from a negative with an enlarger the edge would be smooth? I did look and couldn’t find it offered in any other form than the gelatin silver. If it is the real deal it cost someone a small fortune. I loaded a pic in the cart on the artists site, Wow they are pricey.

 

Can I tell if I open the back? (would it have like Kodak logos on back? If not how do I tell what it is?)

 

The only thing I can tell you from experience is that fine art photographers usually document on the back some sort of inventory number. You might just contact the site and ask them what it is.

 

That's a good idea! Here is his website & this image - and Clyde’s silver gelatin black and white images can be ordered in sizes up to 56 x 76 ?

 

It's not numbered? He uses view cameras, the largest being 12" x 20". That's a very big camera. I don't know what kind of an enlarger you would use with negatives that size, or what other options are available for processing such images. It's too big to be a contact print. If it is a silver gelatin print mounted to a backing, you ought to be able to see the edges of the print. It sounds like the print ought to be one piece of paper adhered to another piece of paper. The guy must have some impressive processing gear.

 

I'm guessing that the information on the bottom left (title, date, copyright, etc.) would indicate that this is some sort of reproduction, albeit hand signed, rather than a gelatin print.

 

I wrote an email to his website & got a response - it is a glicee from the 90's and they no longer make them.