Pdfs are what we all use for hi-res printing, regardless of whether it is fine-art. There are some fine-art printers here in the US that, depending upon the size of print prefer rbg images (tiffs) if they want to pump up color for multi ink processes. But that's not the norm.

Really, I don't understand the aversion of pdfs. There is no difference between an image in a pdf versus a standalone image.