The Clever Way to Afford Art Masterpieces
Since my dad is a professional artist, I did not grow up in an art-buying house — we just hung all my dad’s paintings! BUT my late mother, who was a decorator (a spectacularly talented one I might add!) — told me once that if she were not married to an artist, she would have made liberal use of museum posters to create the ambiance she wanted. They’re affordable, they support museums & they have a “great look,” as she would say!
In this spirit — and with a gallery wall project of my own at home — I started looking online for some cool museum posters to mix in with my framed photos and other artwork. What an AMAZING variety to choose from!!! Below is a series of posters that I adore & am thinking of for myself, along with my sense of how to maximize this look:
Rule #1 — Stick to paper posters only, no canvas. When hanging a poster or reproduction, of let’s say Matisse or Picasso or Dubuffet, you’re not trying to pretend you’re the owner of a multi-million dollar original. You’re paying homage to the artist - proudly displaying a PRINT. So let’s not get all faux-fussy with the canvas style….paper = perfect.
Rule #2 - Posters with writing on them are absolutely okay & maybe even preferable. I like having the exhibition copy over a poster for a bunch of reasons. One, it can add a chic new design element if the font is interesting and stylized. Two, it captures a moment in time & shows how the art-loving world is constantly trying to bring new images to our attention - I love that!
And three, if you’re lucky, the exhibit was somewhere you think fondly of — Paris, New York, San Francisco, Barcelona. Just hanging there on your wall, the image will make you feel a little closer to these great cultural centers (which for me, living in the suburbs, is an added bonus walking down the hall with a load of laundry in my arms!!).
Rule #3 - Keep the framing very, very simple. No need for heavy gilded frames. Try to keep your frame in the same vein of what is appropriate for a print - a clean light wood frame, or a very thin metal edge frame. Think minimalist: let the print be the star.
Many of these online museum shops and online poster stores can give you simple framing with the click of a mouse. But if they don’t - or you already have some unframed posters rolled up under your bed from long ago trips! — you can get them framed via Framebridge without ever leaving home. Framebridge does an amazing job & is very affordable.
