To matte or not to matte

Not sure which forum this belongs in.

 

I've started a project to print, mount and hang a small subset of the many thousands of photos sitting on my computer onto the walls of our house. In the past the natural thing to do would be to print the photo and hang it framed with a matte but there seems to be a modern trend to hang them without a matte, especially those printed on canvas or metal. Having been to a number of exhibitions with prints exhibited without mattes, I've decided to mount the prints onto gatorboard and hang them without a matte. An advantage of this method is that they take up much less space on the wall and you can hang many photos at high density. The down side of this is that each photo has less impact.

 

I'm curious how you feel about matting and hanging pictures now?

For me, it depends on the photo(s) themselves and where they’re hanging. I don’t think it’s a one-size fits all proposition. I’ve seen some very nice cases of prints floating on backboards, unmatted, in frames. It doesn’t have the formality and traditional look of matting yet still gives the photo a frame. Some work is suited to a less finished look and no mat/no frame would work well. Other work is suited to a more finished, even polished look. I wouldn’t settle, even though you may have to make certain compromises. I think you can figure out a way to achieve BOTH high impact for each photo while also not doing traditional mat and frame.

 

Good luck, by the way! Printing and displaying the prints is an eye-opening experience for so many reasons. Photos take on very different characteristics this way and you may even find you’ll work up some prints very differently for the print than you did for a backlit monitor.

In a home environment where you don't have to worry about damage from anonymous museum goers, not matting and framing could work, again depending on the look that you want for particular images. My first show many years ago in an academic office lobby was flush mounted prints; when I went to take them down after the show ended all of them were covered with fingerprints, some of them permanent. Everything I have shown in public since has been matted and behind glass or plexiglass.

maybe im old fashion, i like the matted look.

Really, to hang them, IMO they need to be mounted - with border or edges flush with the mount is a personal artistic choice. Have been tempted to try a metal print, but most of our wall space that isn't window is already occupied by things we like. In bye gone days, I put some 20x24s I made in a Dojo - on untempered masonite, borderless, carefully finished the edges of the board with black enamel. I'm sure everyone will be horrified, but I picked up a trick from an old pro - I Simonized them! They were there in good shape for several years till the place went out of business. I will make the usual disclaimer "Do not try this at home." Edited December 11, 2018 by Sandy Vongries

One low cost approach is to buy pre-matted and glassed frames at Ikea, where they are very affordable, and then print to fit. There are various sizes and styles available at reasonable cost, as opposed to professional matting and framing (for which they will not be mistaken). I like mattes for my work because it allows me to show with less impact from the background materials, and to place individual prints on a more even footing. It also allows me to trade-out framed prints and store the not-displayed images in the protection of frame, matte, and glass. Presentation- or gallery-grade prints would only be professionally matted and framed. I observe that uncovered prints are even more vulnerable to fingerprints and abuse than those in museums or galleries.

If you are going to put them in frames with glass, you need the mat to keep the surface of the print from contacting the glass. The rest is esthetics.

If you are going to put them in frames with glass, you need the mat to keep the surface of the print from contacting the glass. The rest is esthetics.

This is an important point and will preserve your work. If you choose not to mat and, instead, float in a frame, it would have to be a more box-like frame which would keep the print away from the glass.

Stopped using frames some time ago. A matte is only good for one pic, as every pic is its own size and aspect ratio. Preferences change ... pic I liked 7 years ago maybe not so much this year. simple prints can be stored much easier. Did have one 4' wide canvas (wraps around wooden frame) made a couple years ago, still like it, also a 3' wide custom print mounted on stiff (sintar?) backing with a wooden frame back for hanging so it floats out from the wall. Got my own printer a year or so ago and now make ~16"x24" prints on 17"x25" paper. Hang with poster hangers from Wallmart - plastic rail snaps on top and bottom of print with hanging eyes on top and the rail on bottom for weight holds it flat against the wall. They can be removed and used on a different print at will as my preferences change. The flexibility is important to me as I live in a 1 br apartment and don't have storage for old frames. I have some older prints matted and framed behind glass, but hate looking thru the glass and will probably get rid of them, they're 15+ yrs old anyway, made from film on chemical paper and fading anyway.....

I agree with David about the IKEA frames. They come in all sizes, and most importantly they are cheap. There are also box like frames available where the print won’t touch the glass even without a mat, as shown below.

 

Edited December 12, 2018 by Supriyo

I'm deridingly in the "it depends" category, with absolutely no parameters of what it depends on ;>). but normally for display I tend to like matts. But they can add noticeable cost to printing and framing your work, even if you cut the matts yourself. I second Supriyo's idea about using Ikea. If your prints fit their matt sizes, they are an economical way to get matted prints.

you need the mat to keep the surface of the print from contacting the glass

Excuse me: Why?

Sorry, when I printed at home I (or my parents) used to get these frame less frames with glass in front of and wood substitute behind the image. - The (silver or RA4) prints lasted.

Is space between glass and print surface a modern inkjet need? (I am honestly clueless & grateful for enlightenment.)

To me wall space seems too precious to waste it with mattes. I admit that @ Supriyo's example looks good but I am too lazy to earn multiple houses, to hang prints that way.

"Share the work load; try to be a good shooter and leave being a great gallery interior designer to others." Would be my recommendation, since everything else gets too complicated.

Excuse me: Why?

Sorry, when I printed at home I (or my parents) used to get these frame less frames with glass in front of and wood substitute behind the image. - The (silver or RA4) prints lasted.

Is space between glass and print surface a modern inkjet need? (I am honestly clueless & grateful for enlightenment.)

To me wall space seems too precious to waste it with mattes. I admit that @ Supriyo's example looks good but I am too lazy to earn multiple houses, to hang prints that way.

"Share the work load; try to be a good shooter and leave being a great gallery interior designer to others." Would be my recommendation, since everything else gets too complicated.

It depends a lot on where you live and how closely your house is climate controlled. Where I live (upstate NY) it is hot and humid in the summer and cold and dry (indoors) in the winter. Many people don't air condition their houses. In the summer moisture can condense and get in between the print and the glass; in winter things typically dry out and prints frequently pull away from the glass leaving parts of the emulsion attached to the glass. I know this true because I have had to make copies of prints where this has happened many times. So a mat or a shadow box frame with spacers between the print and the glass are good ideas if you care about a print lasting for a long time.

You should always mount a print if it is to be hung on a wall. That's the only way to keep it flat, whether framed or not. A mat (matte is a color or texture) frames the print, which has a certain eye appeal, and focuses attention on the image, rather the wall. If framed, a mat fits the print to the frame, covering only a minimal part of the image, and keeps the print from touching the glass (if any).

 

It's a good idea to apply a protective spray to prints displayed without glass. Spray can absorb UV light, which causes fading, and seals the surface, making it easier to keep clean and dust free. The image on a photograph or inkjet print is exceedingly thin and fragile. Spray helps protect the print from mechanical damage.

Frankly, I post latest favorites on a large bulletin board with push pins. Rotate regularly and enjoy daily. Whatever you like that lets you (and friends / guests) view hard copies of your photos works. There are certainly more formal and costly methods - matter of choice - no absolute right or wrong.

You should always

no absolute

I'm with Sandy on this.

try to be a good shooter and leave being a great gallery interior designer to others

This is advice I wouldn't follow for at least two reasons. 1) Hanging photos in one's own home in an attractive, practical fashion is not the same as being a great gallery interior designer nor does it have to be as complicated. It's a fairly simple question with some fairly direct and simple helpful answers given. 2) I think it's a good idea for every photographer whose going to display their own work to give at least a little thought to the presentation of both their prints and their online work. In order for our photos to be seen, they have to be presented some way. I consider presentation part of both the art and craft and it often puts some kind of context to a photo or group of photos. Why not care about it to some degree, which doesn't have to mean becoming a professional gallery designer?

I'm hoping that within 6 months I'll have a working B&W darkroom. That said, I'm thinking of matting the prints I make with a 1 to 1-1/2 inch mat as to not take up more space than necessary, and therefore requiring a smaller frame. I just don't like unframed prints on a wall. Just my personal opinion..

There’s the wall, and there’s the refrigerator.

I use both in different ways.

I like the idea of coming up with some easily changeable frame/matte system to rotate photos and will probably give some dedicated wall space to several frames in the house in Missouri with some decent lighting.

I like Sandy’s casual Bulletin board idea as well.

The bulletin board would serve well as a “frame trial”.

Check out Snapframes - they have been on my to do list for the Basement Family Room. Link snapframes.com

Frankly, I post latest favorites on a large bulletin board with push pins. Rotate regularly and enjoy daily. Whatever you like that lets you (and friends / guests) view hard copies of your photos works. There are certainly more formal and costly methods - matter of choice - no absolute right or wrong.

I use magnets on the refrigerator. We're not talking about well-crafted prints in living spaces though.

 

At last count, only three of my photos are hanging on walls. I'm not in charge of that, nor would bulletin boards be tolerated. I do assemble albums dedicated to a particular theme or event, in portfolios with plastic pages. The prints are happily unmounted and un-matted.

I have a stack of themed binders.....A good way to find/access the better prints when you want.

Albums or binders are fine, but to me, the thing is to have recent photos in casual view. I, too have a few on the 'Fridge - fortunately the replacement for the previous one (which failed expensively) is magnetic. I also run a digital frame with the SDHC from the latest trip, but prefer the hard copy. Again, no hard and fast rules except those one chooses to impose on themself.

Everything besides death and taxes is a choice. There's still room for best practices.

There's still room for best practices.

And the arbiter of "best practice" is...? I submit, the individual.