Framing and Conservation

The collector may have a large collection of posters, removing one from a tube or a plan chest to put it up on his wall to display it for a limited period of time. In Australia vintage posters are more often than not being purchased, less as a collector's pieces but more often as an element of decoration , there have to be dispayed on a wall by some means. Both collector and decorator have to choice one of a number of possibilities; these are they.....

Frame or no frame?

The lightest least structured just a simple hanging, japanese style, the poster is clipped( 4 crocodile clips min.) top and bottom to 2 thin baguettes of wood or rigid carboard and the resultingsemi taut poster is hung from a fixed screw or screws, suspended from the ceiling or wall via cord attached to the ends of the top baguette. The resulting "hanging" can be elegant but the poster is unprotected, a splash of red red wine, boisterous children, moths could all easily damage the exposed poster.

Museums specialise in temporary exhibitions and sometimes have revolutionary solutions in a recent Cassandre show at the Biblioteque Nationale in Paris ,they taped the large posters directly to thewall via the linen backing margins and protected the posters with large sheets of perspex screwed directly on the wall. On can imagine that in very contempory design interiors this could be a striking solution

 poster clip

The Pompidou Centre often diplays its large Lautrec's in large pillows, filled with foam peices with a tranparent plastic front window, thus the poster just lays unattached and unstressed in the transparent pillow hung from the wall.

If one opts for the protection of a classical frame, bulky but protective. The resulting object is often large for the standard large poster(120 by 160cms) and quite heavy. One has the choice between glassand perspex. Glass is more resistent to scratching , but heavy and potentially dangerous if a large sheet is shattered. Perspex is lighter, scratches easier but has a higher UV protection than basic glass. Perspex is slightly more expensive. It is recommended when the poster dimension surpasses 2 squares metres.

Boxed or sandwiched?

poster clip

Posters and their cotton and paper backing , expand and contract with temperature changes, the freer they are within the frame the better. Clients can make the mistake of wanting an overslickflat surface. This is potentially dangerous for the poster's condition as if it is strongly adhered to a backing board then covered with a sheet of glass it becomes a prisoner and with atmospheric changes the poster may distort, split and break away from their paper-cotton backing.
We much prefer the idea of boxing the poster like a document, just lightly attached to a backing and well spaced from theglass or perspex window,

it may not be perfectly flat, but it is free to lead its life, expand and contract . To boot we think the document is a classier look.

Where to Hang.

By far the most important factor is light . Paper even protected with glass or perspex is sensitive to UV light keep your posters off sunlitwalls, the further away from sunlight the- better they will age, neither yellowing or the colours fading. It also goes without saying that humidity is also a no no , bathrooms are not the right spot , unless palatial and steam free.