Gallery Walls
Some prints are better in company. A gallery wall lets a set of related pieces read as one composition, and the easiest way to build one is to start from a series that was designed to hang together. The three walls below begin from our own series. Each gives the finished dimensions for the layout, worked out with 2.5 inches (about 6 cm) between frames, a gap that suits most rooms. Measure the finished width before you put a nail in the wall, and if your prints are framed, allow roughly an extra 1.5 inches per print for the moulding.
Priced as a set
A wall built from a set is priced as a set. Put any two Vintage Print Project prints in your cart and 10% comes off those prints at checkout. Three prints take 15% off, and four or more take 20% off. The discount applies on its own, with no code to enter, so the walls below cost a little less than the sum of their frames suggests.
The La Farsa Wall
Between 1927 and 1936, La Farsa published a zarzuela libretto in Madrid every week, each with an Art Deco cover by a working illustrator of the day. Five of those covers, by Carlos Masberger, Enrique Ochoa, Antonio Barbero Núñez, and the artist who signed as Roberto, make a wall with a real rhythm: dancers, singers, and street scenes in the same bold palette. The full story is in our La Farsa article. Each cover is available in 12 by 18, 20 by 30, and 24 by 36 inches, framed or unframed.
The layout: hang the five at 12 by 18 inches in a single row. Five prints at 12 inches wide, with four gaps of 2.5 inches between them, come to 5 × 12 + 4 × 2.5 = 70 inches wide by 18 inches tall. That is a sofa wall or a long hallway. At 20 by 30 inches the same row runs 110 inches, so measure first. Keep one frame finish across all five; Black suits the covers' ink lines best.
The Menagerie
Our Italian animal portraits are contemporary designs painted in the language of Italy's classic aperitivo posters: flat color, a single animal, and a stare that follows you across the room. Four of them make a wall that works anywhere from a nursery to a study. These four come in two sizes only, 12 by 18 and 24 by 36 inches, from $34.50 unframed.
The layout: hang the four at 12 by 18 inches in a row: 4 × 12 + 3 × 2.5 = 55.5 inches wide by 18 inches tall, a comfortable fit over a sideboard or a desk. The full menagerie of twenty animals lives in the Vintage Animal Prints collection if you want a larger wall.
Waves & Stripes
In 1906 the Kyoto publisher Shimbi Shoin issued Shima Shima, a pair of pattern books by the designer Furuya Kōrin filled with stripes, waves, and repeating forms meant for textiles. Printed large, the patterns behave like abstract art: calm, rhythmic, and easy to live with. Four of them hang well together, and the whole set is in the Furuya Kōrin collection. Each comes in 12 by 18, 20 by 30, and 24 by 36 inches, from $34.50 unframed.
The layout: in a row at 12 by 18 inches, the four come to 4 × 12 + 3 × 2.5 = 55.5 inches wide by 18 inches tall. For a squarer wall, hang them two over two: 2 × 12 + 2.5 = 26.5 inches wide by 2 × 18 + 2.5 = 38.5 inches tall. Patterns forgive small misalignments better than portraits do, which makes this the easiest first gallery wall of the three.
Before you hang
Lay the arrangement on the floor first, or tape paper templates to the wall in the finished dimensions and live with them for a day. Hang the row so its center sits near eye level, about 57 inches from the floor. Framed prints arrive with hanging hardware attached and ready to hang; unframed prints ship rolled in a triangular box and flatten quickly under a few books. Our Framing Guide covers finishes and care, and if you are planning a wall around a room rather than from a set, our Custom Prints page explains how we can help.