How to Hang Fine Art Gallery Style (With Video and Infographics)
There are a lot of different ways to hang a print on the wall, however, the best methods are easy to do and hard to screw up. That's why, as a gallery owner myself, I prefer to add a museum back to every print and use French cleats so the hanging process is simple, secure and quick.
Many of the art museums and galleries that you visit use this same method for the same reasons.
A museum back for art prints, often referred to as a museum backing or art backing, is a specialized backing material that is affixed to the back of artwork, in my case metal and acrylic prints, to provide structural support and facilitate hanging art as they do in galleries.
This backing is particularly useful for hanging art pieces that will be displayed using a French cleat or similar systems because once the cleat is on the wall you simply lift and hang your print into place.
Authors note: Also, this backing pushes the artwork off of the wall a few inches giving your art literal and figurative pop which is a cool bonus of using this gallery-style hanging method. The best part is that quality prints from professional printers will come delivered to you with a museum back already on affixed to the art, saving substantial time hanging them. Most of the photography I sell are either ChromaLuxe metal or face-mounted acrylic prints, both of these come ready with a museum back at no additional charge.
Steps for Hanging Art Gallery Style
I've had a lot of questions lately on how to hang your prints with the supplied hardware and rather than try and explain it in an article, I just decided to make a short video for you in the Lahaina Gallery. Please Contact me if you have any further questions about installing your art or for a custom quote.
That said, for both metal and acrylic prints, when they come with a museum back already on the back of the print, it's a pretty straight forward process:
- Determine where approximately you want to hang your print.
- Find the center point of the artwork and measure the amount of distance desired between the floor and the bottom of the print.
- Measure and mark on the wall where you want to put your cleat hanger.
- Screw the z-clip or French cleat to the wall (make sure it's level!).
- Hang it up!
Metal Prints with Z Clip Hangers
Acrylic Facemounts with Cleat Hanger
