Any negative feedback from mounting prints?

[Mike Guilbault]

I was talking to my frame supplier the other day and we were discussing framing techniques.  One of the things he mentioned, was that when framing Fine Art, ideally, it should be able to be restored to it's original form. In other words, should not be mounted to a substrate.  While this may be ideal for fine works of art, have you had any clients balk at the idea of mounting their print? 

[Mark D Segal]

As a result of my article on mounting panos using an aluminium-based substrate on this website, it was brought to my attention that your framer is correct. There are standards in place, at least in the USA, and perhaps Europe as well, which require that for a print to be considered archival it cannot be mounted on anything creating a permanent bond or that can affect the archival properties of the image. Whatever price premium an image can attract because of its archival properties would not be applicable to permanently mounted images.

[framah]

Good advice from that framer. Tho the other thing to think about here... are you such a great photographer that your art is or will be collected in the future and continue to increase in value? Not trying to be snooty here, just saying... unless you are so great that being able to return the print to it's original condition is a major consideration, I personally wouldn't worry about it.

I have one of my customers who has some of his work in museums and is under consideration for 3 more into yet another museum. HIS stuff I do archivally and it is definitely completely reversible.
I think I am a pretty good photographer (a legend in my own mind!!) and I dry mount all of my images because I like the look of it being nice and flat.

The main thing to think about is..does your work look better when it is dry mounted flat or does it look better t-hinged so it can ripple and wave (expand & contract) as the atmospheric conditions dictate?

[Alan Goldhammer]

"Some museums and archives prefer this system (e.g., using corner mounting tabs to attach an untrimmed print) as it leaves the print free for later re-processing and washing, should they become necessary.  However, I find this method gives me asense of uncertainty as the edges of the image are not precisely defined but are imposed by th enlarger easel or by the window of the overmat.  ....  I prefer to dry mount the print on a smooth archival mat board of appropriate color and surface quality"

Ansel Adams, "The Print" Chapter 7

Of course this is just one person's view.

[Kirk Gittings]

I was talking to my frame supplier the other day and we were discussing framing techniques.  One of the things he mentioned, was that when framing Fine Art, ideally, it should be able to be restored to it's original form. In other words, should not be mounted to a substrate.  While this may be ideal for fine works of art, have you had any clients balk at the idea of mounting their print?  

Hmmm i have a couple of hundred FA prints in various museum collections and many more in private and corporate collections. The vast majority have been dry mounted (except some recent sales of small ink prints that were hinged). No one has ever mentioned it at. No curators, collectors, museum directors-no one mentioned it at all much less brought it up as an issue.......not ever in the 30+ years I have been selling to museums and collectors.

[Mike Guilbault]

My first reaction was to mount everything... which is what I've been doing for 25 years as a portrait photographer anyway. But since I started printing my own FA work and don't have a mounting option at the studio, I started to simply hinge-mount the prints. The supplier commented that that was the 'preferred' way. I guess like everything else, these are options that you, as the photographer, has to be comfortable with.  In a way, I kinda like the 'not so perfect' flatness of unmounted prints. It's like a woodworker working with only hand tools as opposed to machinery.  The hand-crafted work has a certain 'imperfection' about it that makes it unique.