Our Craft | Fine Art Production

The work surface in Peter Wirth's studio, marked by four decades of painting — The surface Peter Wirth worked on, after four decades of use. Not a work and not an edition — every mark on it was made while something else was being made. It is not for sale, and it never will be.

The paper

Hahnemühle German Etching, 310 gsm. A heavy, matt, lightly textured mould-made paper, acid-free and made for pigment printing. It holds deep tones without gloss, which suits work painted on dark grounds.

The printing

Pigment inks, printed to order in the United States. Nothing is stocked, which is why an order takes one to five working days to leave.

The archive

Peter Wirth photographed his own work. He was a photographer as well as a painter, and the cameras in his studio are the reason this shop exists at all — every print we make comes from a picture he took himself.

The white border

Every print carries a white border, framed or not. The artwork sits inside it at its own proportions, so nothing is cropped to fit the paper, and the border is there for handling and for framing.

The signature

Peter Wirth signed his paintings. Where that signature appears in a work, it is reproduced with the work. It is printed, like everything else on the sheet. No print is signed by hand — he died in 2018, and we would rather say so plainly than let the question hang.

The frame

A narrow black wood frame — 20 mm face, 22 mm deep — with acrylic glazing and hanging hardware fitted. It arrives assembled and ready to hang.

No mount, and that is deliberate. The sheet already carries its own white border; a mount on top of it would give you two borders and cover the edge of the print. Without one, the frame shows the whole sheet — border included — and a framed 16 × 20 is a 16 × 20 sheet, not a smaller print behind a window.

Having a print framed to order means a trip to the framer and a wait. With us the frame is fitted before the work ships and it arrives in one box, ready to hang: 429 dollars at 11 × 14 inches, 449 at 12 × 16, 529 at 16 × 20 — print, frame, glazing and hanging hardware together. Framing is offered up to 16 × 20; the 18 × 24 sheet ships unframed.

If you would rather frame it yourself, do. Our sizes — 8 × 10, 11 × 14, 12 × 16, 16 × 20 and 18 × 24 inches — are American standards, and a ready-made frame costs between 5 and 35 dollars. We would rather tell you that than have you find out afterwards.