Exhibition posters are a fraction of the price of lithographic prints

Last year I bought an Art Fund pass, which meant I could get entry to lots of major art exhibitions at 50% off the full price, or – in some cases – for free. I’m a little fickle about visual art - my favourite artist tends to be whichever one I last saw exhibited. I fall in love with one or two images at each exhibition and then want to own them and be able to decorate my home with them.

But a lithographic print at a reasonable size (around A2 or above) can be as much as £200, which is a lot of money to me. Plus, I’m not sure that these prints hold their value particularly well – I noticed there was a run of Ravilious lithographs being stocked by various high-end retailers a couple of years ago, and they didn’t exactly fly off the shelves (even though Ravilious’s work is wonderful, of course). The answer, for me, is to buy exhibition posters instead. They’re usually around £6 and a standard A2 size, which means you can pop your poster into an affordable off-the-peg frame from somewhere like Ikea, Habitat or John Lewis. 

I guess not everyone wants the name of the gallery and exhibition emblazoned across the artwork, but I rather like it – the layout and typography is usually pretty classy, and the whole thing acts as a nice reminder of having seen the show.

Here’s an exhibition poster from a show I saw last year and loved. It hangs in my living room and gladdens my heart daily.