An unframed canvas is stretched over a wooden bar; the sides carry a soft, blurred band taken from the picture's colours, and it hangs as an object with no border between picture and wall. That casual, gallery-studio look suits contemporary rooms and imagery that benefits from having no hard stop, particularly deep-space fields, whose dark colours carry into the blurred sides. It also hangs straight from the box: there's nothing to fit.
A frame does the opposite job: it draws a line around the image and separates it from the wall, which reads as more considered and holds its own in a room with mouldings, panelling or other framed work. It costs more and adds weight. The room decides, not the picture. If you are weighing the finishes generally rather than this one choice, our framed prints and canvas prints sit side by side, and the fuller comparison including paper is in canvas vs framed print vs poster.
Finish questions belong to On the wall, where what DPI a photo needs covers the one thing no finish can rescue.
Written by Craig Fearn, Aphelion Prints. Last updated .