In high school our best friend had the extreme honor of inheriting an Abercrombie & Fitch window display poster. As a teenager, having a 10 foot by 10 foot vinyl poster of a very attractive shirtless man was pretty much the best thing we could fathom. In our mature adult state, we get just as giddy at the idea of buying a museum banner from a show that has ended...
Authentic Museum Signs
BetterWall is an online source for authentic street banners from museums around the world. Once a show ends, the banners are available for purchase on their website. With names like Deborah Butterfield, James McNeill Whistler, Nicolas de Largillière, Marc Chagall, and John Singleton Copley coming soon, it seems as if the selection is as varied as the works that hang in a museum.
The pricetag is a bit rich for our blood at the moment, but what a great way to spend some of your decorating budget if it is available! Each banner comes with hardware that allows for installation on your wall, and a percentage of the proceeds go back to the museum from whence it came. We think this is a very unique way to put art up on your walls, and is an especially poignant souvenir for a show that was meaningful!
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Man, would I love to have the Matthew Barney banner. That was a great show.
view rosenatti's profile
I work in museums and have collected a few street banners. They are a great way to decorate, but $500 is outrageous! I hope the museums are getting a big cut of the profits.
view emilyamelie's profile
rosenatti...I wholeheartedly agree!
view Jess Watson's profile
Emilyamelie has it, why/how does "Betterwall" get these? Sounds a little backroomy to me, so I'll pass.
view manys's profile
So, they guilt purchasers into accepting the price because "a percentage" (mystery alert) goes back to the museum, while they guilt the museums into giving up the posters in the first place by calling it recycling. Nice work if you can get it.
view manys's profile
I used to collect banners from museums for a "donation" until Better Wall took the opportunity away from me. Now they clean them (30 mins on your knees, scrubbing), add hardware ($30?) and charge 10-15 times more. My assumption is that most of the price goes to paying the rights for the art on the banner. I hope I'm correct!
view benayse's profile
Hi Apartment Therapy readers--
We just wanted to let you know that BetterWall is very much on the up-and-up. Through our Recycle & Reuse Program for Museums we maintain long-term agreements with 32 top art museums in North America. The program is free for museums and helps them generate revenue while keeping some 12 tons of vinyl out of landfills each year. When an exhibition ends, the banners are shipped to our warehouse in Denver. We then secure the necessary copyright permissions to sell the banners as retail items. This means we work directly with artists, museums, foundations, estates, and third party image rights organizations to ensure that everyone who should receive payment for their work is compensated. We only sell banners that are in excellent condition and for which copyright permissions can be secured. Our program is fully self-sustaining, meaning that the revenues from banner sales offset the costs of shipping, storage, recycling, image rights, and royalties to museums. Our pricing reflects these costs as well as the desirability of the banner and the size of the edition. We've been doing this since 2004, and continue to add museum partners. Our museum partners sometimes offer a members' discount on our banners through their member publications. So keep any eye out if you are a member of any of our partner museums!
--Nick and Nora, Founders, BetterWall
view EnjoyArt's profile