Oh, 'Hang' It All

Sure, whatever crap is on the surface or front of a painting is arguably the ‘important’ side of the painting, but let’s take a moment to appreciate the often-overlooked back side of the artwork. The back of the painting needs to be equipped with at least some means of attaching the thing to a wall, however in my experience installing the work of less-seasoned artists, it has become obvious that the methods of the professional art installer are largely unknown to beginning artists, especially painters. There are many bad ways to hang a painting but only a few good ones, in this article I will attempt to address some of the most common art hanging hardware and tools that professionals use when installing artwork at homes, galleries and museums.

First let’s go over some things you should never be without when installing a painting: a 7 oz. or ‘craft’ hammer, a level at least two feet in length, a decent tape measure, a sharp pencil with a good eraser, and an electric drill/driver with a typical small drill kit. There are many other tools that you may implement in the endless situations that are imaginable in art installation, but with these tools are the most critical, and are all that you will need for most situations.

There are three types or systems of hardware that are most typically used to slap a piece up on a wall: using either a nail or screw, a floreat hook, or a system of cleats. Floureats are particularly useful, they are flat hooks that have reinforced angled holes specially designed for use with floreat nails. Floreats are sold in various weight ratings and are perfect for almost any artwork that is to hang from dry wall from either from a wire or directly from D-rings, metal rings shaped like the letter that is secured with a screw to the back of many pieces. Floreats are designed to work only with dry-wall, if you want to hang a paint on a concrete block wall, a screw-and-anchor combo will be necessary. Be sure to use a masonry drill bit when drilling into cement or concrete; if a hammer drill is within your means, it is highly recommended. Nails are seldom used by professional installers, but they are quick and they do have their place in certain ‘light-duty’ applications. For the heavier applications, large cleats that tie directly into wall studs are the only solution; for the heaviest applications, special work may have to be done inside the wall to properly reinforce the piece. A french cleat consists of two identical pieces, often wooden boards, one that is attached to the artwork and one to the wall. The mating sides of these boards are angled into one another to hold the piece against the wall. Installing artwork with cleats is fairly involved, and should be done by someone who is already skilled at remodeling and home installation.

Now let’s imagine what the back of a typical painting looks like. Most artwork that passes through a frameshop will emerge complete with 2 or 4 D-rings that attach a wire or two to the stretcher bars on either side of the piece, although a fair number of high-volume framers will attach saw-tooth brackets. Professional installers seldom have any use for picture wires or saw-tooths. Both of theses hanging systems have many inherit flaws, and I suggest attaching new hardware if possible. If you have a wire between D-rings, I suggest that you throw it away, but don’t lose those D-rings. In my experience, 95% of the artwork hangs best from two points directly on D-rings. Wires make it easy for a piece to get knocked out of place after it is hung, though they do afford a greater margin of error in leveling a piece.
Most of the time, when I hang a painting, it goes something like this: I begin by inspecting the hardware on the back. I will usually cut the wire if there are already D-rings (as opposed to screw-in eyelets, in which case I will make due with the wire). I measure to see if the rings are exactly the same distance from the top on both sides, if not I move them so that they are precise, and away from the old holes that they once occupied.

Once the hardware on the back of the piece is good to go, I turn my attention to the wall. Using a tape measure, I determine the vertical line on the wall that I want to center my painting on, and using a pencil, I make a light mark on the wall. After your vertical center is established, I go back to the piece to determine the tool line height, which is the level horizontal line on the wall that we will place our hardware upon. In many situations, placing a piece on the wall with a 60" horizontal center is appropriate, that is, placing the painting on the wall such that a horizontal line that bisects the painting in its middle is 60 inches from the floor. The quickest way to determine my tool line height is to 1) measure the painting from top to bottom, 2) divide that number in half, 3) place the tape measure on the back of the piece such that the number I get in step two is at the top of the piece and the bottom of the tape measure is at the piece’s middle, 4) read the tape measure at the top of the D-ring, and add this number to 60, this is my tool line height in inches from the floor. Now I am able to draw a small cross on the wall that represents my pieces vertical center and my horizontal tool line height. I return to the piece to measure the ‘spread’ or distance between the centers of the two D-rings. I then divide this number in two, and measure out this distance from the cross that I have drawn on the wall and make a light vertical mark on the wall. I then place a level on the cross so it sits on the tool line and is perfectly level, and mark a level line through the vertical marks made in the previous step. Directly upon these two outer crosses, I mount my hardware into the wall, whether it’s floreats into drywall or screws and anchors into block. When my hardware is secured to the wall, I’m set to hang the painting on the D-rings.

Getting the hang of installing art takes time and experience, and it definitely falls out of the rang of many people’s expertise and common experience, not a few of whom are painters and photographers! Many people are alarmed at the cost of the hardware and amount of time and effort that often goes in to properly hanging a piece of art, but when one considers the value of the artwork and the obvious risks inherit in improperly hanging a piece, It is certainly worth the ten or so dollars in hardware required to properly hang an artwork. Good luck, and please remember to breathe and try not to yell too much.