Measuring Your Wall Before You Buy a Wyndham Lewis Print

The fear of ordering the wrong size is solved with a tape measure and ten minutes. Here is the arithmetic, the common failures, and the check that catches them.

Auvrique Editorial · Fine Art Editions

The short answer

A print fits if its width is roughly half to two thirds of the furniture or wall section beneath it, and if its centre sits about 145 to 155 cm from the floor. Measure the wall, subtract 10 to 15 cm of breathing room on each side, and order the largest size that survives that subtraction. Tape a paper rectangle to the wall first to confirm.

Start With The Wall, Not The Print

Measure the wall in centimetres and write the number down. Then measure any furniture that shares the space, because a sofa or sideboard sets the print's width more than the wall does. A print hung above a sofa should span roughly half to two thirds of the sofa's length. On a bare wall, aim for the print to occupy between a third and a half of the wall's width, centred at eye level.

The mistake most buyers make is measuring the wall's full width and forgetting margins. A 70x100 cm print on a 200 cm wall leaves only 65 cm on each side, which reads as cramped once a frame is added. Subtract 10 to 15 cm per side before you decide. Lewis's compositions are dense and angular, so they need the air around them more than a soft landscape would.

If you are torn between formats, the choice between canvas and framed poster changes the outer dimensions slightly, since a frame adds a few centimetres. The comparison in canvas versus framed poster for Wyndham Lewis prints covers what that difference means in practice.

Sizes And Where They Work

Reproduction editions typically come in a small set of standard sizes, and each has a natural home. A 40x60 cm piece suits a hallway, a study wall, or a pair hung side by side. A 50x70 cm is the safest general size for a living room. A 70x100 cm print needs roughly 180 cm of clear wall to breathe properly, and it will dominate a small room rather than furnish it.

Height matters as much as width. The centre of the print should land around 145 to 155 cm from the floor, close to average eye level. Above a sofa or sideboard, leave 15 to 25 cm between the furniture's top edge and the bottom of the print. Any more and the two objects stop talking to each other. Any less and the arrangement looks squeezed.

For a concrete worked example of sizing in a compact room, what size print fits a small bedroom walks through the same arithmetic for a different artist, and the numbers transfer directly.

The pre-order check

Measure the wall width and height in centimetres and note both numbers.
Measure any furniture beneath the hanging spot, including its height.
Subtract 10 to 15 cm of margin from each side of the intended print width.
Cut a paper rectangle to the exact print size and tape it to the wall before ordering.

Test Before You Commit

The paper test costs nothing and settles the question. Cut a sheet to the printed dimensions, tape it at the intended height, and live with it for a day. Step back from the doorway you normally enter by. If the rectangle looks small from that distance, go up a size. If it crowds a window, a light switch or a door swing, go down.

One caution applies to any reproduction purchase. Editions vary between sellers in their listed dimensions, and some list the image size while others list the outer frame size. Check which figure you are reading before you cut the paper. A few centimetres of frame will not ruin a plan, but a 10 cm difference will. When in doubt, email the seller and ask which measurement the listing uses.

Lewis's work rewards scale. The hard edges and interlocking planes of his compositions flatten at small sizes and assert themselves at large ones, so if the wall allows 70x100 cm, that is usually the right call. For how the style itself behaves on a wall, the striking characteristics of Wyndham Lewis's style explains what you are hanging.

A print that fits the wall but not the room is still the wrong print.

Print size	Minimum clear wall width	Best suited to
40x60 cm	100 cm	Hallways, studies, pairs
50x70 cm	140 cm	Living rooms, bedrooms
70x100 cm	180 cm	Large walls, above sofas

Common edition sizes and the wall they need

Key takeaways

A print should span half to two thirds of the furniture beneath it, or a third to a half of a bare wall.
Hang so the centre of the print sits about 145 to 155 cm from the floor.
Leave 10 to 15 cm of margin on each side of the print before deciding on a size.
Tape a paper rectangle to the wall and live with it for a day before ordering.

Related questions

How much wall space should I leave around a print?

Treat 10 to 15 cm on each side as a working minimum, and more if the wall is large. A print that nearly touches a door frame or window edge will look accidental rather than placed. On a wide wall, generous margins read better than a print stretched to fill the space.

Should I measure in centimetres or inches?

Use whichever the seller lists in, because converting between the two is where sizing errors happen. Most European editions are listed in centimetres. If a listing gives inches only, convert once, write the result down, and work from that figure rather than re-converting at each step.

Does a frame change the size I should plan for?

Yes, usually by a few centimetres on each dimension, depending on the frame's profile. Check whether a listing quotes the image size or the outer frame size before you measure the wall. The paper test with the outer dimensions is the simplest way to account for the difference.

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