Arranging Art

As any decorator, curator, or gallery owner can tell you, there is an art to hanging art well. "Many times I go into a home and need to rehang the art," says designer Josie McCarthy. "Pictures are the final layer in a beautiful room. A wonderful painting can also be the starting point for a room," she notes. It can suggest colors, fabrics, and mood.

We have long admired McCarthy's talent for arranging art, mixing different media, and displaying series of prints in inspired or unexpected ways. We asked her to share her philosophy, rules of thumb, and personal preferences to help those of us without her well-honed instincts to get the hang of hanging art.

JOSIE McCARTHY'S TIPS

When hanging art of different sizes around the room, pictures should be lined up by their center lines, not the tops of the works. If you look at museums and galleries, this is the way they hang art.

A single painting or the main piece of art in a grouping should generally be hung at eye level for an average person. When in doubt, hang on the high side.

When arranging a group of works on a wall, placement depends on the height and width of the space, taking into consideration any furnishings -- sofa, chest, tables with lamps, or dado rail. Measure out the space available for the grouping from top to bottom and side to side.

A series of identically framed prints or engravings should be hung closer together than pieces of different sizes and shapes. A rule of thumb is 2 to 2 1/2 inches. A more varied grouping needs varying margins between pictures, but you should still aim for a sense of consistency, with roughly 3 to 4 inches between pictures on each side.

I always arrange pictures on the floor first before I ever put a nail in the wall. It's like figuring out a grand puzzle. The largest picture generally goes in the center, and then I work out and up from there. Pay attention to balance, symmetry, and order. Smaller pictures are centered vertically or horizontally on larger ones. Or a pair of pictures can balance a larger one.

In a long hallway, I place photos or art only on one side. It is impossible to look at both sides of the hall, and having art on both sides closes in the space.

In the case of prints, more is better to create a greater impact. Original antique prints are a great way to make a strong statement with a limited investment. They are generally taken from old books from the 16th to 19th centuries, which are black-and-white, and then hand-colored later with appropriate colors.

You can hang art on patterned wallpaper or fabric if the art is a different scale, has enough white space around it, or is visually stronger than the background on which it hangs. Prints should have a mat to distinguish the image from the wall pattern.

A collection of plates, such as blue-and-white Chinese export china, look wonderful grouped together or spaced around a room. They are also ideal for filling in a narrow or oddly shaped space, such as over a doorway or the sides of cabinetry. Consider using a pair of porcelain pieces on wall brackets to punctuate a group of prints (hang them on the outer edges of the group).