Hi folks

I’ve spent some personal time over the years looking into how to identify a piece of art to a gallery. That is, what is the “correct” or “expected” way to identify a piece.

Now if you look all over the internet, you’ll find answers that contradict what conclusions I’ve come to (and are listed below.)

My ultimate arbiter however was simple:  how does MOMA do it?  If MOMA does it one way, then Podunk Gallery is going to be hard pressed to complain.

The most common question is “which comes first, height or width?”

Height.  (A panorama is 12 x 40, not 40 x 12.)

What size are they asking for, image or framed?

Image. (Consider a 4″ x 4″ photo in a 36″ x 36″ frame. Would you list that in a catalog as “photo: 36 x 36” ? )

What is the media?

What you used to create the print. (NOT “photograph”  just a paintings are not listed as “painting” but “oil on canvas.”)

Inkjet prints are usually listed as “pigment print”  or “dye print” (perhaps along with “on matte” or “on luster.” If you use a special process, such as Pizeography, that would be “Pizeographic pigment print.”
Traditional prints are “silver gel” or “chromium” or “albumen” or whatever you used.

If you have a hard time remembering these, just think “HIP”:
Height
Image
Pigment

I don’t expect everyone to agree with these conclusions, but I can at least fall back on the MOMA as my expert source, and say that I’ve never had any trouble using these descriptors during submissions.

FWIW. (For What It’s Worth.)

Tracy