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What is a gallery wrap?
A gallery wrap stretches canvas over thick wooden bars (usually about 1.25 inches or 4 cm deep, per Wikipedia) and fastens it on the back, so the piece is ready to hang without a frame. Non-gallery canvases use thinner bars, and Tribeca notes that studio wraps often show staples on the borders.
Diagram: gallery-wrap cross-section. Schematic, not to scale.
Gallery wrap against studio wrap
| Gallery wrap | Studio wrap | |
|---|---|---|
| Bars | Thick stretcher bars; about 1.25 in (4 cm) thick (WGW) | Thinner bars (WGW) |
| Staples | Fasteners on the back of the bars (WGW) | Often visible on the borders (TGW) |
| Display | Hangs without a frame (WGW, TGW) | Usually framed unless visible staples are accepted (TGW) |
Edge styles
| Edge style | What happens at the side | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Mirrored | Parts of the artwork repeated to cover the edges; the whole print stays visible on the front | TGW |
| Folded | Print wraps tightly; small sections drop out of view from the front | TGW |
| Stretched | Print is stretched across the edge, giving a blurry or pixelated border; whole print visible | TGW |
| White | A white border along the edges | TGW |
| Black | A black strip around the edges | TGW |
| Solid colour or image continued | Edges primed like the front, painted a solid colour or continuing the image | WGW |
Where a picture has important detail at the edges, Tribeca suggests mirrored, white or black so the full print stays visible from the front. The word "museum wrap" is used inconsistently by sellers and neither source here defines it, so this page does not.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Gallery wrap (fetched 2026-11-12)
- Tribeca Printworks: what is a gallery-wrapped canvas (fetched 2026-11-12)
Figures from these pages are paraphrased and re-checked on 2026-11-12. Where two sources disagree, both figures are shown. Hardware and wall products vary, so follow the pack instructions.
Related pages
- Canvas vs framed print
- Floater frame
- All framing and hanging terms
- Glossary: print, size and order terms