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Do you or don't you sign your matt board?

david b

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I currently have some work showing in Santa Fe and one comment I received from another photographer was that I should never sign the matt board. Since I did not "float" the image, I signed and titled the image on the matt board. I've seen this thousands of times by other photographs and have started to do this.

So do you or don't you?
 
No, a sticker on the back

I just place a sticker on the rear of the matt board - it reads

Photo taken and printed using silver gelatin techniques by:
photographer - phone number/email contact
address
Photo Name/Details

In the details I generally transfer the print technical information - neg number, printing date.

Then I can have a hope of printing it again in a similar manner if I have to. My printing notebook details the paper, developer, and any details of the session.

The negative file sheet keeps the details of the film/developer combo. I am never organised enogh in the field to record exposures ( I shoot 120 and 35mm)

I am always pleased when someone asks me to sign a print on the front. I have never had the opportunity to not be the actual person selling the print, so I am always on hand to add the pencil work if requested.
 
When I used to dry mount prints, I signed the mat board in pencil on the lower right.

Now that I only corner the prints and window mat, I sign on the reverse of the print with a very soft pencil being careful to stay near the edge and not press the pencil down.

SOme people use labels on the revers of the mat.
 
I took a tour of prints hanging in my office. The following photographers dry mounted their photographs and signed the matt:

John Sexton
Henry Gilpin
Michael and Paula
Roman
Kim Weston
Alex Hawley
Art Liam


Corner mounted with signed matt:

Ryuijie
Christian Nze
Gary Fagen

Matts not signed:

Hunter Witherhill
William Blunt

I sign the matt (and stamp the back of the matt) on silver geletin prints that are dry mounted. For corner mounted prints, platinum or wet plate, I sign and stamp the back of the matt and the print on the back or on the front out side of the image area.

A small sampling for your consideration.

Allen
 
I have one large Christopher Burkett print that is corner mounted. He has signed the overmat very lightly in what looks to be a very hard pencil.

I float dry-mounted prints and print my last name and the year the print was made on the mat they are mounted to, not the overmat.

Both the Burkett print and my own work also have labels on the back that offer more information as some others mention above.
 
I float my images under the window mat, sign the mount on the bottom right under the image, number under the left side of the image. I also stamp the back of the mount with acid free ink and include image name, neg and print dates, copyright etc... I never considered signing the overmat since I show part of the mount. This gives someone the fexibility of using a different overmatt and still keeping (or hiding) the signature. Best. hsawn
 
I deal with a good amount of pretty well known photographs and photographers on an almost daily basis (that was seriously in no way a way to brag, merely to add a little validity) and the best way to do it is:

Pencil on the back if not mounted
Pencil beneath the image on the board if dry mounted to board
Archival Pen on the white border if mounted to aluminium
Archival Pen on the back if flush-mounted to aluminium

The main reason to not sign the overmat is because the owner may want to change the mat.... then no more signature.
 
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I sign, title, and number the overmat, but I also put this information on the back of the hinge-mounted print. All signing, be it the overmat or the print, is done in a soft #2 pencil. I have a nice .9mm mechanical pencil that I use for signing, to make sure that the signature information is easy to read (if you can decipher my handwriting) even years after, and is not engraved into the mat.
 
I archivally mount my images. I normally sign the outer board of a double mat with the signature at the lower right, copy number to the right of center and the title at the lower left. If someone does not want that preparation I sign under the window mats (which I standardly also do). If requested, I also offer cold mounted photos for additional charge.

Rich
 
I float the print in a window, sign the print in lower right, number in lower left. On the back of the mount is a stamp with edition and copyright info along with the negative date, the print date, edition number and another signature.

Bill
 
To date I've signed the mount below the bottom right of the print in pencil below the print and above the over-mat. I then print my name, the prints name, and other information on the back of the mount, also in pencil.

Jordke said:
Archival Pen on the white border...
Click to expand...

What kind of pen would that be? Do they make grey, as opposed to black ones? I have a project in mind that's waiting for Ilfords 'stays flat' enlarging paper which won't be dry mounted, but will have a wide white border. (Yes I have a dry mount press and can flatten prints...but this new paper would save a bunch of work).

Murray
 
If your drymounting, you should sign the MOUNT below the image. If your corner mounting, you should place the over matt around the outside edge of the image and sign the white border of the print.

Why would you sign the overmatt? That is foolish. What if the print was to become seperated from the overmatt? The artist signature would no longer be with the print.

The back of the mount should have either a stamp with info, or pencil written info. A STICKER is not the correct way to do it. The glue on stickers/labels is not archival, and even if it is...it will at some point become dried out or peel off and be separated from the print, therefore the information being lost.

I signed the front of the mount, then stamp the back with title/date/edition.
The overmat has not markings or writing.
 
I suggest using a pencil only on your prints. If one must use a pen, use a Pigma Micron 005 archival ink pen.

For signing glossy print borders in pencil, you must get a typewriter eraser. You swipe that over the glossy surface of the print where you will sign and it will dull the surface just enought to sign it with a hard pencil.
 
Ryan McIntosh said:
If one must use a pen, use a Pigma Micron 005 archival ink pen.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion...and no, I don't sign the overmat

Murray

edit: Oh, I guess you weren't talking to me about signing the overmat...
 
MurrayMinchin said:
Thanks for the suggestion...and no, I don't sign the overmat

Murray

edit: Oh, I guess you weren't talking to me about signing the overmat...
Click to expand...

Murray,

They also make those pens in different tip thicknesses. I believe 005 is the finest point and the one I suggest using.

I find it distracting when someone signs their print with a thick pencil or pen line. One should use the finest point pencil or pen they can find.

All the best,

Ryan McIntosh
www.RyanMcIntosh.net
 
The answer is: do it anyway you want. I just spent a couple of days walking around the Christies and Swann auction houses for the winter photo auctions in NYC and it is very clear that photographers sign (or don't sign) in a multitude of ways. If there is any majority practice it would be to sign below the overmat or on the back--i.e., invisible to the viewer. Many sign on the print below the image, some on the mat or overmat, and so on. Some in pencil, some in ink, some with a studio stamp.
 
I sign EACH print I make (except when I am not proud of it, and in that case I do not make it). To sign print I use permanent marker, so the sign cannot be removed. To sign mat I do not see any sense. The print can be taken out of mat, and the same mat can be reused for other prints too.

Murray: one of the best pen to sign the print is archival permanent marker SILVER color for B&W prints. It sticks equally to glossy as to matt surface without any preparation, so you can sign directly over the print. You can get one that is with a ball inside so shake before use, and also apply a some pressure on the tip so it the tip of the pen will move in and out of the pen until ink come out. If you get one you can leave it for 10 years and after that just take and write (always leave a cap on it).

www.Leica-R.com
 
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