Help me find beautiful depictions of windows
August 18, 2018 12:56 PM   Subscribe

A friend's new workspace has no windows. I'd like to get her a beautiful print depicting a window. Budget $50, so a small poster or something like that. But everything I find online is cheesy, like a generic tropical vista with a window frame around it. That's not her taste at all. I'm hoping for something that stands on its own as beautiful or interesting art, but happens to depict a window. Artistic hivemind, can you help?
posted by Ausamor to Media & Arts (14 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Do you want a window facing outside, with a beautiful view? Or do you want a picture of a window from the outside of a building? There are some stunning photographs taken in Lisbon of the windows there, if you're looking for the latter.
posted by sockermom at 1:02 PM on August 18, 2018


Best answer: Maybe you could print something like this out? I was looking for another one, but couldn't find it. Windows are a fairly typical Biedermeier subject matter.
posted by mumimor at 1:04 PM on August 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


Response by poster: Ooo, ahem, yes I didn't even think of that. I was thinking a window facing outside but maybe I'm being narrow minded. I'm open to suggestions!
posted by Ausamor at 1:05 PM on August 18, 2018


Ellsworth Kelly, "Window".

If that's not vivid enough, you can just buy an old window (they're commonly available) and mount the landscape of your choice on it.
posted by kevinbelt at 1:05 PM on August 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


James Turrell has some lovely art installations that refer to windows and make use of light and space in a beautifully spare way. I'm thinking particularly of Skyspace but there are others.
posted by fancyoats at 1:23 PM on August 18, 2018


Matt Adrian does paintings of birds, some of them looking in at you as if through a window. Slightly over budget at $60, though.

A few favorites:
Joey: The Boy Who Fought the Sky and Lost
In a Heavenly Sort of Bliss When Plotting Something Sinister
The Secret Society of French-Canadian Girls
posted by arkady at 1:53 PM on August 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Matisse painted several window paintings, where there is a window frame with an outside view, usually of a scene of the South of France. Lovely, vibrant colors. I'm sure they'd be available as prints. One is called " Window View, Collioure" and would be wonderful in a windowless office.

You might also consider posters of stained glass windows (Matisse also did these, and they are not overtly religious, more colored shapes. He did these toward the end of his life, when he was unable to paint, and was working with colored cut paper).
posted by citygirl at 2:05 PM on August 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Why not just a view outside? This photo is literally through a screen, but others on that same site look like they might be a view through a window (like this) rather than literally depicting a window. Maybe better yet, take a photo of the actual view she would see if there's something directly outside the building, and print it large. This would probably be too expensive to do, but I really like Jeff Wall's technique of mounting photos on lightboxes, so they glow.
posted by pinochiette at 2:06 PM on August 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


A poster of Andrew Wyeth's Wind from the Sea (1947)?
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:22 PM on August 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Simple print of a non-cheesy vista with a window frame vinyl overlay or even Photoshop.
posted by turkeyphant at 5:44 PM on August 18, 2018


Vilhelm Hammershøi: Mr. Windows.
posted by Francolin at 9:25 PM on August 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Here are some search results on InPrint and on Society6, which feature a diverse range of styles from lesser-known artists.
posted by D.Billy at 7:47 AM on August 19, 2018


A print of Dali’s Figure at Window?
posted by Alexandra Michelle at 9:08 AM on August 19, 2018


Response by poster: Thank you so much - I especially appreciate the wide range of tastes and styles here! I marked D.Billy's answer because InPrint and Society6 are new resources to me, so those are great to discover. I also marked mumimor's answer because it led me to Jakob Alt's View from Studio Window, which is what I'm going to go with!
posted by Ausamor at 10:01 AM on August 20, 2018


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