For audiophiles, hifis are special things. More special than a lamp or a toaster, even though they’re important too, hifis bring endless joy in the form of music.
The places where our hifis live are of equal importance, both in terms of the room’s impact on what we hear as well as its impact on how we feel. And this is where art comes in—having special things on our walls adds to the experience just as the right light can turn an antiseptic feeling space into a mysterious realm of the unexpected.
What art should we hang on the walls of our rooms where we listen? My opinion is anything goes as long as it suits our fancy, whether that be family photos, posters, or original works of art. The main thing about the things we choose to hang our walls is they should be special. More special than a thing that fills a spot on an empty wall.
If you look around the Barn, you can see lots of things covering the walls, perhaps too many things for some, and there’s story behind each and every one. Whether that story involves artists standing up to fascism with a poem in their face [footnote 1], a woodblock print from 1894 by the writer of a favorite book [footnote 2], or a felt postcard [footnote 3], the things, the people who made them, and the story behind the art feeds my eyes and mind no matter where I look. Yes, I am visually restless, too.
If you’ve ever wondered where you can get original art for your listening room’s walls and you like the idea of it being music related, I have a perfect source.
From the Magnum Photos Website:
In 1947, following the aftermath of the Second World War, four pioneering photographers founded a now legendary alliance. Combining an extraordinary range of individual styles into one powerful collaboration, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, George Rodger and David Seymour started, over a celebratory bottle of champagne, the most important artists’ cooperative ever created: The Magnum Photos agency.
Magnum represents some of the world’s most renowned photographers, maintaining its founding ideals and idiosyncratic mix of journalist, artist and storyteller. Our photographers share a vision to chronicle world events, people, places and culture with a powerful narrative that defies convention, shatters the status quo, redefines history and transforms lives.
Prices range from $100 during Magnum’s bi-annual, week-long Square Print Sale, on up. Original prints signed by the photographer like Miles Davis in Paris, France. 1969 by Guy Le Querrec will run you $3800 for a 16 x 20″ print. If that’s a bit too rich, that same image is available as a Limited Edition (100) 8 x 10″ unsigned Archival Pigment Print for $400 (unframed).
I recommend a long look around the Magnum website where you’ll find more music related images and images unrelated to music that may just call your name.
1. Kurt Schwitters, Anna Blume: Dichtungen (1919)
2. Alfred Jarry, from Les minutes de sable mémorial (Paris: Mercure de France, 1894)
3. Joseph Beuys, Filzpostkarte (Felt Postcard)
