How Long Does a Canvas Print Last?

Canvas prints have been insanely popular in the last ten years. Online stores selling them such as Photowall have bloomed and print on-site canvas shops are well settled into shopping centres everywhere.

However, there are some concerns over how well-made they are and how long they last, since they are usually quite reasonably priced.

This post will hopefully help you get an idea of their longevity, both structurally and also in style, along with a little bit of info on how they’re made to help you understand the integrity of quality canvas prints.

A difficult question.

There’s no surprise that this question is popular in the industry. There’s often a lack of a straight answer which can be confusing for customers who are interested in buying a print but making sure they will get longevity out of one.

The annoying thing is that there are so many factors that will determine the length of a canvas print that it has to be done on a case-by-case basis.

On wideformatonline, Bruce Connelly speaks about the difficulty of discerning the lifespan of any given print.

The industry term for something that will last a long time, over 150 years by definition, is archival and is a milestone that many of the big print companies strive to provide. Bruce explains that,

The term “archival” is one of the most abused within the inkjet printing industry. It has come to mean that the base product is both acid and lignum free (<1%), a fact guaranteed by the majority of cotton and cotton/polyester base products.

Virtually all canvas products sold by reputable makers for inkjet reproduction are archival by the above definition, yet their makers know that virtually none of them will survive more than 100 years without noticeable fading unless they are liquid laminated or covered by UV protecting glass.

So, the general consensus is that a canvas needs to be laminated or framed with UV-protected glass to last longer than you will.

Do you need it to last that long?

Knowing this information, you need to ask yourself how long you actually want the print to last. There will be unavoidable extra costs to frame and laminate your prints, so is it worth it?

This will often depend on what exactly you want to print. If it is a traditional style family portrait then you may want to be able to pass it on to future generations so they have some idea of who their relatives are without having to trawl through family tree sites in their spare time.

At the same time, if you’re just getting some nice pictures of lilies to stick in your new bathroom then you’re probably not going to be bothered that they won’t last more than 10 years in the damp conditions of your lav’.

Other things you can do.

Beyond ways to physically alter the print to make it last longer, there are certain things you can do to keep it protected from wear and tear.

The first one is already mentioned: think about moisture and dampness in the room it is in. Places like a small bathroom with no window will mean the print declines in quality much quicker than it would normally.

Another big factor is natural and artificial lighting. Direct sunlight will quickly wear a painting down to a grey mess over a few years of harsh exposure, so make sure you put the print in a shaded area if you live in a sunny place and not opposite big windows.

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