32x40 3D Pro Vintage L21C Canvas 2-1/2" #DO-3240

True 5:4 Photography Proportion - 32x40 Size

This is exactly double the size of the 16x20.

The 5:4 aspect ratio is common to both art and portrait photography, as it creates a visually pleasing format for the human figure and face. The balanced compositional format can help to create a sense of symmetry and harmony in your artwork. The 5:4 ratio has a familiar "feel", as it was commonly used in early computer monitors. Additionally, you might consider trying some relatively unknown sizes in this same proportion that we call Lost Sizes As an artist, you get the best of both worlds, because you still get to use the same aesthetically appealing 5:4 format and use rare or novel sizes that help make your art stand-out.

Explore other sizes in this same 5:4 aspect ratio:

8x10 • 12x15 • 16x20 • 20x25 • 24x30 • 28x35 • 36x45 • 40X50 • 44x55 • 48x60 • 52x65 • 56x70 • 60x75 • 64x80 • 68x85 • 72x90 • 76x95

Explore Related Products to this 32x40 Size:

• Alkyd / Oil Primed Linen: Malibu™ • Ventura™ • Versailles™ • Isola™ • Poitiers™
• Raw Unprimed Linen: Torrey Pines™ • Mandalay™
• Acrylic Primed Linen: Muir™ • Vintage L22U™ • Santa Cruz™ • Saint-Cloud™ • Grenoble™ • Pau™
• Acrylic Primed Cotton: Monterey™ • Carmel™ • Tahoe™ • Heavy Weight 14oz cotton • Sierra™ • Shasta™
• Vincent™ Pro 7/8 • Monet™ Pro 1.5 • 3D™ Pro 3.5

Vintage™ L21C Oil Primed Artfix Linen

Artfix L21C oil primed Belgian Linen has a warm golden hue oil primer which is superb for oil and alkyd type paints. Excellent painting surface with qualities of luminosity. It has a medium tooth and texture. Our best selling oil primed canvas.

• 100% Belgian Linen 5 oz.; Primed Weight 13 oz. per square yard
• Medium Weight, Open Weave, Medium Texture
• Double Sized and Primed with acid-free archival quality oil primed ground
• Impenetrable ground prevents oil paint from leaching through and harming the canvas
• For oils, alkyds, and water miscible oil paints
• Linen has natural oils that prevent disintegration over time.

3D™ Pro 2.5 Stretcher Bar • 1/2" Canvas Clearance

1/2" Canvas Clearance is the space between the Bar and the canvas. Generally speaking, more clearance reduces the risk of the canvas touching the wood and creating unsightly lines during painting. Our design provides the optimal clearance so as not to impact your painting, but still leaving enough wood to the maximize strength of the Stretcher Bar.

• Produces a 2.5" deep stretched canvas (Actual depth is slightly thinner)
• 1.25" wide Stretcher Bar
• All Bars have an exclusive groove on the inside perimeter of the frame to which cross braces and Diamond Corner Braces attach
• Solid Ponderosa Pine or Fir from the Pacific Northwest

No Finger Joints!

Solid Wood is far superior to finger jointed wood, which is many small pieces glued together, each with varying grain densities that absorb and shed moisture at varying rates, expanding and contracting non-uniformly as environmental conditions change, and causing the wood to bow and the finger joints to eventually fail.

A single homogeneous kiln-dried solid wood Stretcher Bar outperforms and outlasts a finger jointed Bar whose sole purpose is to save the manufacturer cost, not contribute to the archival value of artwork intended to last a millennium. As a manufacturer, Masterpiece® does its part to conserve as much wood as possible, and still provide a quality product that will out-perform any other in the marketplace.

32x40 2.5" Deep Edge Heavy Frame Offers Maximum Support!

• Drawing depicts the exact frame construction, not the proportion
• 2.5" Deep Edge K2 Heavy Stretcher Bars are precision machined with a unique double tongue-and-groove corner joint that provides rock-solid torsional rigidity that resists warping or twisting, which is an important benefit for such a deep edge canvas
• One super strong 3/4" thick keyable brace and one cross brace (all 3.25" wide) provide the maximum possible support for this 32x40 frame; Cross Braces are permanently installed in the frame, but canvas tension may be increased by tapping-in the keys or wedges that slightly expand the size of the frame
• The Stretcher Bars have an proprietary utility groove on the inside perimeter of the frame which is used to attach braces and other optional frame supports
• The Masterpiece braces feature an exclusive system that allows you to increase the tension to the middle of the frame, where the tension is needed the most; it's so unique it earned us a patent
• Our state-of-the-art cross braces attach the ends of the cross braces into the (grooved) sides of the braces, which creates a superior and robust system of interlocking cross braces
• To increase canvas tension: 1) remove any staples in the corners and those that retain the brace keys in the middle, 2) tap all of the expansion keys further into their respective slots, 3) tighten and re-staple the canvas in the corners

Canvas Tension is in Your Control

In dry climates or air conditioned environments, the lack of moisture in the air causes wood frames to shrink and the canvas fibers to narrow and elongate making the canvas more slack and resulting in a loss of canvas tension. In some instances, the canvas could have waves on the surface resulting in an unsightly viewing experience.

Our 3D™ Pro 2.5 professional frames provide the functionality for you to slightly expand the size of the frame in the corners and the middle of the canvas, thereby increasing canvas tension all across the surface. The difference between a loose canvas and a tight canvas is just 1/8" of an inch, so a small adjustment using our corner and brace keys makes an important difference in canvas tension.

• Helps to prevent waves that occur in a loose canvas
• Increase canvas tension by tapping-in the corner and brace keys
• True professional class canvases make it possible for you to adjust the canvas tension

Cross Braces Make it Tighter

A tightly stretched canvas on an un-braced frame overpowers the Stretcher Bars causing them to bow inward and thereby lose tension. Sometimes that bow can expose a space in picture frames.

When a canvas is stretched on a properly supported frame, the cross-braces prevent the Bars from bowing thereby achieving maximum canvas tension. To increase the canvas tension even more, simply tap the corner and brace keys further in their slots. Properly supported frames provide you with the control over the canvas tension of your canvas and painting.

What is Sustainable Forestry?

To a forester, the term "sustainable" could mean exercising industry adopted forestry practices to maintain a forest indefinitely. To a logger, the process of proper care for the trees remaining after a harvest. To a landowner, their interest may lie in keeping their forest in the family. And to those of involved in the process of making and using wood-based art supplies, it can mean promoting and supporting an industry dedicated to the preservation of our precious natural resource. We can all do our part to care for our national forests.

Specially Dried and Heat Treated Lumber

We source our wood from a select group of top-tier environmentally conscious lumber mills in the Pacific Northwest. These mills specially dry and heat-treat the lumber to our specifications, resulting in about half the moisture content compared to wood from typical home improvement centers or lumber yards. This process makes the wood stronger, reducing the likelihood of cracking, splitting, or warping. While the wood we use comes at a higher cost, it ensures a more dimensionally stable end product. This stability is crucial for crafting fine professional canvases that support your invaluable art over time.

MuseumWrap™ Stretching Technique

With more than a half a century of American engineering, Masterpiece® designs and builds its own proprietary stretching equipment that enables us to produce the finest and most tightly-stretched canvas on the market.

• Drum-tight stretch!
• Up to 50% tighter than other methods
• Balanced tension across the surface
• Uncut folded corners make it possible to remove and re-stretch canvas on the same size frame
• Usually the corner folds are on the long sides

Our unwavering commitment at Masterpiece® is to produce only the finest, which has made us the vanguard in the world of professional fine-art canvas. Explore our extensive range of surfaces and roll sizes to find the perfect fit for your next creation.

Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better. ♦ Henri Matisse

A pivotal figure in 20th-century art, Henri Matisse distinguished himself with his use of color and original draftsmanship. Beyond the canvas, Matisse's philosophies about the nature of art and creation offer profound insights. His likening of instinct to the unruly branches of a tree encapsulates the paradox of artistic growth. While the raw, unfiltered instinct is vital, unchecked it can lead to chaos rather than cohesion.

This serves as a profound metaphor for the discipline and critical self-reflection required in the artistic process. While our initial impulses might be driven by passion and raw emotion, there's value in stepping back and reassessing our work. By doing so, we not only refine our creations but also allow for richer, more nuanced expressions to emerge. In our pursuit of excellence, Matisse's words remind us of the delicate balance between following one's gut and making deliberate, thoughtful decisions to guide our creative endeavors to their fullest potential.

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Creativity is the heart of what we both do. So we've curated this empowering quote and some background. And, in our own act of creation, we provide this unique portrayal we made of Henri Matisse.