54x81 Monet Pro Vintage L22U Canvas 1-1/2" Deep #MU-5481

True 3:2 Film Proportion - 54x81 Size

The 3:2 aspect ratio is a very familiar format film, computer screens, and video, and, of course, is an aesthetically appealing proportion for your artistic compositions. Most 35 mm film cameras are based on this exact proportion, so our brains are trained to see images in this same ratio. It is commonly used for landscape photography and artwork, as it allows for a wide, panoramic view of the scene. It can be used to create a sense of balance and harmony in the composition, providing depth and perspective, as the longer sides of the canvas allow for more space to depict the background or foreground elements of the scene.

Even though this proportion is widely used, there are only a handful of commonly available standard canvas sizes in this ratio. There are a whole collection of intriguing (what we call) Lost Sizes, which are uncommon sizes in this common proportion. Unusual canvas sizes add intrigue to your artwork and an additional story to tell about your painting.

Explore other sizes in this same 3:2 aspect ratio:

4x6 • 6x9 • 8x12 • 10x15 • 12x18 • 14x21 • 16x24 • 18x27 • 20x30 • 22x33 • 24x36 • 26x39 • 28x42 • 30x45 • 32x48 • 34x51 • 36x54 • 38x57 • 40x60 • 42x63 • 44x66 • 46x69 • 48x72 • 50x75 • 52x78 • 56x84 • 58x87 • 60x90 • 62x93 • 64x96

Explore Related Products to this 54x81 Size:

• Acrylic Primed Linen: Muir™ • Santa Cruz™ • Saint-Cloud™ • Grenoble™ • Pau™
• Acrylic Primed Cotton: Monterey™ • Carmel™ • Tahoe™ • Heavy Weight 14oz cotton • Sierra™ • Shasta™
• Alkyd / Oil Primed Linen: Malibu™ • Vintage L21C™ • Ventura™ • Versailles™ • Isola™ • Poitiers™
• 3D™ Pro 2.5

Vintage™ L22U Acrylic Primed Artfix Linen

Delightful hand-primed medium tooth linen with a medium tooth and texture.

• 100% Belgian Linen 5 oz.; Primed Weight 12 oz. per square yard
• Medium Weight, Open Weave, Medium Texture
• Double Sized and Double Primed with acid-free archival quality acrylic gesso
• Impenetrable ground prevents oil paint from leaching through and harming the canvas
• For acrylics, oils, alkyds, and water miscible oil paints
• Linen has natural oils that prevent disintegration over time.

Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) Primer Pigment

This primer contains premium-grade Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) white pigment, renowned for its exceptional performance in acrylic priming. Its standout feature is its enduring whiteness, coupled with remarkable flexibility that persists over time. In contrast to other pigments such as zinc dioxide, Titanium Dioxide maintains its resilience, preventing brittleness as it ages. This quality ensures that artworks retain their integrity and will stand the test of time.

Monet™ Pro 1.5" Deep B2 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.

• Super strong B2™ Stretcher Bar upgrade is 50% stronger
• For this 54x81 large size frame, this upgrade adds more strength and stability
• Produces a 1.5" deep stretched canvas
• 2-1/4" 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

Finger Jointed Wood is not meant for Stretcher Bars

Solid wood makes the most dependable Stretcher Bar, because one homogeneous wood member is going to behave similarly across the entire length of the Bar. Whereas, with finger-jointed wood is made-up of multiple pieces of wood, sometimes on the actual joint itself, presenting multiple points of failure which no one can control.

We only use Solid Wood to build our Stretcher Bars because a solid piece of wood will last indefinitely. When we speak of archival value, it's not just the paint you use and the quality of your canvas and ground, even the wood choices manufacturers add or reduce value to your final painting. The fact is, you don't want problems, and finger joints only increase that risk of the wood falling apart in the future.

The glue used to bind finger joints is a water based adhesive and when that wood is exposed to high humidity environments, particularly with exterior walls, the glue joints can give-up. 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.

54x81 Monet Pro Super Heavy Frame with Steel Corners Provides the Ultimate Support!

• Drawing depicts the exact frame construction, not the proportion
• Extra Heavy 2-1/4" wide Stretcher Bars, 1.5" deep - 50% stronger than our normal Bars they provide vastly superior frame strength needed for this large 54x81 size
• Each corner has a 1/4" thick triangular steel plate and a diagonal oriented Diamond Brace that interlocks with the Stretcher Bars and provides maximum support and rigidity to help keep the frame square and flat
• Two super strong 3/4" thick keyable braces and two cross braces (all 3.25" wide) provide the maximum possible support for this 54x81 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 Monet™ Pro 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

Steel Corners and Diamond Braces Increase Rigidity for this 54x81 Size

For our larger size Monet Pro frames, like this 54x81 size, we use 1/4" painted steel and diagonal Diamond wood braces for unprecedented frame rigidity and strength. The triangular steel plates are inserted into the groove on the inside perimeter of the Stretcher Bar and improve torsional strength to help keep the frame flat.

The diagonal Diamond wood braces lock the corners and the steel plate in place and help keep the frame square. Together, these two features contribute to producing the finest and strongest 1.5" deep canvas on the market.

Incidentally, this feature is not offered for our 3D Pro™ Canvases because it is simply not required for the double tongue-and-groove corner joints of 3D Pro™ that provide adequate torsional strength for those 2.5" and 3.5" deep frames.

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.

Sustainable Forests - A Precious Natural Resource

The air that we breathe depends upon our healthy forests the world over. For this reason, we only use lumber from the sustainable forests of the Pacific Northwest, so we can guarantee that our nation's precious natural timber resources are available for future generations.

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

Masterpiece® has been producing the finest artist canvas in North America since 1965. Artist Canvas is one of the very few products you can buy, and with your precious time, talent, and materials transform it into a work of art that could one day be worth a fortune. Don't skimp on your material choices, because your legacy and your own brand will be judged by how well your artwork stands the test of time.

The equilibrium comes from the equivalence of my colors. ♦ Robert Delaunay

Robert Delaunay's profound connection with color wasn't merely about aesthetics or beauty. For him, color was a force, a balancing act, a dance between elements that, when perfectly aligned, achieved a harmony that transcended the visual. Delaunay's approach to color wasn't just about picking pleasant combinations; it was a meticulous quest for balance, where each hue held weight, significance, and a role in the larger composition.

Such a mindset can inspire us in our art careers. Just as Delaunay sought equilibrium in his palettes, we can seek balance in our artistic endeavors. Be it the techniques we employ, the subjects we choose, or the mediums we gravitate towards Ð finding our own personal 'equivalence' can be the path to our most profound and authentic expressions. In recognizing the profound nature of balance, we can strive to find our own equilibrium, echoing Delaunay's pursuit in our unique way.

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Art is visual and ripe with meaning, so enjoy this quote and our interpretation of its meaning, plus an one-of-a-kind portrait we created of Robert Delaunay to make it all the more relevant. Pick up that brush and go!

Tight'n'Up™ Liquid Canvas Retensioner

While all of our Masterpiece® Pro canvases are stretched very tightly and our frames have a built-in method to increase tension, we have another method to add canvas tension. Tight'n'Up™ Liquid Canvas Retensioner (sold separately) can be sprayed on the back of a canvas to repair most canvas tension issues.

With Tight'n'Up™, you can add tension to just a small area, or a large area. Simply spray it lightly on the back and brush it into the canvas, and within seconds, your canvas becomes tighter and stays tighter. The more you use, the tighter it gets.