Vintage Chicago wall art: framed matchbook prints for Museum of Science and Industry, Edgewater Beach Hotel, and Tip-Top Motel, on a gallery wall

Archival Studio Prints

Vintage Chicago wall art, printed to last.

Every print starts with a real vintage Chicago matchbook. Most of the venues they came from are gone. The matchbooks are what is left.

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How a print gets made

About the studio

Source the object

A real vintage matchbook from the studio's own collection.

Shoot it in studio

Photographed by hand in the studio at full resolution.

Print it archival

Matte, fine-art paper on every size, five by seven up to twenty-four by thirty-six.

Patent drawing for Joshua Pusey's 1892 'Flexible Match,' the first book of paper matches

History

Close Cover Before Striking

The book match started as an 1892 patent for a "flexible match." For most of the next century it was the cheapest advertisement an American business could buy, and Chicago's printers kept the format alive longer than anywhere else.

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Most collected

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Berghoff RestaurantFrom $19

Museum of Science and Industry matchbook print

Museum of Science and IndustryFrom $19

Shedd AquariumFrom $19

Tip-Top MotelFrom $19

Collections

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Chicago landmark wall art: Museum of Science and Industry matchbook prints, front and back, framed

Landmarks4 prints

Vintage Chicago hotel wall art: Hotel Eastgate matchbook prints, front and back, framed

Historic Hotels3 prints

Chicago restaurant wall art: Italian Village matchbook prints, front and back, framed

Bars & Restaurants10 prints

Landmarks

The museum everyone remembers

Museum of Science & Industry, Shedd Aquarium, and the airlines that flew out of Chicago, as they looked on matchbook covers.

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Shedd Aquarium matchbook prints, front and back, framed on a wall