24.5551°N / 81.7800°W · United States
Few cities fit on a sheet from shore to shore. Old Key West does: a grid five blocks deep laid along a harbour, and the Atlantic a short walk away on the other side.
You choose the framing, the palette and the words of the caption. The work is drawn from real data, then printed to order in the workshop closest to you.
The island lies across the middle of the sheet, with water above and below it. The old town fills its western end: a close grid of streets set at an angle to the compass, its first street running along the harbour to the north-west and bending with the curve of the shore. After a few blocks to the south, the streets reach the Atlantic. To the north, the harbour is lined with piers, and beyond it lie a few small islands, one long and narrow, others round and green. Eastward, the grid carries on across the island until ponds and patches of green begin at the right edge.
In the upper right, a short road crosses the water to another island. The long road that comes down the Keys from the mainland arrives at the far eastern end of the island, beyond the right edge, and so do the airport and its runway. At the western tip, a green triangle is the largest park on the sheet. Nothing here rises: the island has no prominent relief, and the map draws none.
Water takes more of this sheet than land, on every side, so its ink is the frame of the poster: whatever you choose surrounds the town completely. A deep ink makes the island read as an island at once; a pale one turns it into a drawing of streets on a soft ground. Green is scarce and comes in small patches, the triangle at the western tip the largest of them. The grid is fine, and a mid-tone line keeps it crisp against the water.
Portrait, centred on the old town, a little west of the engraved point, which lies further along the island. The island runs east and west, so a portrait cannot hold all of it: this is one of the rare cities where a landscape frame would show more, from the old town to the eastern shore. In portrait, the old town, the harbour and the islands to the north fit together; the airport, the eastern shore and the road to the mainland leave first. Pull back and the whole island fits, but as a thin band across a sheet of water.
The title, one line under it, the coordinates. On an island this small, the caption can be precise: the street, the block, the stretch of shore you walked at the end of the day.
Sixteen inks, in the configurator’s order. It is not in the catalogue, but you will find it in the palette library, filed under its material.
Opens the colour workshop with these 16 inks in place: change one, keep the rest.
It will wait in your account, ready for any piece.
The town of Key West developed in the harbour area, along Front Street between Whitehead and Simonton, during the 1820s and 1830s, and most of its buildings stood close to the waterfront. On the sheet, it is the north-western corner of the grid, where the streets meet the piers.
William A. Whitehead surveyed the town in February 1829, and the street pattern of today appears to descend directly from his survey. The first streets ran parallel to the shoreline; one block inland, the plan became a consistent grid, five blocks deep and thirteen wide, with sixty-four lots and two public squares. Where the harbour curves, Front Street bends with it, and the grid meets the water at an angle.
Whitehead’s drawings of 1838 show a town still occupying little more than a toehold on the island, with only two principal streets, Whitehead and Front, and Whitehead Street already shown running to the opposite end of the island. It still does: on the sheet, it crosses the old town from the harbour to the Atlantic shore.
Yes. The search covers the whole world, from a capital to a hamlet. For the Sky collection, any date works, past or future: the sky is calculated.
From 21 × 29.7 cm to 84.1 × 118.9 cm, that is A4 to A0, portrait or landscape depending on the material. Every size is shown with its price in the editor.
Four, from the barest to the most dressed.
Making depends on the edition: 1 to 3 working days for Fine Art paper and wooden hangers, 3 days for the poster and the mounted frame, 3 to 5 days for the framed canvas. Transit depends on the country:
| Delivered to | In transit | In total |
|---|---|---|
| European Union | 5 to 7 working days | 6 to 12 working days |
| United Kingdom | 2 to 3 working days | 3 to 8 working days |
| United States | 4 to 6 working days | 5 to 11 working days |
| Canada | National delivery | Given at dispatch |
| Australia | National delivery | Given at dispatch |
These are standard delivery times and remain indicative. For a set date, order two to three weeks ahead.
Digital editions are available immediately: the file of your piece can be downloaded from your account as soon as you order, and an email lets you know the moment it is ready.
Here the map stops because the land does. Whatever brought you this far south, the street you stayed on is on this sheet, a few blocks from the water in every direction.
Compose my Key West poster
