35.1495°N / 90.0490°W · United States
Nearly half of this sheet is river and far shore, and almost nothing is built there. Memphis keeps entirely to its own side, on high ground above the Mississippi, and the grid stops where the high ground does.
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 Mississippi fills the left side of the sheet, a broad band of water with long wooded islands in it. Beyond it, the Arkansas bank is woods and fields, and the river is crossed in only two places. On the near side, downtown runs along the water in a narrow grid set parallel to the river. In front of it lies a long strip of land, Mud Island, built up at its northern end and green at its southern tip, separated from the streets by a narrow harbour. Behind downtown, the streets spread east in larger, looser grids, crossed by motorways.
The bluff itself is not drawn, since relief never is: what gives it away is the straight edge of the grid along the water. At the top of the sheet, the Wolf River comes in from the north-east, green along its banks. Court Square, the oldest open space of the grid, is only a dot at this scale. With most palettes, a fine dotted line runs down the river: the boundary between Tennessee and Arkansas. The rail lines along the riverfront, on the other hand, are drawn too pale to read.
Water takes nearly half of this sheet, so its ink sets the tone of the whole poster: a deep one gives the river weight against the dense grid, a pale one lets the streets lead. Green is the other large mass, and most of it lies across the river, on the islands and the Arkansas bank; choose it knowing that it will sit beside the water over a wide area. The city side is line work: the grid along the river, the looser streets behind it, the motorways in the darkest line.
Portrait, on the engraved point: the river and its far bank on the left, downtown and Mud Island in the middle, the Wolf River at the top and the second river crossing at the bottom. The eastern neighbourhoods and Overton Park lie beyond the right edge; bringing them in would push the river half off the sheet, and here the river is the subject. Come closer and the grid along the bluff sharpens, with Court Square in it.
The title, one line under it, the coordinates. On a sheet where one bank is full and the other almost empty, the caption belongs to your side: a street name, a number, the corner you knew best.
Sixteen inks, in the configurator’s order. It is one of the configurator’s own palettes: you will find it there as you compose.
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 real beginnings of Memphis came in 1819, when the town was laid out by the surveyor William Lawrence. The site was a bluff, high ground where the Wolf River meets the Mississippi, and his survey shows a carefully prepared grid, designed to carry the growth of the city. It is the narrow band of streets along the water, set parallel to the river.
The 1819 plan left a few open areas in its grid, and some of them still exist, Court Square among them. On the map of the city drawn in 1872, circles radiate from Court Square to indicate distance: the square was the point from which Memphis measured itself. Come closer in the configurator and it appears, a small green square a few blocks back from the river.
A railroad map of Memphis drawn in 1929 already shows Frames Island, the land known today as Mud Island. On the sheet it is the long strip between the river and the harbour, running the whole length of downtown: streets at its northern end, green at its southern tip.
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.
Measure it with a finger: from any street downtown, the water is only a few blocks away. Whichever block was yours, the river was never far, and on this sheet it never will be.
Compose my Memphis poster
