What Is a Passepartout, and Why Does It Matter?

If you've bought a fine art print, you've probably seen the word "passepartout" and skimmed past it. I want to explain what it actually is, because it changes how a photograph looks and lasts.

What Is a Passepartout?

A passepartout is a mount, usually thick card, with a window cut out of the centre. You slide the print behind it. The photograph sits inside that window, with a clean border of card around the image.

The word is French, and it roughly means "goes everywhere." Originally it referred to a simple way of mounting art so it could travel and be displayed without a full frame. The name stuck, and now it just means the mount itself.

Why Not Just Use a Regular Mat or Frame?

You can frame a print with no mount at all, glass straight onto paper. It works, but it's not doing the print any favours.

A passepartout does three things. It keeps the glass off the surface of the photograph, which matters over years, not days. It gives the image breathing room, so the eye lands on the photograph rather than the edge of the frame. And it protects the print's border while you're handling it, storing it, or shipping it.

Cheap mass-produced mounts are often machine-cut from thin card, with a bevel that looks slightly rough up close. A proper passepartout is cut cleanly, at the right depth, from card that won't yellow or warp.

How I Cut Mine

Every passepartout for Nomad Prints is hand-cut by me. There's certain tools that are game changing. A lot of people ask about the process so I made a video about it:

Does It Change How the Print Looks?

Yes, more than people expect. A good passepartout makes a photograph look considered rather than just printed. It's the difference between a print that looks like a poster and one that looks like it belongs on a wall you'll want to keep looking at.

It also makes framing simpler. Standard frame sizes fit a passepartout-mounted print easily, so you're not hunting for a custom frame.

Do You Need One?

If you're framing a photograph you actually care about, yes. If it's a quick print for a noticeboard, don't bother. The passepartout earns its place on prints meant to last, the ones you'll still have on your wall in ten years.

It's a small piece of card, but it's doing a lot of quiet work. I'd rather spend the extra twenty minutes cutting it properly than send a photograph out into the world unprotected.