Tinsel Tree Poster

A found photograph of a Christmas tree, taken in a green-walled living room some time in the sixties. Silver tinsel hangs in long strands over the branches, the baubles are mismatched, and a pile of wrapped presents in patterned paper spreads across the carpet. A dark cabinet with a bow taped to it stands behind, and a marbled glass ornament catches the flash at the right. The colour has shifted the way film does with age, towards green and amber. Nothing is staged, which is why it works. What dates it is not the tree but the room: the green walls, the carpet and the cabinet behind.

Vintage photographs carry a room best when they are allowed to look like what they are, so keep the white border and frame it simply in black or dark wood. The green cast ties it to olive and forest textiles, and it suits a hallway or a living room shelf more than a formal wall. It is a seasonal print that does not have to come down in January. Hung in a group with other found photographs it gains from the company.