MP Art Posters vs SCM Picture Studies vs ???

[3MisMe]

Has anyone been able to compare the quality of MP Art Posters and SCM Picture Study prints in person? I know I can find a lot of art online but I'd like some physical prints for my children.  Is there another source for quality prints that you would recommend? Historically, we'll be studying from the fall of Rome to the John Adams' Administration this school year (TOG Yr2). 

[AngelaR]

We did MP posters(the 11x17size not the post cards) last year (kinder) and this year we ordered our prints from SCM, mostly bc they give a decent background on the artist and they print some info about the painting (like the pomegranate was symbolic in the Middle Ages, etc.).  The quality of the posters is better from MP, but they run about $35 for 33 posters. The SCM posters sort of look like they’re printed on shiny card stock, and cost $18 for 6 (? Maybe 8?). Which, after having the MP posters was rather disappointing;  but I was also looking for the added info from SCM so I’m fine with it. 

[countrymum]

I like the SCM ones better because you can focus on 1 artist at a time and learn some about each picture. I am very satisfied with the 8.5 by 11 shiny cardstalk prints; they hold up for more than 1 year easily. This is important for me as we habe several kids spread out and I would like to reuse the prints. You can also often resell them. I have never seen the MP posters only the post cards so I can't comment on quality. I would say to buy the printed kit from SCM if you go that rout not the digital kit as it is expensive to print all 8 pictures in color! Yes, there are 8 pictures in each artist's kit from SCM.

[CTVKath]

I had a set from both MP and SCM and didn't use either one. It was a Goldilocks situation. While my kids and I liked the variety of the MP set, the poster was too large and the small cards were too small. With the SCM set, the size was good but my kids didn't like studying only 1 artist at a time. My kids preferred variety.

What worked for us was the digital fine art sets from the EnrichmentStudies website. We've used a couple of art appreciation sets and a couple of holiday sets. I send them to Office Depot for printing and have several sets printed. One for the living/dining room where we do school and one for every bathroom. My kids and I enjoyed this method. We also liked that the formatter at ES included the painter, the time and materials and a little tidbit about painter at the bottom of the page. The digital purchase includes copies of the paintings with and without those extra tidbits.