Framing Sam Washburn and Chez Panisse

Pictures that depict frames and finish trim always offer the frame-maker an opportunity to achieve a high degree of harmony and unity between the picture and the frame.

Such is the case with this Sam Washburn oil on canvas — a view of the Craftsman interior of Berkeley's famous restaurant, Chez Panisse. For the 14" x 18" picture we used a 3" Four-Square Basic (done without the usual reveals on profiles of this frame this size) in Honduran Mahogany with a light stain to harmonize. Mahogany square plugs (they appear darker because you see the end grain, which absorbs more stain). The Craftsman-style interior is carried out by the iconic Craftsman mortise-and-tenon joinery in the frame. The otherwise plain profile works not only with the architectural details depicted, but with the loose painting style. If the picture were more tightly rendered and/or had more detailed and finer line work, then a more formal frame, or at least a more formal liner in this frame, would be called for.

Framing James Cosgrove

 A customer recently brought in this little (5-3/4" x 8") oil on board by Glasgow painter James Cosgrove (b. 1939). The stained walnut frame was designed entirely to the painting, with a carved cushion rim around a flat with fine carved flutes. I'm very pleased with the harmony of line and form, as well as color—a rare occasion when black works best with a painting.

Framing Dwight Clay Holmes

We just framed this 20" x 16" canvas by Texan Dwight Clay Holmes (1900-1986) titled "Red Bud".

I was especially pleased with the form of the frame profile as an enhancement to both the graceful use of line in the painting (hence the reeding) and the loose brush work (hence the coarse, wild figured quartersawn white oak as well as the carved convex sight edge element). This frame is similar to one on the Charles Partridge Adams, below, which I wrote about here.

I realize these are pretty similar to the frame on the Louis Apol a couple of entries back. But it's useful to compare three ostensibly similar frames with nevertheless significant differences when considered with respect to the pictures they're on.

Framing Contemporary Photographs--Geoffrey Agrons, 2

A couple of years ago I posted an entry about framing Geoffrey Agrons's wonderful photographs. Here are a couple more we just did.

This first one, "Big, Big Love" is in an exhibit opening this month at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO. It's framed in a No. 123.8 Century Series flat, 3" wide, in stained walnut.

The second example, a still life, is framed in our most basic mortise-and-tenon frame, the Aurora, with a liner that's an ogee with a bead at the sight edge. The outer frame is a nod to the art of the cabinetmaker, while the refined liner picks up the forms and fine lines of the photo.

See more of Geoffrey's work on his site, here.

How Art Fairs Frame Art

"Art is the expression of man's joy in his labor" -- that's how the great material task of humanity and civilization was framed by William Morris. (Yes, it was Morris -- not, as a Google search will lead you to believe, Henry Kissinger). After reading Peter Schjeldahl's New Yorker piece, "All Is Fairs" , it's clear to me the thought is long overdue for rewriting. How about this: "Art is a few people's expression of their joy in seeing how much money they can get the .000000001% to spend on kooky and ever-so-cleverly-ironic stuff they make, or find, or kind of throw together, or whatever."

Framing Louis Apol

Here's a notable historical work for you. Just framed this beautiful European landscape by Louis Apol (Dutch, 1850-1936), "A Forest in Winter" (oil on canvas, 32 x 25). (Click image for a larger view.)

The stained quartersawn white oak frame is a 4-1/2" wide slope with a carved cushion sight edge. The double reeding outside the cushion, with carved stops near the corners are a nod to the delicate strokes that define the trees, and give the frame a degree of refinement in sympathy with the artist's well-honed touch. The 1/4" gilt slip catches the sunlight. We were aiming for a suitably rustic but sensitive feel, a quiet mood, simple. No "before" shot of this in a gold frame, but can you see how the dark wood suits the painting much better than a gold one would? How it's like the shadows in the painting, and how the shadowy feel of the frame leads your eye to the picture and acts as a foil to the picture, and in particular to the sunlight? And, of course, the rustic feel connects you to the rustic subject matter much more successfully than would a gold frame.

Below is a corner sample of the frame design (without the carved stops on the reeding).

Framing Grueby Tiles

We just finished framing a batch of Grueby tiles for a customer in Ohio. Something simple but alive to these very lovely and historic items. A pleasure! (Click images to view larger.)