Framing the Issue: Looking Closer at the Art of the Frame

We see them every time we go to a museum, but we never really see them. Like Rodney Dangerfield, frames get no respect. Julius Lowy Frame & Restoring Company, Inc. hopes to reframe the issue of frame ignorance through an exhibition titled A Change of Taste: From the Gilded Age to the Craftsman Aesthetic; Featuring Beaux Arts and Arts & Crafts frames from The Edgar Smith Collection, which runs through April 15, 2011. By showing the artistry of these frames, Lowy harks back to an age when craftsmanship in frame design earned great respect from the artists whose works filled in the spaces between the gilding and carving. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Framing the Issue."

[Image: A rare carved and gilt frame by Charles Prendergast with ogee profile and intermittently spaced floral carvings alternating with plain burnished “mirror” panels in the Venetian style. The Italian technique of punch work or bulinatura is used around the floral carvings. This frame resembles a classic Venetian carved frame with an ogee profile dating from the early 18^th century sometimes referred to as a “Canaletto” frame. Hermann Dudley Murphy used this frame style as well and was also influenced in many of his designs by Italian techniques and ornamentation. Signed and dated on verso “Prendergast 1905.” Sight 25 5/8 x 15 ¾ inches; width 4 inches.]

[Many thanks to Julius Lowy Frame & Restoring Company, Inc. for providing me with the image above and press materials for A Change of Taste: From the Gilded Age to the Craftsman Aesthetic; Featuring Beaux Arts and Arts & Crafts frames from The Edgar Smith Collection, which runs through April 15, 2011.]