Framing a Benjamin Williams Leader Landscape

Just finished framing this spectacular 1875 Alpine landscape oil painting by British artist Benjamin Williams Leader (1831 - 1923), titled "The Wetterhorn from Rosenlaui." At 72" x 60" it has a powerful presence (see last photo for scale). Commissioned by a Member of Parliament, John Derby Allcroft, the year it was painted it was displayed at the Royal Academy, where Leader's work was shown in every summer exhibition from 1854 through 1922.

We made a 6" wide stained quartersawn white oak compound frame with a chamfered mortise-and-tenon flat and gilt oak liner. The chamfer has carved points that articulate the corners with a detail that also picks up a form pervasive in the painting.

Corner detail

Below is the painting in its old Victorian makeshift frame—a conventional 19th century exhibition frame heavy on compo (molded plaster-like material meant to pass itself off as carving).

Clearly influenced by John Ruskin's pleas to painters to go to nature, to see her both truly and reverently—and sharing with Ruskin a passion for the Swiss Alps—Leader contributed in his way to the great project of re-framing art, led by Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites. I wonder if, while breaking with convention on the canvas itself, he followed the Pre-Raphaelites, Whistler and others to make his ideals real in the form of the picture frame itself. If so, I hope our efforts would have met with his approval.

This is the third Leader we've had the privilege of framing. Another is on my site, here.

The painting with Eric Johnson next to it to give a sense of scale (Eric's over 6' tall).

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 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.)

Framing a Grueby Tile

We just shipped out this beautiful 6" Grueby tulip tile to a customer in Ohio. The soft and subtle form of the leaves suggested a very feminine frame and inspired this adaptation of our Holland profile.

For more on framing Arts and Crafts tiles, see this older entry.

Re-framing William Hubacek

Just framed this 10" x 14" oil on canvas by notable Californian William Hubacek (1871-1958), rescuing it from a cheap gold setting. The job offers a good before-and-after, and a good example, I think, of how a frame helps or hinders your ability to see the picture:

 

The frame's flat coving up to a carved cushion back edge. In quartersawn white oak with Weathered Oak stain. Very oak-y. Much more sympathetic to the spirit of a very lovely painting.

Framing a small Edward Curtis—Another Carved Corner Design

Recently framed this small original Edward Curtis photogravure of Apache Indians for a couple in Texas. The print had wide margins, but we wanted the effect of framing it close so used a lap-joined flat — kind of a wooden mat, although on top of the glass. We've taken this approach a number of times before.

 Also wanted to show the carved corner design. Both the corner design and the chamfer on the flat, which has 45 degree angled stops, echo the headdresses in the photo.

Framing Charles Partridge Adams—Simple Corner Carving

We recently got to frame this early twentieth century landscape by Charles Partridge Adams (1858-1942). At just 10" x 14", it's humble in size as well as subject matter, and loosely painted—all aspects suggesting a fairly simple frame with a bit of carving.

The tree trunks brought to mind the profile we'd come up with a few months ago for Paul Kratter's view of Lake Tahoe, "Twisted Pine Above Emerald Bay," below—a flat with a double reed near the sight edge and a carved flattened ovolo (convex form) at the sight edge—but I thought I'd refine it a little, adapting it to Adams's more "dapple-y" style.  

So I decided to enhance the lines formed by the double reeds. So added a simple pattern of carved stops to the reeds near the corners. I'm pleased with the effect. I'd like to do more with simple corner carving this year.

Framing Kevin Courter in Compound Polyptych

A customer recently commissioned Kevin Courter to paint three cottages on his rural northern California property, then had us frame the three 8 x 10's. Here it is:

The idea was to create a frame alive to the soft edges as well as architectural subject matter.

Re-framing Thaddeus Welch

Thaddeus Welch (1844-1919) was one of the great historic California landscape painters. This classic bucolic hillside scene by Welch came in recently, the customer looking to free it from a typical period compo frame which he rightly judged to be pretentious and unsuitable to the rustic spirit of the painting.

Before

Here it is in its new quartersawn white oak frame in a dark stain matching the shadows and sympathetic with the forms of the hills, with simple fine beading to pick up the delicate line work in the painting (especially the trees)—and much more suitable to the spirit of nature that so moved Welch.

After

Re-framing a Sydney Yard Watercolor

A follow-up to the last entry, here's a wonderful example of a watercolor by one of California's premiere early watercolorists, Sydney Janis Yard (1855-1909). This is a frame we've used before, for other, similar California watercolors — by Percy Grey — but this job offers the re-framing aspect to the story.

Before

The "before" shot demonstrates the typical conventional contemporary framing approach for this type of piece. The silk mat and curly-cue gold frame seem intended for nothing but projecting an air of sophistication around the painting. The glaring white mat contrasts so much with the deep shadowy tones of the painting that it actually interferes with the eye's ability to adjust to the light the artist captures so effectively. In so doing, it spoils the painting. The incongruous framing not only fails to serve the painting itself, but creates a harsh divide between the painting and its surroundings. The gold frame may not look too bad in the photo above, but is a production compo molding nailed together. One corner was already broken. The frame didn't hold up to scrutiny — or to life (see detail below)!

Corner of old frame

What the painting needed instead was a dark frame, quiet and soft in profile, with just a halo of gold to highlight it on the wall while continuing and sustaining the spirit of the picture into the architectural realm.

After

Titled "Under the Oaks," the painting's rustic spirit — completely ignored by the previous framing —  and of course the oak trees Yard painted called unquestionably for an oak frame. (The protective aspect of the oak frame is another level of meaning for a depiction of oak trees sheltering a shepherd.) This is a simple 2-3/4" wide scoop in our Century Series (No. 308.2) around a 3/4" ogee liner oil gilded with 23 kt leaf. We stained the scoop a burnt umber (our Medieval Oak stain) matching the shadows — the frame being a shadow effect around the painting, to draw your eye to the lighter painting. Two fine reeds at the sight edge of the dark molding echo some of the fine details in the painting. A closer view of the frame:

No. 308.2 ("Michigan") — 2-3/4" with 3/4" gilt oak ogee liner

Taking the time to craft the frame well with splined closed corners (finished after joining) and attention to finishing off every detail actually has an aesthetic effect, a sense of caring made tangible, not conveyed by digital photos.

The piece is framed archivally by using a hidden, or "gasket," mat under the liner. It's purpose is to separate the picture from the glazing (in this case u.v.-filtering acrylic). The rabbet is lined with a metal tape to isolate the acids in the wood from the watercolor paper.

Thank you to Montgomery Gallery, where this beautiful painting is available.

Framing Historic California Watercolors

We've recently had the pleasure of framing several watercolors by notable California artists working in the early twentieth century.

Maynard Dixon (1875-1946):

Chris Jorgensen (1838-1876):

William S. Rice (1873-1963):

Marjorie Stevens (1902-1992; available through North Point Gallery):

Lorenzo Latimer (1857-1941; these available through North Point Gallery):

Davis Schwartz (1879-1969):

Re-framing Hanson Puthuff

The landscape paintings of Hanson Puthoff (1875-1972) made a major contribution to California's rich heritage of landscape painting. Unfortunately, his pieces did not always find their way into frames that do them justice. Here's one example we had the honor of re-framing this week, taking it out of a machine-made, gold painted compo setting and putting it in a handcrafted, carved quartersawn oak frame. Here it is before and after:

 A well-made, simple home. A 3" bevel profile (canvas is 11-1/2" x 15") with a 45 degree carved chamfer sight edge. Close-ups:

Here's a profile view of the frame:

Re-framing a New—and Much Larger—Rosa Bonheur

Last year we re-framed a couple of paintings of stags, both by premiere nineteenth century French wildlife painter Rosa Bonheur, which I blogged about here. We just did another one, and at 48" x 36" it's considerably bigger than the first two. First, here it is in the compo exhibition frame that we were to replace:

And here it is now:

Given the log house setting it's going in, our solution leans more to the rustic than it might have considering the highly formal (I generally use the term in reference to form, not sophistication and refinement) treatment of the subject matter. But having the frame come out of the same appreciation of the beauty of nature and handcraft that the painting does—especially in contrast to the original frame—more than makes up for whatever formal refinement we left out of the profile. (For a more formal profile on a similar painting, see the earlier entry on re-framing Bonheur stags, here.) I stand by it as a far more sympathetic setting than was the old frame, and far more successful at the primary job of a frame, which is to help us see the picture. Any rejection of pretentiousness and false luxury in art is a step in the right direction! Taking a picture from an exhibitionist presentation to one in harmony and sympathy with the picture is fulfilling one of my favorite William Morris phrases: "for beauty's sake and not for show."

This is a compound frame with a mortise-and-tenon flat, a carved cap-molding and carved and gilt liner. After that wonderful reward of the framer—the moment when you finish fitting the picture and turn over the completed piece to see it—Trevor and I were struck by how the highlights were enhanced. Is it the gilt liner, the darker frame, or the combination? Beyond that, I can't add anything that I didn't say in the previous Bonheur re-framing example.

Here's a corner detail:

Trevor Davis gets credit for making it. Here's the proud craftsman—giving you a sense of the scale of the piece, too.

Recent Bill Cone work, and framing

Bill Cone recently brought in these two beautiful pastels for The Summer Show.

"Gateway Morning," pastel on paper. 8" x 8".

"Wildflowers," pastel on paper. 9" x 12".

We've also just completed framing a few of Bill's works for a customer. Here they are:

All are profiles that are simple but designed to suit Bill's direct and no nonsense views of the natural landscape. They're done in carved walnut, muted with a light stain, which is just right with the artist's palette and texture.

Bill's blog is always fascinating. Top notch!

Framing J Bond Francisco

Recently framed this John Bond Francisco , designing the setting to echo playfully with the massive green frame at the center of the painting. This little oil, 12" x 8", depicts the artist's San Francisco studio around the turn of the century. The frame profile's a No. 16—a plain flat mitered frame with a chamfered (45 degree bevel) sight edge. Chose a flat profile to go with the relatively shallow depth of field and flat object—the painting—that's the focus of the piece. But the angles and design of the stove suggested the chamfer. A bit wider than I normally would've used on a piece this size, but in keeping with the proportions of the depicted frame on its painting. Going as green as the frame in the painting would have sacrificed the harmony of painting and frame, but rubbed green paint in to the grain of the oak to resonate with the frame in the picture.The liner is oak with gold leaf. All is simple as the room depicted—simple, but fun!

Framing Ludmilla Welch

 

We've had the privilege of framing more and more historical work, and this past month got to re-frame this sweet oil painting, "Foggy Morning," (10" x 17") by Ludmilla Welch, who with her husband Thaddeus Welch, worked in San Francisco at the turn of the century. It's in a very low slope Century Series 3" wide profile in stained quartersawn white oak.