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.

True Grit: See us on the big screen!

Early last year I got to brag here that we'd gotten a call from the set designers for the Coen Brothers remake of the classic western, True Grit. Well, as you're probably aware, the film is out and doing gangbusters at the box office. If you look closely, you'll see our frames (the oak ones—NOT the gold ones, of course) in the courthouse scenes near the beginning, in which Rooster Cogburn and Mattie Ross first meet up. 

Framing Kevin Courter's "Cradled Moon"

Enjoyed framing this 12" x 14" oil for Kevin Courter, now at New Masters Gallery in Carmel. Chose walnut for its color (used a light stain to get the harmony just right) and because it's good for carving. Chose a flat profile, since it's a flat composition, but at the sight edge it's got a very subtle convex, or ovolo, form echoing the form of the treetops cradling the moon. The frame similarly cradles the painting. The carved pattern takes its cue from the crescent moon and the branches. The narrow slip with lemon gold leaf matches the moon.

Framing Kevin Courter's "Soaring Skies"

Just finished framing this wonderful Kevin Courter oil on linen, 20" x 16", titled "Soaring Skies." I wanted the frame to extend the perspective with the right form and amount of line work, but keeping it simple and rustic in spirit. The color came out of the shadows in the grasses. Shadows are frequently a good source for frame color, helping the frame remain subordinate to the painting. The bright sunlight off the clouds suggested the gilt slip.

The painting is headed to New Masters Gallery in Carmel.

From Gold to Oak—II: 19th Century British Still Life

This is another re-framing job that we did maybe a year ago. It's a still life, oil on canvas, by 19th century British painter Edward Ladell (1821-1886). Here's how it was framed when it came in:

 

And how it looked after we re-framed it in stained quartersawn white oak to be more in sympathy with its rustic spirit:

Here's the profile, fairly flat over all, but refined and with beads all keyed to the highly formal and finely drawn painting:

From Gold to Oak—I: Re-Framing Rosa Bonheur Stags

Have you ever looked at a painting and realized that you were fighting to see past the frame, that the frame was actually inhibiting you from seeing the painting? Maybe you've held your hands up to one eye and used them to block out the frame. That was very much my reaction—and I suspect the reaction of the customer who brought it to me—when I first laid eyes on this sweet little oil by the great French painter Rosa Bonheur. The elaborate, swirly gold frame was so imperious, showy and unsympathetic to everything about the picture—the subject, palette, line work, forms and, above all, the rustic spirit—that it actually felt laborious to really study and appreciate the painting itself. (The owner was also seeking a frame that would be more suitable to the painting's destination in a log home.) At just a little over 8" x 6", it was being eaten alive by some past owner's or dealer's insecurities (it didn't help that a makeshift gold colored liner had been used to make the painting fit a 10" x 8" frame). The poor creature appears inexplicably displaced to some Parisian bank manager's parlor, and seems to stare at us as if to say, "What the heck am I doing here?"

Relief finally came when I removed the work from its setting and could enjoy this stately fellow that Mademoiselle Bonheur had distinguished so skillfully. Seeing past the significance of the painting and refusing to be awed by the signature in order to appreciate the work itself, I could craft no better solution than this plain and simple 2-5/8" wide flattened scoop with a single bead at the sight edge. At last, we can see the painting without effort, and the stag is in his natural habitat, warily watching us as intruders of his home.

A larger Bonheur of similar subject matter came in about a year later, with a similarly overbearing frame. Damaged in transit, the composition—or "compo"—breaking off demonstrates the dubious

 service of frames like this as protectors of paintings, not to mention the debased character of compo as fake carving. At 22" x 18", this canvas called for a larger and stronger frame, although with the same approach to line and form which we'd taken with framing the earlier painting.

The suitably rustic spirit of the quartersawn white oak frame molded to harmonize in line and form with this quiet but accomplished work, a dark stain to lead the eye to the lighter painting (the eye goes to light; frames are generally more successful when they're darker than the picture), and a touch of pale gold leaf on oak at the sight edge to echo the painting's contrasts and lend a note of honor to this noble beast all contribute to a setting that sustains and expands the spirit of this fine work and allows us at last to see and admire the painting.

Framing Photographs—I: Contemporary Landscapes by Geoffrey Agrons

Geoffrey Agrons is a good customer and a superb photographer. We just framed this set of his photos printed on handmade Japanese paper, and they present a good opportunity to demonstrate two important lessons of framing design: framing contemporary photographs close, and individualized frame design. Geoffrey sent seven photos, most of which are of the Cape May area during last winter's huge snow storm. (The large one here is of a woods in Ireland.)

For a slide show, with larger images, click here.

We decided to frame them all in walnut, a wood we frequently choose for photographs, first, because of the suitably native cool color—we used a black wash to better match the sepia ink color on most of them—and second, because of its tight grain and smooth texture, which is consistent with the smooth surface of photographs.

For the first image, above, I chose a slope for the overall profile since it was appropriate to the deep perspective as well as the slope of the ground and the angles formed by the roots. A cove terminating at the top with a fine bead made an ideal form to suit the trees and roots half-embedded in the earth.

What fascinated me in this image was the staccato rhythm of the line of fencing in contrasting with the soft forms of snow. So that's what I echoed in the frame, using fine 1/6" "quirks," or steps, and a soft cove at the sight edge. Here's a detail of the frame profile.

A flat profile was chosen for this picture because of the flat horizon. It's true that there is a deep perspective in this image, but the horizontal quality seems to be stronger. (If more of the stream could be seen meandering away toward the horizon, that might have swayed me to go with a slope.) A fine line, its 1/8" width in proportion to the sharp lines in the photos, was raised near the sight edge, and a gentle ovolo (convex form) at the sight edge to echo the banks of the stream and the snow.

This frame is a similar flat profile with a raised line, but with a cove at the sight edge. I love the way the grain of the walnut echoes the clouds.

This frame is a good example of the importance of line proportion because it's essentially a frame that's been an old standby for us, the Eastwood—a flat profile with a narrow step at the sight edge and a broader step at the back edge. But the line proportions formed by these steps had to be just right for this picture, since it's so simple, and those line proportions that have become standard for the Eastwood were too wide for this image, so we adapted them to suit this specific photo.

For this color photo, a slope was chosen to echo the angle of the snow. I used a carved panel just outside the sight edge to echo the sense of coarse texture.

Finally, for this extremely subtle image I used a profile with a suitably very subtle curve down at the sight edge. The frame's basically flat, but coves up toward the back edge with a quirk and a bead at the back edge, providing definition while also echoing the cylindrical form of the posts.

For more on framing photographs close, see my Picture Framing Magazine article (link to the pdf "Close Framed Photographs," in the right column of my page, "Further Reading," here).

Geoffrey will be showing these pieces and more this September at he New Jersey Audubon Nature Center in Goshen, NJ.

Again, click here to view these in a slide show (with larger views).