A Bit of Framing History...

Custom Framing Inside Information

Man, you will sure seem smart with this info (or maybe you'll just be a frame nerd like me).

There was a wonderful article in this month’s Veranda magazine about the history of the custom frame. It was a very concise article. I wish there could have been a bit more research involved, but I guess not everyone is as interested in custom framing as I am. (Go figure…)

The history of the frame goes back to “medieval ecclesiastical painting” which “were the first to be framed in a manner that would be recognized today” (Cossons, 130). The frames were made for protection, but they also mimicked the church’s windows in which they hung. Thus the paradigm for framing was born. The frame equates to the interior of the space in which it hangs. Things have not changed much.

In the 15th and 16th Centuries Renaissance craftsmen took the frame to new heights of elaborate construction. The frame became a specialty of craftsmanship like finish carpentry, or metal-smithing, and hence the elaborately decorated gold gilded frame was born by a need from the greatest art patron in European history…. Anybody?... the Catholic Church. The upper and newly developing “merchant class” also insisted on framing their belongings, which showed off the family’s personal wealth and taste. “Frames became secular as well as religious when wealthy merchants and aristocrats sought surrounds for the art they had commissioned” (Cossons, 132). The birth of the middle class in Renaissance Europe brought a higher demand for luxury items that only the very wealthy could afford years before.


The French took elaborate decoration to its extreme end with “Baroque and Rococo decorative schemes of the 17th and 18th centuries produced frames with ornate carving” (Cossons, 134). Think about craftspeople who dedicated their entire lives to carving frames. An entire industry was born out of this need for opulence, and it continues in 2007. You don’t send your million dollar client to Walmart to pick out a frame… at least I hope not. You send them to TRA Art Group (shameless self-promotion, sorry).

We skip forward to the birth of the “modern art movement”. Artists in the late 19th as well as early 20th century sought to challenge the notion of the frame just as they challenged the very notion of art. “Artists such as Seurate go so far as to paint a frame onto the canvass” (Cossons, 241). There is a great example of this at the DIA. One of my fav’s too. “Degas, Monet, Pissarro, and Van Gogh preferred white and colored frames, which were barred from exhibition in the Paris Salons of 1884” (Cossons, 241). It’s hard to imagine the Impressionists as rebels. We are surrounded by their impact everyday. In fact the Walmart and Target set see nothing but pure visual delight in the art of the Impressionists. I’ll bet there are more Monet and Van Gogh posters framed at Michaels Arts and Crafts than those by all other artists combined (pure speculation on my part). When put in the context of their own time period, they were living at the margins of not only the art world but society also. They did everything they could to fight the paradigm of the Paris Salon (which was really the only show in town if you wanted to be a professional artist). “The role of the picture frame has changed over time from protective surround to a statement of wealth, position and, in the case of the Impressionists, rebellion” (Cossons, 241).

So, the frame is really part of the art, not just an extension. You cannot have one without thinking about the context of the other. Whether you put a frame on the piece or not, leaving the art frameless is as pragmatic an effort as choosing one. I remember a critique at years end at CCS. One of the requirements for showing your art was for it to be “framed”. My paintings were rejected by the faculty. The frames overwhelmed the art. The teacher’s suggestion: “Don’t frame your art.” That was a hard lesson, especially since I spent all night building the frames.

So, beware of the framer that suggests the large expensive frame for the piece of art that does not require any frame at all. If the art does not need a frame I always tell the client. If the work is especially old or valuable, the original frame, as worn out as it may be, could be a considerable part of the history and monetary worth of the work of art. As for the Monet print in the purple metal frame which was dry mounted at Michaels… you are on your own.

Jeff Haefner
November 2007

Works Cited
Cossons, Malcom. “Art at the Edge, The Role of Frames”. Veranda Oct. 2007

That's right a works cited page on a blog! A tear gathers in the corner of my english teacher's eye...

The New MGM Grand Casino

Hi all. In the midst of unseasonably warm conditions, there is plenty going on in the art community. Our own Ann Gordon is now in London where petrol is about $6.05 per gallon (adjusted for litres, we do our homework here on TRA Art News), and the pints of beer are more expensive than anywhere else in the world. Lucky for her before she left she did a wonderful commission for the new MGM Grand downtown. The piece hangs in the new Saltwater restaurant. Although that money does look a bit pint-sized when converted to Pounds. Oh well can't say I feel badly for her anyway at the moment!

Nice work aye love? Cheers!

Just goes to show, there are art buyers out there. You just have to get in front of them in the right place and the right time.

More to come

Jeff

New Artist

Richter "Lilly" steel wall relief 2007 (at TRA)

Richter "Flight" steel wall relief 2007 (at TRA)

Richter "Wing" steel wall relief 2007 (at TRA)

Richter "Untitled" steel wall relief 2007

Richter "Untitled" steel wall relief 2007

We are very excited about Todd Richter's work. They are wall-mounted sculptural reliefs made from welded stainless steel. They are not patinaed in any way. He shines the steel up with a grinder, David Smith style, so the art reflects the color of the surrounding environment. They are extremely light and easy to hang. Write us at traart@sbcglobal.net to inquire. We have three on hand and more to come.

Jeff

Art, the Most Difficult Sale of the Design Process

Hello. From time to time on our art blog I am going to post some information, ideas, and opinions about art as it relates to design and sales. With my own opinions blasting out into cyber space, I also want yours. Please take the time to let us know what you think. Tell us you disagree. Tell us you hate us. Tell us that our opinions are B.S. For God's sake though do it constructively. Tell us why we are so bad. I want this blog to be a learning experience for all. So enjoy, and fire away. We can take it.

I believe that everyone agrees that ART is the MOST difficult part of the design process in terms of the sale. Believe me I know... first hand... from many, many customers, clients, designers, and friends, that art is difficult to get from the gallery walls to the client's home. Sometimes selling art to a client is like pulling teeth. The fact is that most people (including some designers) just don't get. They don't have a handle on what art is, how it relates to the design scheme, and especially: How to get the client to open up the wallet for something that they can't sit on, work on, cook on, or basically live on.
I want to make that process easier for you as a designer. That's what this blog is for. I want to inform, help, teach, and get taught myself, about how to sell art to people. Better yet: How to get people to buy art.

For every person that says to you "Perfect! I love it! How much?" You will hear, "I don't like it", "I don't get it", and the ever popular, "How much did you say that thing was?!" Here is a basic rejection we have all heard, and one way to deal with it:

Objection by your basic CEO or business owner:
Art is unnecessary, it serves no purpose, and it’s EXPENSIVE!
You know what you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT (kind of…)! Art is an expense. It makes you spend money. Just like you spend money on: your car, your home, your clothes, your hair cut, your golf clubs, your vacation, your insurance policy, paper for the printer, school for your kids, your computer, your cell phone, your Blackberry, your $7 coffee at Starbucks, and your $10 beer at the ballpark. These are all things you choose to spend your hard earned cash on, because: they are in one form or another IMPORTANT TO YOU! What you need to see is that art is important to you too. All of these things reflect your style and give others a piece of information about who you are, what your values are, and what you want. Art reflects your style just like all the other things on that list. For example: If you wore a pair of jeans to the office you would probably feel out of place and possibly a bit silly even if you consider yourself a tee shirt and jeans guy. The jeans are inappropriate in an office setting, and reflect on you in a negative way in an office environment, because they don’t say “professional”. Sometimes of course jeans say “I don’t have to dress up like the rest of you, because I run this place.” Most of us though are not afforded that luxury. If we showed up in jeans on Monday someone would ask if we were feeling ok. And probably we would be sent home.
Bad art, or worse NO art also reflects on you in a negative way too. It says I am not willing to invest in the things necessary to my complete my environment for myself and my coworkers. Art makes your business look like you are going to be there for a long time. It makes you look solid and dependable. Just like the thousand pound desk that took 4 big men to move into your office, and an army of workers to fit, finish, and ship it, art completes a space and completes your image. You spent 7 grand on that desk, why match it with a framed poster for 50 bucks that you could get in Costco while you were shopping for that 5 gallon bottle of mayonnaise?

The point: don't sell art. Sell what it can do for the client in terms of prestige, image, and the joy of ownership. Sell it as a necessity not an add on or an option. Leave that kind of selling to car salesmen!

Jeff

October

"Decent I Through IV" oil on 4 panels. 8 by 8 feet

Hello all. Got a new one from local painter Marcia Freedman. Abstract Expressionist by nature I would say. The paint is squished around the canvas by a carefully controlled frenzy of brush-work. Marcia has a solid reputation as an artist of note in the Detroit Area. We are doing our best to get her name out there.

The painting is made up of four separate 4 by 4 foot panels. They are hung together to create the 8 by 8 foot monster of a painting.

Let us know what you think. I am really enjoying living with this one!