The Art of the Picture Frame
September 23, 2019Memories as a little girl sitting on my father’s workbench, watching my Dad cut down molding, take measurements and fit frames
Molding, glass, wires and mat boards were part of my growing up years as well as playing hide and seek in their gallery or at antique shows in PA, NJ and NY. I was moved in my visits to Andrew Wyeth museum where masterpiece and frame became one vision of beauty at the Brandywine museum.
It was a family affair beginning with my grandfather as a hobby. When he died, my father decided to take over the business. I was only 4 years old but my parents grew it into a successful gallery. My mother used her artistic talents to help business clients such as banks and retail spaces use the art of frames to elevate a piece of art.
However, before I get into some examples I find it important to start with history of picture frames. To quote from the Framing Fairy blog: “In the beginning there was life, then religion, then religious icons, then picture frames!”
Greeks and Romans drew their pictures directly onto walls of which became known as frescoes
China and Japan drew their pieces of art directly on screens
Medieval times in Europe saw art evolving into paintings on wood with the Integral Frame. So which came first, the Art or the Frame? Per an article written on Statens Museum of Kunst in Denmark, “The surface of the painting was often provided with a frame before the artist even started the work. Sometimes, painting and frame were carved out of the same piece of wood. This is known as an integral frame.” (1300s)
Tabernacle frame evolves from the church altar. Thinking is that early Christian art adapted the use of borders and others things used from altarpieces. “Frame as we know it today evolves from this architectural structure. These were not just as nice decorative border but with the purpose of protecting the artwork as well as emphasizing, complementing or enhancing the piece.” (Framing Fairy)
Renaissance period (1400-1650): All painting was religious. Gold and silver frames become popular. This era is elaborate and one has to admire the craftsmanship and level of detail.
Casetta frames: pure form of linear décor
Spanish period: Tondo frame
Italy begins to dominate the world of art seeing a renaissance in picture frames as well. Madonna by Michaelangelo (15th century) Siena, Tuscany, Venice, Rome
Other European influences: Dutch with its linear simplicity, Northern Europe and Lutma frame, France takes integral lead during 17th century with influences of King Louis and Versailles. Stylistic elements, gilded surfaces were still popular. Marie Antoinette plays a role
French Revolution was disastrous in that all outer frames were eliminated. Frames were considered extraneous, superfluous and totally against the feeling of the times
Napolean Bonaparte refreshes and ushers in a frame comeback. It was Napolean that created the foundation of which sets apart the Louvre from other museums. Louvre houses masterpieces and it was hard to keep up with the demand. Frames were being cut and joined at constant pace.
Chippendale and English frames:
American frames: James Whistler, an expat who designed his own and one sees the evolution and elegance of style and motif. Standard White frames also ushered in era of frame and art working together to create a masterpiece. To quote from my book, “The Gilded Edge”, “Increased awareness of frames and importance of marriage between painting and frame”. Frames are evolving to signify the importance of work which it is framing and evolves into its own form of art
Pictures live unobtrusively and frames allow them to do just that.
So now to segue into personal pieces of art and the transformative power of picture frames:
Goodnight Moon Three Little Bears and The Cow Jumping over the Moon
Small Oil Landscapes – more rustic frame that complements the colors and mood. Elements work together to create a better, more cohesive whole
Victorian Lady – more elegant frame works with this print and almost picks up the detail work of her dress
Aborigine Cloth – gold modern frame creates an interesting juxtaposition
Southern Cross trophy – interesting use of Hitchcock map/Palmetto Golf Club and frame which has engraved plaques of champions
Portrait of my three boys – use of linen matboard and liner creates another element
Jennifer Akers Paper
SILHOUETTES
By: Holly Strauss
A silhouette (-o-et’), is a portrait, especially a profile portrait, or a scene depicted in an outline that has been filled in with a solid color, usually black. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the image is typically presented on a light background, usually white. The silhouette differs from an outline, which depicts the edge of an object in a linear form, while a silhouette appears as a solid shape. Silhouette images may be created in any visual artistic media, but typically refer to images cut from black paper and affixed to a light background.
In pinpointing the origins of silhouette likenesses, also known as shade portraits or profile likenesses, art historians trace back to examples found in Paleolithic cave paintings, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Grecian vessels and the Chinese paper artwork of Antiquity.
The Greeks are known to have made silhouettes by tracing shadows cast by the sun. In the East, as early as the Tang dynasty (618-907), the Chinese were executing cut-paper designs that are close in feeling to silhouettes.
The silhouette is closely tied in mythology to the origins of art.
Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (circa 77-79 AD) Books XXXIV and XXXV, recounts the origin of painting. In Chapter 5 of Book XXXV, he writes,
“We have no certain knowledge as to the commencement of the art of painting, nor does this enquiry fall under our consideration. The Egyptians assert that it was invented among themselves, six thousand years before it passed into Greece; a vain boast, it is very evident. As to the Greeks, some say that it was invented at Sicyon, others at Corinth; but they all agree that it originated in tracing lines round the human shadow.”
Profile portraits were the precursors to silhouettes and are strongly linked to them. For the depiction of portraits, the profile image has marked advantage over a full-face image in many circumstances because it depends strongly upon the proportions and relationship of the bony structures of the face, (the forehead, nose, and chin), making the image clear and simple.
For this reason, profile portraits have been employed on coinage since the Roman era. The early Renaissance period also saw a fashion for painted profile portraits.
The first profile likeness in the historical record is a non-extant rendering of Monarchs William and Mary by Elizabeth Rhijberg [“Ridge”-berg] in 1699, but the novelty’s heyday would not commence until the 1770’s. It was then that Swiss philosopher-preacher-scientist and physiognomist, [Physi-on-omist], Johann Caspar Lavater, [“Lava”-teer] who used silhouettes to analyze facial types, is thought to have promoted the art. Lavater catapulted profile likenesses into the international consciousness with the bestseller, Essays on Physionomy; For the Promotion of the Knowledge and the Love of Mankind (1774).
Physiognomy explores the relationship between facial features and personality traits. A machine called the physionotrace invented by Frenchman Gilles-Louis Chretien [“Gill”-is Lewis “Cray”-teen] in 1783-84 facilitated the production of silhouette portraits by casting a shadow on the subject’s profile and a machinist traced its outline. By deploying the mechanics of a pantograph to transmit the tracing (via an eyepiece) of the subject’s profile silhouette to a needle moving on an engraving plate, multiple portrait copies could be printed.
Lavater wrote: “To be a physiognomist, the study of silhouettes is most essential; it is by silhouettes, the physiognomist will exert and improve his tact; if he comprehends that language, he will possess an understanding of the countenance of man, he will read in it, as in an open book.”
While the tenents of this pseudo-science were never fully embraced by the academy, Lavater’s publications had the unintended effect of introducing profile likenesses as an inexpensive and instantaneously generated alternative to the traditional painted portrait.
In the West, the silhouette enjoyed its greatest popularity from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. It was an inexpensive and accurate alternative to formal portraiture and also possessed a unique charm, capturing the essence of a personality with a minimum of detail and calling on the viewer to use his own imagination. In England, such works were generally known as “shades” or “shadow portraits” well into the nineteenth century.
The eponymous [“e”pon-e-mus”] term by which they are now known, is derived from Etienne de Silhouette (1709-67), the controller-general of France, who served during the reign of King Louis XV. In 1759, he was forced by France’s credit crisis during the Seven Years’ War to impose severe economic demands upon the French people, particularly the wealthy. Infamous for his austere financial policies, his name became synonymous with anything done or made cheaply. He amused himself by cutting portraits from paper.
It was during his tenure that profile likenesses produced by shadows became fashionable in France. Artists derisively referred to the cheap profile likenesses as portraits a la Silhouette. Thus, in the strictest sense, a silhouette is cut, either freehand, using the eye alone as a guide, or by following lines that have either been traced by the artists or drawn mechanically.
Cutting portraits, generally in profile, from black card became popular in the mid-18th century, though the term silhouette was not applied to the art of portrait-making until the early decades of the 19th century, and the tradition has continued under this name into the 21st century. In the 18th and early 19th century, “profiles” or “shades” as they were called were made by one of three methods.
Painted on ivory, plaster, paper, card, or in reverse on glass that could be used on jewelry, snuffboxes, lockets, etc.
“hollow-cut” or cut in reverse, i.e., where the negative image was traced and then the profile was cut away from white paper, the inner portion of which was discarded and the outer, negative portion, was then mounted on a dark background; and
“cut and paste” where the figure was cut out of dark paper (usually free-hand) and then pasted onto a light background.
Silhouettes were also painted, again either freehand or using some mechanical aids, such as a device called the Prosopographus, (Pros-o-pog-ra-fus), which used an automation to trace the profile. Silhouettes represented a cheap but effective alternative to the portrait miniature, and skilled specialist artists could “free cut” a high-quality bust portrait, by far the most common style, in a matter of minutes, working purely by eye.
Every art form has its own masters, and several artists became famous for their silhouettes. In England, the best known silhouette artist, a painter, not a cutter was John Miers, [“Myers”] (1756-1821). Miers travelled and worked in different cities before setting up studios on The Strand, in London around 1788. Here he operated a very successful business recording customers profiles in “three minute sittings.” Miers’ superior portraits could be in grisaille, (“griz-eye”), a painting in gray monochrome, with uncommon delicacy highlighted in gold or yellow. His miniatures were produced on various backings, including ivory, plaster or glass with delicate shading to show detail of hair and clothes. The sitters face was recorded as a black silhouette. The size was normally small to fit into a locket, but otherwise a bust some 3 to 5 inches high was typical, with half- or full-length portraits proportionately larger.
The 18th century silhouette artist, August Edouart, [ “Owe-“goose”-st “A”-dwar], (1769-1861), cut thousands of portraits in duplicate. His cut-paper portraits dazzle us with their technical virtuosity. Edouart emigrated from France to England following the Napoleonic Wars and focused on hair work before identifying a need in the art market for full-length likenesses cut freehand rather than by machine. Edouart found the likenesses produced by a machine to be inanimate and contemptible to his refined sensibilities. The long-suffering Edouart sought to establish a reputation as a freehand virtuoso and distinguish himself as an artist among machinist. He addressed these topics, among other grievances and vexations in A Treatise on Silhouette Likenesses (1835).
“Why does such prejudice exist against black shades, which I call Silhouette Likenesses? Persons who have an opportunity of judging and comparing my works, which have been executed by the hands, with those executed by mechanical process, cannot help making a comparison of the prices, even while they give me the preference for the execution of the work” (pp. 97-98)
Edouart’s subjects included French and British nobility and US presidents. From 1838-1846 he traveled to New York, Boston, and other locales. His goal was to create silhouette portraits of the most notable Americans he could find. By retaining the French name in the English-speaking world, Edouart infused “the poor man’s portrait” with a certain je ne sais quoi and distinguished his handmade likenesses from crude machine productions. Edouart always created duplicates of every subject. He gave one copy to the client and kept a copy for his archival files. In 1849, he returned to England aboard a ship called the “Onita.” It was shipwrecked, and most of his personal collection was lost.
Since the late 18th century, silhouette artists have also made small scenes cut from card and mounted on a contrasting background like the portraits. These pictures known as “paper cuts,” were often, but not necessarily, silhouette images. Among 19th century artists to work in this way was the author Hans Christian Andersen.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, several illustrators employed designs of similar appearance for making book illustrations. Silhouettes pictures could easily be printed by blocks that were cheaper to produce and longer lasting than detailed black and white illustrations. The famous English illustrator Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) executed two books, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, entirely in crisp, witty silhouettes.
By the turn of the 19th century, the advent of photographic portraits signaled the end of the silhouette as a widespread form of portraiture. While silhouette portraiture was considered passe’ to a majority of the population, a minority continued to support the art for various reasons. Traveling silhouette artists continued to work at state fairs into the 20th century. The popularity of the silhouette has been reborn in a new generation of people who appreciate the silhouette as a nostalgic way of capturing the linear nature of an individual’s profile in black and white transcending temporal limitations.
Silhouettes are still widely used today in advertising, theatre, film, photography and graphic design.
My interest in Silhouettes originated from a picture of several silhouettes hanging in a guest bedroom in Veranda Magazine. I liked the way the silhouettes were incorporated into the décor. Shortly after that, I purchased several silhouettes at a Brunk Auction. Unfortunately, I ended up putting them in a drawer, and they were tucked away for years.
My interest was piqued again by the impressive silhouette collection on the stairwell of Patricia Altschul, a character on the reality TV Show Southern Charm. Patricia’s Charleston house was decorated by one of my favorite decorators, Mario Buatta, and has been featured in Architectural Digest.
Before I began researching silhouettes, I had always associated them exclusively with busts hand cut from black paper; a novelty I enjoyed as a child at street fairs, carnivals, and amusement parks. After writing this paper, I realized how dynamic an art form they really are.
“The Golden Age of Charms”
Vintage Charms from My Collection
Written by: Holly Fowler Strauss
My fascination with charms and charm bracelets started at an early age. I can remember being 5 or 6 years old and my parents would have cocktail parties or friends and relatives over for drinks and Hors d’oeuvres before they went out for the evening. I could spot a woman with a charm bracelet on a mile away. Unfortunately, they would have to endure me plopping down beside them to look at their bracelet. I methodically twisted the bracelet around their wrist and examined each charm individually asking loaded questions about where the charm came from and what it meant.
My mother gave me my first charm bracelet which I still have today. I have passed it down to my daughter. My mother has her own charm bracelet that I don’t think she will part with anytime soon. Jewelry designer Elizabeth Locke says she has her mother and her mother’s charm bracelet to thank for her career. In the book, The Charm of Charms , “Locke says her mother, the former fashion editor Edie Locke, created a bracelet chock-full of twenty-nine charms. “I loved it, because it was so heavy and made so much noise. But when Mother no longer wore it, I asked her several times if I could borrow it, and she always said, ‘Absolutely not.’ So my response was, “Well, fine. I’ll make my own.” Like Elizabeth, when I became engaged to be married, I decided it was time for me to start my own bracelet and collect charms that were symbolic to me or chronicled a special trip or significant event in my life.
Fifteen years ago, I bought my first charm bracelet and half a dozen charms from Elaine Miller at the Asheville Antiques Fair. Over the next few years, I added several charms from Elaine and started buying from other dealers at the fair. I have also purchased charms online, from antique shops, jewelry shops and resorts when traveling and I have custom ordered charms from a company in New Jersey through Joe Cottrell that fabricates the era of charms that I collect. From the very beginning of collecting, I was drawn to a specific type of charm. These charms were usually oversized vintage charms, circa 1940’s-1950’s, that are encrusted with gemstones, often have moveable (mechanical) parts and can be three dimensional.
During the Second World War, (1939-1945), the charm industry was influenced in a number of ways. Many metals were prohibited for use in jewelry. Since silver was readily available and had no war related uses, the production of silver charms exploded. Platinum metals were reserved for military purposes, so silver charms from this period are usually not plated with rhodium. Rhodium is a rare transition metal in the platinum family. Americans were encouraged to conserve during this time. Many items like fabric were rationed. Women had little choice but to recycle last year’s dresses, so the focus shifted to accessorizing. Charm bracelets and costume jewelry added pizzazz to otherwise outdated outfits.
During the 1940s, the goal was to acquire and cram as many charms as possible on a single bracelet. This seems contradictory to the rationing and metal shortages; however, silver was abundant, the charms were small and bracelet links were dainty. Many women made good money in factories but had little to buy. Charm collecting was viewed as a permissible vice. Charm bracelets were heavy laden, commonplace, and charm collecting became a competitive event and national pastime. The charms of choice were small, silver, and three-dimensional. Many of these charms had moving parts and are known as mechanical or action charms. Many of the charms during this period were patriotic in theme, depicted everyday items or were “sweet-heart” or “forget-me-not” bracelets.
When World War II ended in 1945, the American economy recovered relatively quickly. In 1950, America entered an era of tremendous growth and prosperity. Growing levels of disposable income stimulated demand for jewelry. Two distinctly different types of charm bracelets were popular during the 1950s. First, interest in the diminutive three-dimensional charms of the forties remained strong. Both gold and silver versions of these charms were available, with sterling being the popular choice. The availability of designs mushroomed during this time and it was not unusual to see a catalog displaying over 1,000 different types of charms.
It can be difficult to determine if a charm was made in the 1940s or 50s; however, as I mentioned earlier, most forties-era charms were not rhodium plated. As a result, most forties-era charms tend to show wear and patination while charms during the fifties remain shiny. According to Carol Elkins, Vice President of Sotheby’s New York, as quoted in the book, The Charm of Charms , “After World War II, when metal was once again readily available, big, gold charms became very fashionable.” Nicholas Luchsinger, Vice-President of Christie’s, New York is also quoted in the book The Charm of Charms: “In the 1950s, charm bracelets were reaching another peak in popularity, and they were often very sentimental in theme. Doris Duke had a charm bracelet of her swimming medals that she wore frequently.” Madcap clothing designer Elsa Schiaparelli allegedly had a passion for jangly watch fobs and seals. Edith Head, the leading Hollywood costume designer collected ivory turn-of-the century theatre tickets. In the Christie’s catalog of Elizabeth Taylor’s estate sale, Elizabeth described Edith as her ‘surrogate mother’ and often turned to Edith for advice about her career. This necklace was left to her in Miss Head’s will. Most fifties catalogs grouped charms together by theme, many of which were wry or whimsical. The charm craze was further fueled by the increasingly influential worlds of fashion and celebrity spread through the mass media via magazines and movies.
Medallion Style charms were first introduced before the Second World War. They were usually worn as a single oversized gem-encrusted charm. This style became widespread in the late forties, since it appealed to the post-war trendsetter’s yen for extravagance. First Lady Mamie Eisenhower was one of the more famous women to promote the medallion style charm bracelet. These showy charms were usually more a fashion statement then a show of sentiment. Fourteen-karat yellow gold was the stylish choice for medallions. Tracey Zabar, author of the book charmed BRACELETS writes, “The 1950s marked the golden years. Charm bracelets perfectly complemented the three-quarter-length sleeves in vogue (all the better to show off your collection of charms!) as well as the ladylike image portrayed by Dior’s noteworthy “New Look.” Etiquette books reminded women to match their jewelry to their wardrobe, and also to their man (really!) It seemed as though every woman had to have a charm bracelet-and, in fact, every woman could. While the most valuable examples were made of platinum or higher karat gold (usually fourteen or eighteen karat) with precious or semiprecious stones, everyday charm bracelets were made of affordable base metals, often called pot metal, as well as sterling silver and nine-and ten-karat gold.”
One of the more prominent gemstones that encrusted charm designs during the 1950’s was the pearl. The war brought the Japanese pearl industry to a standstill; however, once the war ended, pearl exports rapidly rebounded. American consumers were delighted to have access to pearls again. Joanne Schwartz, author of Charms and Charm Bracelets- The Complete Guide, writes “By 1948, pearl jewelry accounted for almost 50% of all jewelry sales (Shields, 1987,85). Charm makers were enraptured with pearls. Large charms featured pearl accents and borders. Tiny figures were created from pearls and gold beads. America’s love affair with pearls lasted for more than twenty years.”
During the 1950’s charms also started to develop a sense of humor. Dollar bills and pound sterling notes were tucked into boxes marked “In case of emergency, break glass.” Moving charms that said “I Love You”, “Kiss me”, or the cheeky “Go to Hell” were collected. But the inclusion of the charm known simply as “horse’s rear end” made the assemblage complete. Zabar writes in charmed Bracelet , “If you take a close look at vintage charms from this period, you’ll see they often serve as time capsules for the aspirations and lifestyle of a bygone era, preserved for posterity. I’ve seen charms that represented the family rec-room bar; from kitschy bar stools to little liquor bottles as well as a miniature split-level house that opened to show an immaculate Leave it to Beaver-esque living room set within. I’ve seen a charm depicting a perfect enameled chicken on a rotisserie that actually spins-probably an homage to some unknown 1950s housewife, who undoubtedly perfected her Joy of Cooking, much to the delight of her mister.” Other popular charms depicting the culture during this time were cocktail shakers with a devil that pops out, oversized four-leaf clovers, ranch houses with moveable cars, calendars with gemstones on a special date of that month, silhouettes of children’s heads, baby shoes, baby carriages with a moveable infant inside, moveable cameras, telephones, sporting equipment and the list goes on and on.
This brings us to the subject of “borrowed designs”. During the 1950’s mass-marketed designs were copied freely from high-end jewelers and fashion designers. Several important motifs of the fifties were “borrowed” in this way. Schwartz writes in Charms and Charm Bracelets- The Complete Guide, “Manufacturers modeled popular-priced ballerina charms after an original design by Andre Duvalet. Duvalet’s lovely brooches, made during the forties, featured diamonds and gems. Ballerina charms of the fifties and sixties, in comparison, lack the grace and subtlety of the originals.”
Another style-revival of the 1950’s was a flamboyant reinterpretation of the Etruscan style. Antique Etruscan jewelry is known for its granulated surfaces and fine gold work, as is the Etruscan Revival jewelry of the Victorian era. In comparison, the “borrowed” fifties-era Etruscan work is more overwrought. It is fairly common to find fifties items misidentified as antiques. Victorian era Etruscan Revival pieces are more delicate in scale, much more finely worked, and worth many, many times what the fifties-era ones are. In fifties-era catalogs, Etruscan-inspired charms are also called Italian-style or fancy charms. Differentiating ancient Etruscan artifacts from 1950s copies is fairly easy as Etruscan craftsmen made few jeweled trashcans, golf bags, or cocktail bars. The overly “filigreed, wire swirled and spiral gold” of the 1950’s Etruscan charms that often contained plastic stones and base metal were less desirable for collectors.
Music was an integral part of the culture of the 1950s, and there was a craze for music-themed jewelry. A variety of three-dimensional musical instruments were available. Many of the musical charms- including accordions, clarinets and pianos had moving parts. The music box was the apex of the fifties musical charms. Many of these music box charms might actually play one or more songs, such as the Anniversary Waltz, Happy Birthday, or Let Me Call You Sweetheart. Charm bracelets became so prevalent in the 1950’s that they were used just about everywhere. Charms could be seen in ads for everything from Planters Peanuts and Shell Oil to Perfume Companies.
By the mid-fifties, charms had evolved into a multi-million dollar business. In 1956, charm sales approached $25 million (Lampl, 1956) and one out of two women owned a charm bracelet. From Charms and Charm Bracelets- The Complete Guide , one newspaper writer provided the following statistics for the year 1955:
“Five-and-ten stores sold 50,000 gold-plated tokens; Cartier and Tiffany offered the carriage trade some 7,000 trinkets, ranging from $5 for a four-leaf clover to a $5,000 diamond-studded doghouse, complete with black-pearl French poodle; another major charm repository counted 24,000 charms in stock, covering the whole range of human experience from A (for “airplanes”) to Z (for “zodiacs”)” (Lima [OH] News, 1957).
Because the charm bracelet community was a tight knit one, it was common for manufacturers to buy one another’s merchandise. Approximately a dozen American charm manufacturers existed in the 1950s and scores of charm catalogs were produced, many by wholesalers. What these catalogs tell us is that many of the 3-D charms designed in the 1940s continued to be made during the fifties and sixties. In fact, many of these designs can still be made today, since the molds used to make charms seldom wear out.