Frame of the Week

This week’s featured work is a silver-leaf frame of reverse profile with incised rosette corners, inner and outer incised zigzag bands and notched carvings by frame maker Frederick Harer.

Silver-leaf frame by Frederick Harer featuring a reverse profile and incised rosette corners, early to mid 20^th century, from the Lowy Collection

Harer (1879 – 1948) was an artist, furniture maker and frame maker in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  He created imaginative and beautifully handcrafted frames for paintings by artists of the Pennsylvania School of Impressionism, including Daniel Garber and Edward W. Redfield.

Inspiring other frame makers of the region, such as Bernard Badura (one of his students), Francis Coll, Raymond Vanselous and Philip N. Yates, Harer helped to establish Bucks County as a vital frame center of the Arts & Crafts Movement in the early 20^th century. 

Detail of silver-leaf frame by Harer showing the reverse profile and incised rosette corners

Harer began making frames to support himself while studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.  The son of a successful furniture maker, he also proved to be a very skilled craftsman, designing frames for prominent artists in New York and Boston, such as Leopold Seyffert and William Paxton.  His travels to the British West Indies and Spain influenced his rich style, which incorporated primitive motifs and old-world techniques.

Next month, Lowy is participating in the Hamptons Designer Showhouse (http://hamptondesignershowhouse.com/) in Bridgehampton, and this Harer frame is featured as part of Lowy’s design.

For more information on our collection of Harer frames and any of the 5000 frames in Lowy’s inventory, please visit www.lowyonline.com or call 212-861-8585.