Frame of the Week – A Modern Masters Favorite

This week’s featured work is a 17^th century Baroque Spanish carved and gilt frame with carved scrolling corners and black painted panels.

17^th century Baroque Spanish carved and gilt frame

The Baroque style began in Italy at the beginning of the 17^th century and then spread to the rest of Europe; the Baroque frames of this period in Italy and Spain were typically dramatic and sculptural, often featuring deeply carved scrolling corners and a dramatic receding profile which pushes the picture forward from the wall.  The panels of the frames were often painted for added contrast.  Fine examples of these frame designs were used on the paintings of artists such as Caravaggio in Italy or Velazquez and El Greco in Spain.

 

Detail of frame showing the carved corner ornament

In the 20^th century, the expressive quality of these bold designs has been widely used to complement the works of artists such as Picasso, Braque, Miro and Matisse.

Today, these frames are frequently used to frame Modern Masters and can be found in museums throughout the world.

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

2013 Hampton Designer Showhouse features Lowy frames

Lowy is honored to be participating in the 12^th annual Hampton Designer Showhouse, along with 30 other interior design and home furnishing companies, with the proceeds going to benefit the Southampton Hospital.

The 2013 Hampton Designer Showhouse, Bridgehampton, NY  (courtesy of Hampton Designer Showhouse)

This year’s Showhouse is located in a charming, traditional shingle style house on Brick Kiln Road in Bridgehampton, NY.  Lowy designed three antique and period frame displays in the main gallery on the first floor.

Lisa Wyer, Lowy’s Gallery Director with one of her frame installations at the 2013 Showhouse

Lisa Wyer, Gallery Director for the past 25 years, selected the frames for Lowy’s space and supervised the installations. “Lowy has over 5000 frames, dating from the 16^th to the 21^st century, so I had a lot to choose from,” said Wyer.

A collection of Lowy’s early 20^th century American Impressionist frames and two paintings by Simon Parkes

Groupings at the Showhouse include 18^th and 19^th century Swedish framed mirrors, a collection of black and silver frames ranging from 17^th century Spanish to 21^st century modern, suitable for use with paintings or as mirrors, and a group of early 20^th century American Impressionist frames, along with two recent paintings by local artist Simon Parkes.

The Hampton Designer Showhouse is open to the public daily through Monday, Sept. 2.  Visit www.hamptondesignershowhouse.com for Showhouse hours, directions and admission prices.

For more information on Lowy’s collection of over 5000 frames, please visit www.lowyonline.com or call 212-861-8585.

Frame of the Week – A rare grille frame by Stanford White

This week’s featured work is a late 19^th century American gilt composition frame of receding profile with raised grille panel, continuous front leaf-and-berry ornament, and acanthus leaf corners, designed by Stanford White and made by Joseph and Alexander Cabus.

Late 19th century American gilt composition frame with raised grille panel designed by Stanford White

The design of the grille frame can be traced back to pierced 16^th century Venetian frames.  The concept was to use a space under the grille to gather and reflect light.  Stanford White accomplished this by using a burnished gold panel to emanate light from underneath a softer gilt composition wire framework above.

White’s frame designs were bold, brilliant and as memorable as the man himself.  He did not mark his frames with his initials or any other identifying symbols.  There was no need for him to do so because his frames were for the most part instantly recognizable.

At 26, White co-founded the prestigious architecture firm McKim, Mead and White.  He designed frames for artist friends as well as patrons, and reportedly did not charge for his designs and would not allow frame makers to duplicate them for anyone else.

White collected antique frames for inspiration and often reconfigured them as new frames.  Strongly influenced by the Italian masters, he favored more subtle designs and finishes (the introduction of the electric light in 1900 made earlier bright finishes seem garish), which he matched carefully to individual paintings.

The ornamentation on his frames was usually cast in composition, sometimes over a wire grille.  The frames were then gilded in gold or metal leaf, or finished with Roman bronze patina for a softer finish.

White favored the frame maker Joseph Cabus, who crafted his frames from 1882 to 1894.  Joseph’s son, Alexander, joined the shop in 1891.  White had a falling out with Alexander in the mid 1890s, after which Oscar Rudolph became his preferred frame maker.

Detail of the raised grille panel

White designed frames for several artists, but one of his most successful collaborations was with the American painter Thomas Wilmer Dewing.  Dewing’s delicate, evocative, and even ghostlike paintings of women were enhanced by White’s golden grilles.  Susan Hobbs, Dewing’s biographer, describes them as looking like “gilded lace and shimmery teardrops.”

For more information on Lowy’s collection of Stanford White frames, please visit www.lowyonline.com or call 212-861-8585.

Frame of the Week – A classic Whistler-style frame

This week’s featured work is a 19th^th century Whistler-style gilt and reeded frame.

19^th century American Whistler-style gilt and reeded frame, circa 1890

England was the first country to be transformed by the Industrial Revolution, and it was the first place where artists rebelled against it.  In the early 1900s, woodworking machines replaced artisans, mass-producing cheap, utilitarian frame moldings that could be quickly and easily embellished with composition ornaments.  The carvers who once spent years perfecting their skills became a dying breed.  There seemed to be little appreciation for their craft, and less demand for their expensive, time-consuming work.

The Pre-Raphaelite movement of the 1860s was born in part to protest this trend.  Artists, including Dante Gabriel Rosetti and William Morris, despised the impersonal materialism of the world around them and longed to go back to a time when arts and crafts were made by hand instead of by machine.  They were fascinated by visions of the colorful medieval world – of brave knights and ladies with Rapunzel-like hair – and created special frames to surround the poetic and fanciful images these figures inspired.

James McNeil Whistler (1834 – 1903), an American-born, British-based artist, rebelled against the Victorian fondness for highly ornamented frames, creating a frame style that expressed his personal aesthetic – stark and simple, with alternating panels and rows of reeded lines.   Whistler was a leader in the Aesthetic Movement, promoting “art for art’s sake”.

Detail of featured Whistler-style gilt and reeded frame

Whistler was known to put the image of a small butterfly, a monogram derived from his initials “JW”, on the front of his frames.  When he painted Harmony in Blue and Gold, he went so far as to sign the frame instead of the painting to guarantee that the original frame – the one he selected – would never be removed.

For more information on Lowy’s collection of rare, unique and custom frames, please visit www.lowyonline.com or call 212-861-8585.

Lowy and The Layton Collection featured in Fine Art Connoisseur

In the August issue of Fine Art Connoisseur, Editor-In-Chief Peter Trippi pens an article about the Milwaukee Art Museum celebrating its 125^th anniversary.  Two of the exhibitions mounted to commemorate this milestone focus on Frederick Layton (1827 – 1919), an English immigrant to Wisconsin who made his fortune in the meatpacking industry, and put together an impressive art collection throughout his life, which he donated to the Museum, creating The Layton Collection.

To read the article, click here.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825 – 1905), Homer and his Guide, 1874, 82 ½ x 56 ¼” oil on canvas, gift of Frederick Layton to the Milwaukee Art Museum, with its new Lowy frame

As discussed in detail in our blogpost of May 3, 2013, Reframing Highlights of The Milwaukee Art Museum’s Layton Collection, Lowy had the honor of reframing several paintings in the Layton Collection in time for the anniversary.  One of the paintings was William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s Homer and his Guide, a large (82 ¼ x 56 ¼”) oil on canvas work dating to 1874.

Lisa Wyer, a senior Lowy consultant, selected an 1880s French gilt composition Barbizon-style frame with ogee profile and continuous finely detailed scrolling acanthus leaf ornamentation, almost identical in ornamentation to the original frame seen in archived photos.

 

Detailed corner of the 1880s French gilt composition Barbizon-style frame selected to frame Bougoureau’s Homer and his Guide

For more information about the fine art framing and conservation services Lowy provides, please visit www.lowyonline.com or call 212-861-8585.

Frame of the Week – Framing with Light – The Hudson River School

This week’s featured work is a mid- to late 19^th century American gilt composition cove frame with textured cove and fruit clusters at the corners.

Fruit clusters accent the corners of this unique mid- to late 19^th century American gilt composition cove frame

“The Hudson River School”, sometimes called the first school of American art, was a fraternity of 19^th-century artists best known for their dramatic, grandly scaled depictions of American landscapes.

Thomas Cole, who was actually an English émigré, was the unofficial founder of the school, which also included Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt, and Asher Durand.

Several of the artists lived on New York’s Hudson River – hence the school’s name – and they all painted natural scenes, mountains, valleys, rivers, forests and other wonders of nature, that captured the majesty and unspoiled beauty of the new American frontier.

The Hudson River was famous for its beautiful, often pinkish light and artists of the time were fascinated by it.  Their paintings were infused with that special light that was almost spiritual in effect.  This luminance inspired an offshoot of the Hudson River School, and its artists were aptly named “Luminists”.

Thomas Cole believed that “the frame is the soul of the painting,” and other Hudson River School artists shared his interest in finding, or constructing the perfect frame.

 

Detail of corner ornament and textured cove of this week’s frame

Compo was used to create beautiful ornaments inspired by nature, which were applied to layered moldings of significant depth and width, intended to draw the eye into the perspective of the scene and reinforce the majesty of the paintings they encased.

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

Lowy celebrates American craftsmanship

Lowy commissioned in-house Fine Art Photographer, M. Tramis, to create a collection of images featuring Old Glory in iconic New York City locations.  Then Lowy’s Master Gilder, R. Wayne Reynolds, designed exclusive custom contemporary frames that Lowy’s skilled craftsmen finished in 12-karat white gold.

Metropolitan Flag, M. Tramis, custom carved and gilded frame by Lowy

Reynolds said his inspiration for the design of the Metropolitan Flag frame was the classic motion of a flag waving in the wind.

Flags of Commerce, M. Tramis, custom gilded receding frame by Lowy

 

Empire Flag, M. Tramis, custom molded and gilded frame by Lowy

The framed photographs are currently on display in Lowy’s upper eastside Manhattan showroom window through the end of July, and are available for purchase by calling 212-861-8585.  Lowy’s showroom is located at 223 East 80^th Street, between 2^nd and 3^rd Avenues in Manhattan.