International studio (30.1906/1907(1907))

Design in Picture Frames

ture. Even if in some respects satisfactory, as
in simplicity and freedom from ostentation, it is
made with lines as straight as mechanical in-
struments in the hands of skilled but inartistic
workmen can render them, with every repetition
mechanically exact, so that the elements of sur-
prise and variety are quite lacking. Strictly
speaking, the only drawing or painting appropriate
to such framing is the working drawing of the
mechanical draftsman. The greater refinement
there is in a picture and the more evidences of the
free artistic spirit, the less consonant is the use of
machine-made framing.
The failure of the ordinary worker to meet the
decorative requirements of the frame is not strange.
He is too often not even an intelligent artisan. His
interest in his job is the daily stipend. He does not
take pride in his work, for it is not known as his.
Generally it is not designed and executed by him
alone; piece-work prevails in nearly all of the
picture-frame shops to such an extent that a dozen
pairs of hands contribute to the making of a single
frame.
The materials, furthermore, that are employed
are as improper to the art as the methods. The kind
of gilding used in ninety-nine modern frames out
of a hundred has been adopted in order to save
expense. It gives a brilliant effect for the time

being, but is without permanence. The oil gold-
size upon which gold leaf is laid is a comparatively
modern invention which fails to stand the test of
time, being subject to such darkening as befalls
any other kind of varnish. Only the leaf laid in
water, after the ancient Italian method, has ever
withstood the effect of four centuries and remained
throughout rich and beautiful. Many modern
frames are made with Dutch metal and so-called
“gold powder,” both of which tarnish in a few
years and are heavy and opaque in quality as com-
pared with the gold leaf. These materials, of
course, are employed because they make the frame
a little less expensive at the outset; a real gold
powder frame is much more costly than leaf gold.
These and many more defects of present-day
workmanship in this craft hardly need lengthy
exposition. The first serious attempt in this coun-
try to restore the picture frame to something of its
old-time honour and to introduce the spirit of
individual artistic responsibility appears to have
originated one summer several years ago amongst
a little colony of artists on Cape Cod. Mr. Murphy
and Mr. Prendergast, both Boston painters, were
of the party, and conversations on the subject of
framing pictures, together with Eliminations
against the methods of the picture dealers, led to a
suggestion that, while theoretically every artist
should attend to the mak-
ing of his own frames, prac-
tically an occasional artist,
if willing to acquaint him-
self with the details of the
craft, might properly make
frames for others. In ac-
cordance with ideas then
developed, Mr. Prendergast
began shortly after to ac-
quire the requisite knowl-
edge and to produce frames
which have become very
familiar in the exhibitions
of the past two years. Mr.
Murphy started not long
after, and soon became in
many respects the com-
manding figure of the
movement. Several other
artists have since taken up
similar lines of work so
that now there is a distinct
“Boston group” of frame-
makers.
Mr. Murphy’s work-


BY H. D. MURPHY

ADAPTATION PROM OLD ENGLISH PRAME