While the combination of picture and frame meld together and settle in, a mismatch will niggle. It often takes an incident, falling off the wall is popular, to trigger the need to reassess the status quo. It provides the opportunity to start again and let another eye have a role.
The fresh eye will not see the picture as you have come to see it. It will see the combination of factors that make up your picture. In no particular order, the subject matter, the style, the medium, the temperature, the palette, the composition, the period and the artist and their environment (if not known, it is possible to deduce quite a bit).
The one thing I have left out, well probably not the only thing but the most important, is what is the point of the picture. Why has the artist produced this image, what is the focus and why, is there something beyond the edge of the picture? A head in profile is looking at something. Does it need space to focus or a sense of claustrophobia? A landscape might be beautifully framed by the composition or it might be a broad seascape, the horizon an eternal reference point. Interiors, still lives, abstracts all have their reasons.
It takes an understanding of the creative process to fish around in these murky waters and come up with something sympathetic and above all, logical. Just as the artist has a reason for producing the image, the framer must be able to explain the rationale behind his choices. ‘It looks right’ will not wash. It smacks of guessing.
This does not mean that there is a unique frame for a particular image. If the factors above have been considered, the frame will work.
It is one of the joys of a framer’s life to go round exhibitions and to unpick the thought processes behind successful frames. One such I remember particularly was a simple white painted frame round a painting of a Sikh man. It was only small but the frame ticked so many boxes I stood in front of it for some time trying to come up with something better and failing totally.
‘Chapeau’ (as they say in the cycling world.)
Frame of The Month
This is the home of frames that either work exceptionally well or are different in an interesting way.
