Choosing the right frame for paintings and prints enhances both appearance and value, but choosing the wrong frame does an artwork no favors.

Frames are rather like film stars’ dresses on the Red Carpet. The perfect one flatters the celebrity model and makes headlines. A bad choice is dissected by the Fashion Police. Like the unfortunate starlet, a painting can be underdressed, overdressed, or simply surrounded by something that is not “age appropriate.”

Auctioneers recognize how frames affect fine art lots on the podium. Leslie Hindman in Chicago emphasizes that the artwork is the most important element, but “a bad frame is jarring and it takes away from the painting.”

“I think private individuals appreciate when a work comes with a very nice frame,” Hindman continued. “If you have something that is good and it is framed in a nice period frame, it can add to the value.”

In previous centuries, frames were often carefully selected by the artist. Preserving the original frame on an artwork – like an original finish on antique furniture – bolsters value. The borders chosen by an artist may be plain or elaborate, but they are part of the object’s history and integrity.

Joe Standfield of Hindman’s Fine Art Department cited the case of an untitled 1945 landscape painting by regional American painter Marvin Cone (1891-1964) that sold in September for $156,400. “For this particular painting, pretty much everyone we spoke with who were potential buyers – museums, private collectors, galleries – commented on the fact that it appeared to be the original frame,” he said.

“That particular painting had been in the family for an extremely long time; the provenance was impeccable. The great provenance and the original frame were the two things that enhanced the value of this beautiful painting.”

On the other hand, Stanfield noted, “A more ornate gilded frame would certainly make more sense on a 19th-century French painting.” Frames should be appropriate for the artwork’s period and style, not a reflection of current fashions in interior design. In June 2009, Leslie Hindman held an auction devoted to period frames.

Jerry Holley, vice president of Dallas Auction Gallery, agrees that frame selection can have a subtle but sizable effect on a lot’s appeal to customers. “You see nice little Southwestern paintings from the 1920s or 1930s that are in their very simple original period frames,” he explained. “Everybody makes a big deal out of it and comment on the frames.”

“It does seem to affect value. If you see that same painting in an ornate gilt frame that doesn’t fit it at all, people just don’t have the same perception of the painting. Sometimes people don’t really realize what the problem is, but – if you had them side by side in the two different frames – it would be obvious.”

“It can work the other way too,” Holley continued. “ A good Victorian painting that originally had an ornate carved gilt frame on it – if you see it now in a plain black modern frame, that would do nothing for it at all. No doubt about it, it can have a very significant effect on the look of a painting and – at auction – on the value of paintings.”

If the original frame for a painting or print is badly damaged, owners have several options. Restoration by a qualified conservator is ideal although may prove expensive. An alternative solution is replacement of the original with an appropriate duplicate. The original frame, however, should always be retained because it is part of the history of the artwork.

Fortunately for collectors, there are firms that specialize in frame conservation and restoration. Even better, they can supply harmonious period frames for works that have been mis-framed or lost their borders altogether.

Eli Wilner & Company in New York City is one of the best known of these specialists. Wilner is an author, lecturer, and frame crusader who has worked with major public and private collections around the country.

The expert edited the important reference, The Gilded Edge: The Art of the Frame, in which he noted in the introduction: “Although picture frames have been studied and appreciated in Europe for many years, the connoisseurship of American picture frames has been negligible…. American picture frames provide us with a unique view of American art and creativity that draws upon past centuries and national expressions from a decidedly different perspective than their predecessors.”

Eli Wilner’s workshop recently took on the challenge of creating a copy of the original frame for an iconic American artwork, Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 depiction of Washington Crossing the Delaware, which has been in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for over a century.

In a recent conversation with ACN, Wilner said, “This is a project that Carrie Barratt [Curator of American Painting and Sculpture] at the Met and I have been looking at since 1990. It was such an important painting that we didn’t feel we could just wing it and get close to what was appropriate. We were waiting for some historical data, and we got exactly what we wanted.”

“We know that Leutze actually designed a specific frame for this painting. Matthew Brady took a photograph of it in 1864 at a fair in New York City. That was only discovered two years ago by a curator at the Met who was doing research at the New York Historical Society.”

Even with this photo as a guide, the process was complex, in part because of the paintings dimensions, more than 21 feet by 12 feet. Frame construction or restoration involves the skills of many specialists including woodcarvers, moldmakers, and gilders.

“The entire crest with the eagle was carved in wood,” Wilner said. “We cast the leafy ornamentation on the top end and inside edge; everything else was carved. And then the frame was gilded and burnished. The most difficult process is the carving, but the gilding and finishing is crucial.”

“We’ve completed our end of the project. It’s at the Met, crated up, and waiting for them to complete construction of the new wing,” Wilner concluded. “The new wing will have a 300 foot long hallway where the Leutze painting will be hanging at the very end.” The work should go on view in Spring 2011.

Wilner remains devoted to his cause: “I always say that if you can’t find the proper frame for a painting, show the painting without any frame. It changes the aesthetic appreciation so much. You can really hurt any painting – I don’t care how good a painting it is – if you put an inappropriate frame on it. It changes the entire visual appearance. My whole job is to teach the world about frames.”

Copyright 2009 Auction Central News International. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

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SAN FRANCISCO (ACNI) – Recently I heard about two San Francisco shops going out of business, Swallowtail and Habité. Although the types of articles they sold were dissimilar, both were beloved by the design community and retail customers, and each will leave a hole in the fabric of San Francisco’s material culture. I spoke to the respective owners to find out what happened.

Swallowtail

Sheri Sheridan started Swallowtail, on Polk Street in upscale Pacific Heights, about 14 years ago. She also had a shop on Haight Street, and for two years she ran both of them, eventually closing the original and focusing on the newer location. (From 2003-2007 she had a shop in Oakland as well, also called Swallowtail.) The Polk Street shop was a pretty space with soaring ceilings and a skylight. It even had a sort of tiny backyard where Sheridan would showcase garden statuary, birdcages – outdoor stuff.

Sheridan, who also has a design firm specializing in restaurants, has an astute eye. Shoppers fell in love with her mixture of good 18th- and 19th-century antiques, taxidermy, found art, mid-century pieces, and contemporary paintings.

The window display was always arresting. I remember a pair of traditional Louis IV-ish fauteuils upholstered in a bold Stephen Sprouse grafitti print that appeared right around the time of Sprouse’s death (in tribute to the fashion designer). Another time there was an enormous and superbly carved wood coat, that on closer inspection, turned out to be a cabinet whose doors opened like the front of the garment. Sometimes you’d see crusty religious artifacts or scientific equipment juxtaposed with, say, a smooth French modernist table and chairs. Always surprising, always fresh, sometimes very beautiful.

The store attracted a varied clientele, too – art students, neighborhood walkers, interior designers and the odd celebrity. My husband recalls an evening a few years back when the store was off limits to the public because Sharon Stone was having a look (during her short reign as San Francisco Chronicle publisher Phil Bronstein’s wife.) According to Sheridan, the author Danielle Steele once said in print that Swallowtail was her favorite shop.

So, what happened? Sheridan describes a confluence of factors that caused the store’s demise. “In 2005, I lost a substantial amount of money, about $80,000, to an employee who embezzled from me. I went into debt as a result. Still, the store was doing well, and I could probably have risen above this setback, but when the economy tanked last year, I couldn’t recoup. I let go the bookkeeper and all the employees, lowering my monthly expenses from about $30,000 to $20,000 but I just couldn’t keep accommodating the losses. One Sunday last month I was alone in the store and I got a discouraging phone call. As I hung up I had an epiphany: ‘I don’t have to do this any more, and today I am closing Swallowtail.’ And that was that. I think I was trying to keep the store going for my customers who loved it. And I loved it, too.”

“I started the shop when I was so young. Swallowtail gave me confidence,” Sheridan continued. “I’m a designer because of Swallowtail. I own a house, I’ve gotten great press, met great people. Over the years, so many amazing things happened in and around the store. I have heard from so many clients since word got around that I would be closing. Flowers and cards appeared on the doorstep. The response has been incredible. People really felt personally connected to Swallowtail.”

Laurent Rebuffel’s Habité

Laurent Rebuffel has been in the antiques business his whole life. He worked for his family antiques shop in Lyons, France, before moving to San Francisco in 1994 and starting his own company in 1996. Habité, his flagship store on Harrison Street south of Market, specialized in high-quality French country and Continental furniture from the 17th to 19th centuries that Laurent imports himself. The rustic warehouse-like space was filled with beautiful cabinets, bergères, screens, fireplace surrounds and other architectural details, tables, tapestries and chandeliers. For a few years, Rebuffel, with his former wife Carolyn, had an elegant shop in Jackson Square in addition to Habité. It closed in 2004.

In a city filled with fine antiques businesses, the Rebuffels’ shops stood out. The presentation was lovely, the furniture and objects were of fine quality, and the selection sometimes vast. But I remember being impressed by the casual and friendly atmosphere created by Rebuffel and his right hand – ‘the other Laurent’ – Laurent Martini. Rebuffel has a low-key warmth that makes you feel no question is stupid, and that there’s plenty of time for the answers. He’s accommodating of clients’ needs, generous with information. The same is true of Martini.

When I heard the store was closing, my heart sank. Another beautiful resource lost to San Francisco. I had been meaning to stop in for weeks, to say hello and see what was new, but had not found the time.

“I’m not going out of business, just relocating to Los Angeles, where we’ve had a space for about a year and a half,” said Rebuffel. The shop (with about 3,500 square feet of floor space) on La Brea at Beverly is also called Habité.

“It came down to a choice between two cities, each with its own pros and cons. In the end, personal reasons tipped the balance,” said Rebuffel, who finds Los Angeles to be reminiscent of his native South of France. But there were other factors at work.

“San Francisco has a strong design community and we have a loyal clientele here,” he said, “but in some ways the business climate never fully recovered from the dot-com bust at the beginning of the century.”

That local trend, along with the rise of the Euro, created a tough environment for the high-end antiques market, according to Rebuffel. “People did not realize how difficult it was to keep importing antiques from Europe while trying to keep prices from rising,” he said.

Laurent also cites the increasing difficulty of finding good material to sell. “It’s a diminishing resource. There’s a limited supply,” he said, “so keeping two stores well stocked became more and more difficult. Then, in the fall of 2008 we saw a big drop-off in sales. This move has been years in the making.”

Rebuffel feels the market in Los Angeles is large and growing, and the entertainment industry, though not immune to the vagaries of the recent global economic crisis, is relatively strong. Asked if he feels it’s a buying populace more willing and able to pay higher prices, he responds, “No, it’s simply a question of volume. It’s a bigger market, not necessarily a more affluent one.”

There’s another component to Rebuffel’s decision to move. “I think I had painted myself into a corner a bit, in terms of what I presented in the shop,” he said. “Somehow I feel I can reinvent myself creatively in a way with this move. I’ll be selling a fuller spectrum of objects, now including 20th-century periods, which have always been within my interests but which, for whatever reason, I didn’t feel as free to include in San Francisco.”

Rebuffel mentioned several San Francisco shops he admires, which locals may want to investigate: Coup D’Etat, and March, and more traditional shops like Dan Stein and Foster Gwin.

In Conclusion

Laurent Rebuffel sounds rueful when for advice to a young person entering this field now. “The best dealers have a passion that drives them…they never stop asking questions, never stop studying and learning. That’s what makes them able to discern ‘the real thing’ when they see it, and that can be anything from a $100 object to a million dollar painting. This business will not make you rich, it’s something you have to have a passion for.”

As for Sheri Sheridan, she has a sense of optimism about future creative endeavors, even as she prepares to formally mourn the passing of her shop (“I’m having a funeral for the business, I’ll invite you!”). Her design company, also called Swallowtail, has projects in the works, including restaurants Brown Sugar Kitchen and Roux 66.

I believe that retail shops like Swallowtail and Habité bring something important to a city, in the same way that the ballet, the symphony and museums do. But most of us don’t think in terms of supporting them as we do those institutions. “People would always tell me ‘I can’t afford to shop in your store, but I get so much inspiration from coming in here,’ ” said Sheridan. “I truly loved hearing that, but it didn’t pay the bills, you know?”

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