
Should the frame be recognized as an art form? - pseudolus
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/it-time-recognize-frames-independent-artform-180975184/
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masona
When I worked in an art gallery in Union Square in SF, we had a client coming
in from China to look at an original Chagall. The problem: the crate was
arriving from Switzerland only an hour before the client. When it got there we
raced to unpack everything. The piece was huge - the extremely ornate gold
frame must have weighed 80 pounds. And there was a stray nail sticking out of
it! We only had a few minutes so I laid it down flat on the floor and
unscrewed the back to take out the art.

I'll never forget the feeling - when I lifted the canvas out of the frame, it
was as light as air. All those millions for this piece and it could have
floated out of my hands. It was a beautiful feeling I've never forgotten.

We got the nail out out of the frame, patched it up, put the art back in, and
sweated through the client viewing. They bought it, of course. It wasn't even
that great of a painting. But somehow the framing adds so much to the aura of
the piece. It's more than an art form to be honest - for most art out there
it's the one thing that adds weight. For art that is valued at whatever
someone will pay for it... the framing is everything.

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egypturnash
I have an ornate frame hanging on my wall. I picked it up for like thirty
bucks at a used furniture shop. It’s a big chunk of molded plastic with gilt
paint here and there on it, and it frames an empty space on the wall.

Or, more precisely, it frames the empty space on the wall that my projector is
aimed at. And it has a special power: everything displayed in it is, most
assuredly, Art, because why would there be a frame around it otherwise?

With this simple act, I have settled the “are video games art” debate forever.

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killjoywashere
My brother is an artist who has invested a big chunk of his career in getting
the technical details right. He does a fair amount of carpentry and his frames
are amazing. Very simple "four pieces of wood" but the wood is straight, the
box is deep and sealed, the corners are tight, the "glass" is typically coated
plexi, and the piece is mounted within at the proper proportions. I personally
consider them art on par with some of the pieces they contain.

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grahamburger
When I was a kid my grandparents still lived in the house where my mom grew up
- a huge, old, beautiful home (built in the '20s, I'd guess?) deep in a
forest. When it was torn down to build condos (to pay my grandfather's debts,
I'm told) one of the things we were able to keep was the handmade crown
molding. My wife took a few pieces to a carpenter which they used to create a
frame for an original painting we had purchased (online, but directly from the
artist as I understand - from a daily-deals style art site called artsumo,
anyone remember that?) It's probably my favorite piece of art in our home.

[https://photos.app.goo.gl/pm5gECPMQEecAMf88](https://photos.app.goo.gl/pm5gECPMQEecAMf88)

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ilzmastr
Shameless plug, but if you ever need to crop out the frame/surroundings of a
bunch of photos of art: [https://artsy.github.io/blog/2014/09/24/using-
pattern-recogn...](https://artsy.github.io/blog/2014/09/24/using-pattern-
recognition-to-automatically-crop-framed-art/)

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dddw
Nice

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jtwaleson
I taught myself framing earlier this year for some antique maps that I own,
and it is surprisingly hard. Cutting the passe-partout, the glass, picking the
right kind of frame, getting the proportions right. Even something simple as
getting 45 degree corners is really really difficult as the required precision
is really high. In the end I did some decent ones that I'm happy with, but I'm
still a one-trick pony with the (basic) materials that I used. Love working
with my hands though, and it saves a bit of money compared to getting it done
professionally.

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panta
Do you have any pointers to resources on how to learn? I'm a zero-trick pony
and I'd like to learn :-)

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ryanlol
How could it not? [https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/holy-family-known-as-
the-d...](https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/holy-family-known-as-the-doni-
tondo)

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PCI-eX16
Putting aside philosophical discussions around what art is, I feel like frames
are much like many other things recognized as art in museums, including
Smithsonian museums.

 _While four pieces of wood would suffice for security, frame makers delighted
in the gilded and polychrome curves of Baroque frames, the asymmetrical Rococo
peak and the stepped geometry of Art Deco casing._

You can say the same things about furniture or even fashion. Not every frame
is art, sure, but you also won't see a Raymour & Flannigan sofa in a museum
any time soon either.

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heavyset_go
Yes, there's a reason people specialize in framing and can charge a lot of
money for their talent. It's both a skill and an art.

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lowmemcpu
Is this seriously what constitutes an article premise these days for the
smithsonian?

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iron0013
I remember seeing a crackerjack toy collection at the Smithsonian when I went
there 30 years ago. Ephemera and everyday objects are a big part of what the
Smithsonian archives, preserves, and educates about. Did you really not know
that, or are you just compelled to greet every single item that enters your
field of view with the same vacant knee-jerk reactionary sneer?

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justanothersys
frames are like file extensions

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dddw
Frames are like iframes

