A Change of Taste

From the Gilded Age to the Craftsman Aesthetic

An exhibition that chronicles the momentous change of taste in American picture frames from the mass produced ornamentation of the 19th century to the elegant artistry of the Arts and Crafts Movement, will be on view at Julius Lowy Frame & Restoring Company, Inc., 223 East 80th Street, from January 24–April 15, 2011. The exhibition is open to the public Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A full color catalog is available upon request.

Most of the 78 frames in the exhibition, many of which are signed and dated or labeled by their makers, come from Lowy's extensive collection. The exhibition will also include extraordinary frames from the Edgar Smith Collection as well as outstanding examples from the collections of Gill & Lagodich Gallery, New York and Gold Leaf Studios, Washington, D.C.

Architect Stanford White, who was in large part responsible for the American picture frame revolution in the late 1880s, was one of the most important tastemakers of his time. His philosophy opposed factory made, overly ornamented 19th century picture frames. Frames, according to White, should be beautiful in their own right and should be an integral part of interior design considerations. White brought his vision to life by designing frames for his artist friends. These frames were often flatter, to extend the plane of the picture, with ornamentation that was more delicate. White’s popular artisanal designs changed the general consensus about picture frame design establishing the frame as a work of art – as important as the painting that it framed. Similar ideas about framing had been explored earlier in the century by James McNeil Whistler and other the artists involved in the Aesthetic and Arts and Crafts Movement in England.

By the early 20th century, American artists/frame makers carried the ideas of White and Whistler a step further by making as well as designing their own frames. These craftsmen, represented in the exhibition by Hemann Dudley Murphy, Walfred Thulin, Charles Prendergast and Frederick Harer, were responsible for liberating future artists and artisans from the stifling confines of convention which characterized earlier 18th and 19th century periods in America and abroad. A CHANGE OF TASTE: From the Gilded Age to the Craftsman Aesthetic vividly shows off the talents of these men and their rebellious and highly personal forms of artistic expression.

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