38 
House & Garden 
WHEN THE FRAME FITS THE PICTURE 
The Day of Cut-and-Dried Picture Frames Is Over, for Modern 
Art Requires an Individual Setting 
PEYTON BOSWELL 
Sizes and Colors 
on the canvas absolutely killed by glaring, 
glittering gold on the frame? 
Artists long felt themselves to be help¬ 
less in this matter. Whistler was one of 
the first to rebel. To him it was a matter 
of first importance that his delicately toned 
pictures, with their soft nuances, should 
not be stultified by discordant frames. 
Despairing of any framer putting his pic¬ 
tures in the exact settings they should 
have, he undertook to make the frames 
himself. He designed them, toned them 
and sometimes painted them. In order 
that canvas and frame should never be 
separated—for owners have a way of send¬ 
ing their pictures to be newly dressed 
ever)’ so often—he gave some of his frames \ 
an extraordinary value by actually sign- 1 
ing them, with the Whistler Butterfly. 
Probably the first artist in this country 
to follow Whistler’s ex¬ 
ample was the landscapist, 
Herman Dudley Murphy, 
of Boston. So successful 
was he in framing his own 
pictures that he was asked 
by collectors and by brother 
artists to apply his ideas to 
other pictures. Today 
frames that are made to 
harmonize with individual 
pictures are known roughly 
in this country as “Murphy 
frames”, no matter who the 
designer may be. 
Because he is regarded 
in a way, as the dean of 
individual framers, Mr. 
Murphy was asked at one 
time to say something about 
his artistic credo. 
Herman Dudley 
Murphy is the dean 
of American picture 
framers. One of his 
designs was made 
for this canvas “The 
Story of the Cross”, 
by Albert P. Ryder 
Individuality 
“The framing of a pic¬ 
ture,” he began, “is in every 
way as important a factor 
in its looking well and re¬ 
ceiving the attention it de¬ 
serves, as is the suitable and 
becoming clothing of a per¬ 
son. To frame pictures of 
different styles alike in one 
design of frame is to kill 
their individuality. They 
may look well as an aggre¬ 
gate, just as a regiment of 
soldiers looks well in uni¬ 
form, but it should be re¬ 
membered that the barber 
plays an important part in 
making the soldiers all look 
well in their uniforms. Im¬ 
agine a person who has 
(■Continued on page 62) 
So it follows that if a 
picture is so gaudily and 
flashily framed, or is given 
a frame that by its size is 
all out of proportion to the 
picture, it is just as much a 
•crime against good taste as 
if a human being did exact¬ 
ly the same thing. It would 
be hard to realize a spirit 
of harmony in a room in 
which such badly set pic¬ 
tures are hung. 
When it comes to the col¬ 
or of frames, equally as 
great crimes are committed. 
How many times have we 
seen subtle color harmonies 
Among American artists, Childe Hassam is most active in designing the frame to fit 
the picture. This small painting has a frame signed by Mr. Hassam; note the “H” 
on each side of it. Courtesy of the Milch Galleries 
O I' all the transgressions of good 
taste and common sense that have 
been made in the sacred name of art, 
those connected with the framing of pic¬ 
tures are perhaps the most flagrant. This 
country especially has been a hard of¬ 
fender. Just as our forebears used to ob¬ 
scure the female form in horrible hoop- 
skirts, so they were wont to ensconce their 
pictures in heavy, ornate frames and— 
save the mark!—they even hid away both 
frame and picture in a tunnel called a 
“shadow box”. This last named mon¬ 
strosity has almost disappeared; it comes 
forth only now and then when paintings 
are brought out of old houses to be put up 
at auction sales. But the ornate and vul¬ 
gar frame is with us still, casting its blight 
on whatever painting it can find to ob¬ 
scure and rob of its true effectiveness. 
A picture should be 
dressed in a frame pretty 
much in accordance with 
the same canons as are ap¬ 
plied to the dressing of a 
cultivated man or woman. 
If anything, those canons 
should be more strictly ap¬ 
plied, because if you take 
them as they come, paint¬ 
ings are finished with a 
great deal more care than 
are the bodies of human be¬ 
ings—at least they hold 
their shape better and keep 
their attractions, when they 
have them, a great deal 
longer. They never become 
distended through over-eat¬ 
ing and never lose their 
complexions unless they are 
put in a damp cellar or fall 
into the hands of a devil- 
may-care restorer. 
This soft landscape, 
“The Enveloping 
Mantle” by Willard 
L. Metcalf, is in a 
frame designed by 
the artist for the 
picture. Courtesy of 
the Milch Galleries 
