The frame may not be the first thing you look at when you visit a museum or gallery. Yet they play an important role in the experience of a work of art. What is involved in framing art? Kunstspot spoke with Groningen framer Ton van Vliet (1960) about the craft, the relationship between the work of art and the frame and whether or not the occasional thumbtack is acceptable.
When you enter the shop of Beikes and Van Vliet on the Westerhavenstraat, you immediately see their work in action. The shop is also a workshop: an enormous canvas measuring almost two by two is ready to be framed and the walls are full of hundreds of different sample frames. But how do you end up in this particular profession? Van Vliet: “Around the age of 40, I reached a point where I had the opportunity to make a career switch, as it's so beautifully called. Then I thought: I want to do something with my hands, not just use my head. That's why I then asked Cees Beikes, who was running this business on his own at the time, if I could apprentice with him.” Framing is a craft and until recently there were no official training courses for it. Van Vliet apprenticed with Beikes: he passed on his knowledge to her. When he retired, she took over his business. Van Vliet enjoys being an entrepreneur, but she says: "What I wanted was the workshop. I liked that the best."
DIFFERENCE IN TASTE
Van Vliet told us that in the workshop the apprentice framer must master various aspects of the trade. For example, how do you use a passe-partout cutter? How do you put the frames together? But the technology extends beyond the frames themselves. “You also have to think about the characteristics of the artwork you are framing. Are the materials resistant to light? Was it made on paper? Was oil paint used? How do you frame a work of art so that it can be removed in ten years without being damaged? How do you keep the colours in good condition? That's all material knowledge.” In addition to this knowledge of the profession, the framer must learn to develop their own perspective. "You have to develop an idea of what you like, and you can only learn that by doing it. In my opinion, the biggest difference between framers is a difference in taste.”
"For each work, only a few frames are suitable." Ton van Vliet
PASSE-PARTOUTS AND THUMBTACKS
This also means that not every framer has the same idea about the relationship between work and frame. For Van Vliet, a frame is ultimately meant “to serve”: “A good frame enhances the artwork and frames the work, but should do so without all the attention going to the frame.” The specific form that this takes depends very much on the type of work to be framed. A flat frame can preserve the openness within an abstract work, while a bevelled frame shifts the focus inwards — very suitable for a portrait. A passe-partout that is too small can confine a landscape on paper, instead of giving it a sense of space. And a frame is always meant to protect too: properly framed, a work is protected from external influences, such as anything from fly droppings to humidity.
Despite this, Van Vliet is very receptive to the more recent trend of hanging unframed works with magnets. "I think it's a beautiful, raw way to present work. And I also have to say that I have a lot hanging at home with pins and thumbtacks, with no glass. That's not necessarily good for the work, but sometimes you just have to say: nothing lasts forever.”
INDIVIDUAL PERSPECTIVE
Van Vliet has developed the unique perspective that characterises every framer, and this is reflected in the workshop: she generally does not produce baroque, bombastic frames. "I think that when the work is framed and hanging on the wall you should see the work directly. A flashy frame can push the artwork into the background a bit." Sometimes she can see right away which frame is a good fit: "For each work, there are usually only a few suitable frames. But even when the first one is immediately good, I still often look at a few others, so as not to work on autopilot.” At other times it's a search for the right width, shape and tone of the frame — but therein lies the challenge.
When she visits a museum, that perspective stays with her: “It really stands out to me when something is framed very beautifully or, on the contrary, in a very ugly way as well. Sometimes money matters can play a role, because a museum doesn't necessarily always have the funds to frame everything equally well, but every once in a while I find something that is a real shame." After a cup of coffee, she takes another lap around. "And then look closely at the art."