How To Mat And Frame A Drawing

Presenting works on paper requires special consideration.

by Daniel Grant

The bailiwick of framing works of art—whether or not to frame, what kind of frame, how much to spend, and who pays—occupies a lot of time for art dealers and fifty-fifty more than for artists. As a financial fact, frames contribute significantly to an artist's overhead, still there is no denying that they serve a multifariousness of purposes: They protect works of art; they distinguish fine art from everything else around it; and they brand the work appear complete and assistance collectors imagine how it volition expect in their homes. In fact, information technology is rare to see a cartoon, print, or watercolor on brandish without a mat and frame.

Tragedy 2002, past Graydon Parrish, charcoal and white chalk, 24¾ x 15¼. Courtesy Hirschi & Adler Galleries, New York, New York.

Artists and dealers face two problems when exhibiting drawings, which are sometimes treated equally mutually exclusive. The starting time is how to utilize frames in such a fashion as to present drawings as substantial and complete; the 2nd is how to mat and frame drawings in a manner that will protect them from moisture, excessive light, and a host of airborne pollutants.

From an Exhibition Standpoint
"In general, I don't put works behind drinking glass next to paintings," says Louis Newman, the director of David Findlay Jr. Fine Art, a New York City gallery. Drawings and other works on newspaper generally recede in the presence of paintings, whose colors are more likely to stand out. When a big canvas is nearby, a drawing will often exist taken equally a preliminary written report for the larger piece of work, regardless of the content of the two pictures. Still, sometimes a drawing and painting share a wall, and Newman says that in this example, the gallery might paint the wall blueish to neutralize the effect.

The Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York Metropolis has painted the walls when exhibiting drawings even when no paintings are present, also to "offer a bit of contrast to the paper," according to the gallery'south managing director, Sique Spence. The wall paint is apt to be a shade of greyness—"only a bit of contrast. Cherry would be overly dramatic," she says. However, that kind of drama is regularly plant in galleries of works on paper in major museums, where walls may be green, violet, or another color that contrasts sharply with white paper, particularly since the lighting is often much lower in these rooms than in others.

Hanging drawings poses another set up of problems for artists and galleries. It'south common to see a single large painting on a wall in a commercial gallery—a visitor's attending is immediately focused from afar—just "you don't want one cartoon, unless it is absolutely enormous in calibration, property up a whole wall," Spence says. "The drawing is probable to go lost in calibration." The more customary approach is to grouping a number of drawings, enticing the viewer to motility closer to get a amend view. The obvious drawback to this exhibit blueprint is that information technology suggests that the individual pictures are not substantial works of art in themselves and need others around them to make full them out.

Dance 2002, by Graydon Parrish, charcoal and white chalk, 23 7/8 x 16.

Finding the nearly advisable mat (if there is to be one) and frame requires considerable care. Overly thin frames might not be strong plenty to hold everything together, while very ostentatious ones can overpower the art. Jill Weinberg Adams, the director of Lennon, Weinberg gallery in New York City, notes that she prefers a "straightforward presentation. I don't take a small cartoon and put an enormous mat and frame around it to make the drawing look more substantial"—an arroyo with which almost dealers agree—but at that place are certain mats and frames that heighten the drama of looking at the moving-picture show. Newman uses a deep bevel mat, 8-ply rather than iv-ply, because "8-ply gives the image more presence," he says. Fillets, or spacers (usually woods, rag lath, or plastic), between the frame and glass have the consequence of deepening the image and attracting a viewer'southward eye also. Newman avoids metal frames, which he associates with posters, choosing instead lightly stained hardwood frames that are more commensurate with original fine art. He besides eschews black frames as "funereal, and they pull the middle away from the work." In add-on, he has applied fine linen or silk on the mat itself in order "to soften the color of the cardboard mat, and it gives a halo event without distracting from the epitome."

Mats are non e'er used in the framing of drawings. Although their main function is to keep the drawing flat and from drifting toward the drinking glass, many artists, dealers, and collectors adopt to show the border of the newspaper itself, especially when it has a rougher, handmade quality. In these instances, the drawing is attached to the backboard and simply floats within the frame; fillets are oft used to create the extra space between the paper and glass that the mat would otherwise provide.

Graydon Parrish and his framer work together to create these mats, which feature ink lines and dry pigment.

Mats are also a source of decoration, adding or offering dissimilarity to the central epitome. At times, the mat will be a color different from the paper, and the mat may contain designs and colors complementing the drawing. Graydon Parrish, who creates drawings and oil paintings in Amherst, Massachusetts, and exhibits at Hirschl & Adler Galleries in New York City, uses a framer who draws in border lines on the blue-gray mats, and some of these lines are filled in with dry out pigments applied with a watercolor castor. In that location is a considerable amount of back-and-forth between Parrish and the framer, every bit the two experiment with unlike line thickness and mat and paint colors, and the extra piece of work figures into the price: betwixt $800 and $900 per frame and mat on drawings that sell on the average for $xx,000. Framing and matting charges that run about iv per centum of the entire cost of the artwork are within the norm of the gallery world. Newman says his dominion of thumb is "no more than x percent of the work'southward price for the frame."

From a Conservation Standpoint
On the face of it, fine art dealers and art conservators should have a lot in common—both groups want art to await good, if for somewhat unlike reasons. Badly illuminated matted-and-framed drawings will not appeal to potential collectors, and those same factors are probable to cause long-term damage to the artwork itself. The ii groups sometimes part visitor when information technology comes to the business of finding the right mats, frames, and lighting for drawings. The reasons are more than economic; they also reveal the lack of a clear understanding nearly how to protect drawings. Everyone is quick to echo the mantras of products labeled "acrid-complimentary" and "archival," which suggest proper intendance and an artwork'south longevity, but these terms are to art what "all-natural" and "organic" are to food—well-intentioned, higher priced, and ultimately meaningless, since there is no federal standard for what these words are required to mean.

Conservators speak non only nearly framing and matting simply also the unabridged "frame package." That packet typically consists of backing material (acrid-gratis corrugated cardboard or polystyrene-cored lath, oft called Fome-Cor); a backboard that may be called "conservation lath" (high-quality cardboard and paper made of chemically refined woods pulp) or rag board (fabricated of cotton fiber or linen stock); the cartoon itself; a window mat (again, rag board, buffered rag lath, or conservation board); roofing drinking glass (including regular glass or acrylic glazing materials, such equally ultraviolet-shielded Plexiglas, Lucite, and Acrylite); and the encompassing frame (forest, metal, and plastic), which tin—but need non—exist made airtight when sealed on the back with polyester motion-picture show (Mylar), metal foil, or other impermeable materials. "Closed" does not hateful, all the same, that a work of fine art can be placed in whatsoever environment, such as a humid bathroom, and remain protected.

Many of the materials that framers employ are described as acid-complimentary, but that may not offer sufficient protection to artwork. It is common to run into, for instance, a brown cadre but under the top layer of a so-called acid-free window mat, where the window has been cutting out. "If the mat board has a core that has wood lurid, information technology won't remain acrid-free," says Leslie Paisley, the head of newspaper conservation at the Williamstown Fine art Conservation Centre in Massachusetts. Wood pulp contains lignin, a natural gum that holds wood fibers together just turns chocolate-brown and more acidic every bit it ages. The acidity will reach through the surface of the mat to the paper, causing it to darken in spots.

This installation photo of the Lennon, Weinberg Gallery in New York Metropolis shows how the director, Hill Weinberg Adams, spaces framed drawings on the wall so that each one looks important.

Hazards lurk all around. A mat that is perfectly acceptable to conservators may plow acidic from backing material that contains harmful wood pulp if it is in directly contact with a wood frame, absorbing acids from the forest. Some woods are more acidic than others—poplar and ash are less likely to cause conservation problems than oak, for instance—and often some buffering cloth is needed between the mat and frame. Artists must go beyond claims of "acid-free" to ask specific questions of those who would mat and frame their work about what these products really contain.

Some framers simply practise not carry the highest-quality conservation materials. "Framers are profit-driven and know that they can't accuse exorbitant prices," says Karen Pavelka, a professor of paper conservation for the graduate plan of preservation and conservation studies at the Academy of Texas at Austin. "They may not use mat board with good-quality fibers, for instance, or they will mount the artwork using pressure level-sensitive tape, which isn't very potent, doesn't let the paper expand and contract, and is very difficult to remove. Framers can inflict a lot of damage."

Acerbity, which causes paper to get stained and breakable, is the most common long-term trouble with improper matting and framing materials. A less visible only no less problematic surface area is adhering the artwork to the backboard, using what is referred to as hinges. (At times, drawings are held in place with corners, made of sturdy, acid-gratis newspaper or Mylar folded into triangular shapes and adhered to the bankroll.) The diverse materials used as hinges include archival tape and linen with a type of envelope mucilage; what makes them archival are the claims that they tin can be removed without damaging the artwork (dissimilar masking and transparent tape).

Those claims, nevertheless, are non accepted past all conservators, who often look beyond the outcome of getting the picture matted and framed to when the drawing will exist removed from the mount. "Y'all may be able to take off archival tape within a few minutes of applying it without whatever real impairment, but if information technology has been on for some time, information technology will not come off easily without taking some of the paper with information technology," says Margaret Holben Ellis, the director of the Thaw Conservation Center at the Morgan Library in New York Urban center. Additionally, although newspaper expands and contracts with changes in humidity, tape does non have that flexibility, causing paper to buckle where it comes into contact with tape, sometimes leading to tears. Linen hinges have more—although not exactly the same—elasticity to "exhale" with paper, but its glue has the potential of staining the paper, "and you have to apply a lot of water to accept it off. It'due south like steaming a postage stamp off an envelope, and that water tin damage the paper," says Ellis. The preferred method is long-fibered Japanese paper, which is adhered to the newspaper and the backboard through a wheat or rice starch that is practical with a brush. "It is very strong and entirely reversible with not much h2o," she says.

The materials used in conservation matting and framing are somewhat more expensive than ordinary frame-store supplies, simply what one actually pays for is the increased amount of time and labor involved, especially in cooking up an adhesive paste, brushing information technology on, and waiting for it to dry. Artists who are exercise-it-yourselfers may be able to learn these techniques through organizations' Web sites and books (run into sidebar). Conservation materials are available at fine art-supply stores, volume binderies, and library-supply outlets, also as through catalog companies.

To preserve drawings from the harmful furnishings of ultraviolet calorie-free, conservators recommend placing drawings abroad from wall areas that receive stiff direct sunlight, likewise every bit away from lamps. In addition, ultraviolet filters might be placed over the windows, or ultraviolet Plexiglas in front of the work itself, to shield it from the most harmful furnishings of the light. Plexiglas is lightweight and almost unbreakable; withal, it holds a static accuse that may lift the paper or bits of the drawing material. Larger pieces of newspaper (40″ ten 60″) have more than motility than smaller ones, and they are more than apt to be pulled toward the Plexiglas, requiring a larger fillet (perhaps a 3/4″ spacer as opposed to the standard 1/4″) to keep the paper and glazing material separated.

There are also ultraviolet coatings that one tin can employ to windows, retarding the most severe effects of stiff sunlight, likewise as accordion-shaped blinds that let a sure amount of light and heat to enter a room while reflecting high oestrus. Hardware and home-decorating stores have many of these products. If not, call a local museum to observe out where to become them. Concealment the wall with paint, by the manner, adds a certain drama and may reduce some of the glare that takes place in galleries where the light bounces off white walls. However, information technology does aught to reduce either the ultraviolet rays or the overall amount of light in the room.

For improve or worse, exhibitions in galleries terminal only a few weeks, after which the drawings render to storage or someone's individual home, where the longer-term problem of preservation actually begins.

Daniel Grant is the writer of, among other books, The Fine Artist'due south Career Guide, How to Get-go and Succeed equally an Creative person, and The Artist's Resources Handbook (all Allworth Press, New York, New York), also as many paper and magazine articles. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Resources

Organizations:
American Found for Conservation of Historic and Creative Works

1717 K St., N.W.,

Washington, DC 20006

(202) 452-9545

world wide web.aic-faic.org

Northeast Document Conservation Middle

100 Brickstone Square

Andover, MA 01810-1494

(978) 470-1010

world wide web.nedcc.org

Professional Picture Framers Clan

3000 Movie Identify

Jackson, MI 49201

(800) 556-6228

www.ppfa.com

Books:

Care and Handling of Art Objects, The, by Marjorie Shelley (The Metropolitan Museum of Fine art, New York, New York).

Care of Prints and Drawings, The, past Margaret Holben Ellis (Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, California).

Caring for Your Collections, edited by Arthur Schultz (Harry N. Abrams, New York, New York).

Curatorial Intendance of Works of Art on Newspaper, by Anne F. Clapp (The Lyons Press, New York, New York).

How to Treat Works of Art on Paper, by Roy L. Perkinson and Francis W. Dollof (out of print).

Matting and Framing Works of Fine art on Paper (American Institute for Conservation of Celebrated and Artistic Works, Washington, DC).

Matting and Hinging of Works of Art on Paper, by Merrily A. Smith and Margaret Chocolate-brown (out of print).

Preservation of Library and Archival Materials, edited past Sherelyn Ogden (out of print).

Source: https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-techniques/technique-matting-and-framing-drawings/

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