In the Primary and Secondary Art Markets, Presentation Drives Price

In the back storage rooms of Rago Auctions in Lambertville, New Jersey, there is a large selection of wooden bases, painted black or white, of various sizes, for carved goods that come missing. Sometimes, painting supplies come without frames. Rago doesn’t keep a supply of frames in the background, because “frames are custom made,” Meredith Hilferty, the auction house’s director of fine art sales, told the Observer, adding that she wouldn’t want to slip a painting into the wrong size frame.

Some modern paintings are painted on the sides of the canvas and are not meant to be framed; for those that need to be framed, Hilferty informs consignors that if they don’t want to provide a frame, he will and deducts the cost from the sale price. “Frames and bases help sales, because they raise the presentation,” he explained. Bidders get a sense, thanks to those frames and bases, of how the works of art might look in their homes. Without them, bidders need to use their imaginations, and although the work may sell, it may sell for less. It is better not to make a mistake.

Picture bases and picture frames are often considered accessories that must be discarded as tastes change from one era or collector to another. The art is outstanding. Still, unframed paintings often don’t look perfect, according to dealers and sellers who sell them, and small and even medium-sized sculptures can look out of place if they’re not displayed on a stand that elevates them to eye level.

And it’s not just marketers who believe this. So are musicians. Deborah Butterfield, best known for her large sculptures of wooden and metal horses, some over 7 meters tall and weighing two tons, also produces equine figures on a smaller scale—20 centimeters high, perhaps weighing only five kilograms. In this case, he tells the sellers that they should be placed on the bases. “They’re not calves or horses but old horses, and when people put them down, it makes them look like poodles or doorstops,” he told the Observer. “It’s driving me crazy.”

Butterfield sometimes creates simple wooden bases for these smaller works—empty boxes of light-colored wood that don’t “draw attention” but ensure that the sculptures are visible at the right height. Foundations don’t make money themselves, according to Greg Kucera, an art gallery owner in Seattle, Washington, who has been exhibiting his work for years. Some consumers don’t even bother to take them. “They might have his work on a table or a shelf, or maybe they have pedestals in their homes that they choose to use,” he said, though he admits that whether it’s Butterfield’s work or that of other sculptors, “prices are higher if there’s a tile.”

Kucera also keeps photo frames on hand for two-sided jobs that come in out of stock or in frames that are “so dirty that they’re going to depreciate. We have about 20 or 30 that we keep on the rack and try to recycle.” Sometimes, the gallery will pay for the frame, deducting the cost from what the consignor gets, “but we don’t really get value for the frames. Buyers tend to throw most of them away and the paintings are reframed.”

Some artists produce or provide frames for their paintings, and occasionally those frames have value in themselves or add to the value of the entire piece. Katherine Degn, owner and director of New York’s Kraushaar Galleries, told the Observer that she “has sold many of Maurice Prendergast’s watercolors in simple, small frames made by his brother,” Charles, who also painted but is better known for his frames. Together or separately, they are appreciated.

Most goods that go to galleries and auction houses, however, come in whatever frame the owner or other owner thinks looks best, regardless of the artist’s intentions. Sandra Germain, owner of Shannon’s auction house in Greenwich, Connecticut, recalls the consignment, “a very precious painting,” whose seller had taken it out of its original frame and put it in a “really ugly, plastic Hobby Lobby frame.” There was not much he could do, and the painting was shown unframed in the sales catalog.

Dealers and dealers try to do their best with the works of art they sell. Roger Reed, owner of New York’s Illustration House, which sells artwork in its gallery and at auction, noted that in 2001, the gallery sold a work commissioned by Norman Rockwell, A Successful Woman in Charge of Auction Buyingwhich needed a frame. The gallery had a budget for the frame, “but I knew the painting would sell for the same price without the frame, the price of which would be a zoom error, so it was an opportunity for fun. The painting was funny, it shows a young modern woman carrying her antiques at a country auction. She didn’t show much understanding, getting a high-quality torn bed pan with a high-quality Victorian order. ‘noisy’ floral decorations and berries, just the kind of thing this lady might have sold for. it arrived, it was very nice, so I continued to work on it, adding a dull brown patina to make it look like a ‘find.'”

According to Reed, the best situation was “when the work had its original, historical frame, which was in good condition. Even if it was thin, we’d like to show it and sell it that way, even if it’s an illustration in a catalog that way. The next best thing was when we had a budget to frame the work, and we could put it in something strong, informal, and appropriate for the time.”

Works on paper—paintings, prints, pastels, photographs and watercolors—are always displayed on a frame, often with a protective mat and glass, because they are more fragile and more difficult to clean than bulk painted canvases. But unlike canvases, works on paper are usually stored in a flat file without their frames.

Frames for paintings and plinths under pictures are often seen as part of the art collector’s package. “Frames, bases and bases make the pieces feel finished,” says Marc Fields, owner of The Compleat Sculptor in New York, which sells bases and bases to artists for prices starting at $250 and going up to $2,500, depending on whether the material is laminate and Formica, Lucite or hardwood and stone. Prices also vary by size.

Frames and stands do more than frame a painting or elevate an image. They provide some protection from bumps and kicks and act to highlight works of art, distinguishing them from the world around them and encouraging viewers to take a closer look. Some contemporary artists, of course, want their work to be a part of that world around them rather than separate from it, and frames, bases and bases can break that aesthetic. Of course, you can’t please everyone. And some artists feel that they have done their work by finishing the work, leaving presentations to others, such as their sellers. “There’s often a tug of war between artists and dealers,” Louis Newman, former director of LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, told the Observer. “The artist wants a cheap frame or base, especially if the artist is paying, while the seller wants something that looks good.” Not only does the frame make the painting look finished, he added, “it’s one of the least things the client has to think about. ‘Honey, what kind of frame should we get?’ ‘I don’t know, what are you thinking?’”

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