Prints popular; the framing a costly extra

Press, 8 March 1978, Page 12

Prints popular; the framing a costly extra

By

MARIA SCOTT

Prints are decorating the walls of more and more New Zealand homes. They are an inexpensive way of enjoying the work of some of the world’s greatest artists; but however cheap the print, there is no cheap way of having it professionally framed.

Even a thin black frame for a family photograph can cost $6 and although you may think framing is a job easily relegated to the “do-it-yourself” list it is as well to know something of how to go about it or you could risk ruining a favourite print. Frames protect and enhance prints. They can make all the difference to a poor quality print or even a poster. New Zealanders now have access to a much

wider range of prints and they are taking advantage of the choice open to them. As Mr Paul Warren, a framer with Tasman Gallery put it: “People can now get more than pictures of horses jumping out of the sea.” This was borne out by Mr Richard Fisher of H. Fisher and Son, Ltd. “People are not buying pretty scenes — ships, flowers or ballets — any more,” he said. Brueghels, Van Goghs and Constables have taken over as the top sellers. Andrew Wyeth’s “Christian’s World” has also become very popular. According to Mr Fisher the influx of better quality prints has come through easing of import restructions.

Most prints available in this country, apart from those of local artists, are imported. Prints range in price depending on quality, there are a number around for less than $lO but a hand-printed one on topquality paper may cost well over $5O. Many people bring back to New Zealand prints worth only a few dollars overseas. They are among those most astonished to find a frame for the print may cost six or seven times the amount it was bought for. This comes about mainly through the nature of frame-making and the cost of materials used. Framing is not a mechanical process which can be reduced to mass production. Prints can be

produced by the hundreds in a very short time through sophisticated printing processes. But framing remains basically a hand craft. Aspects of the process can be mechanised; but, with the tremendous variation in print size requiring cus-tom-made frames catering for individiual tastes, complete mass . production would be impossible.

Mr Warren has been framing pictures for about seven years. He learnt the craft from his employer, Mr I. J. Jerphanion, the director of Tasman Gallery who has a background of art training in the Netherlands. Tasman Gallery’s business is in custom-made frames for individuals who bring in their own prints and for prints the gallery

sells at its Gloucester Street premises. “We try to do individual framing,” is how Mr Warren describes the gallery’s service.

He and Mr Jerphanion advise customers on how their prints would best be framed.

Prints are usually mounted within a cut-out mount in a colour complementary to colours in the print. The print and mount are pasted on to stiff card and then on to a backboard before being encased in the frame which is also cut to the specifications of the individual job. and is sometimes built from several borders including a strip of linen. It is common for prints to be framed with a glass covering (often non-reflec-ting) although art prints may be sprayed with a protective coating in preference to having a glass cover.

At the Tasman Gallery these processes are done by hand and labour forms a good percentage of the cost of framing.

There is now a wide choice of frame mouldings available, including aluminium, but few are New Zealandrtnade and these imported materials help account for the cost of the completed job. In spite of the cost of framing and of certain types of print, business does not seem to be easing off for framers and print sellers. According to Mr Fisher business gets better each year and Mr Warren reports a similar trend. “No matter how hard times are there is still a group of people with enough money to buy prints,”he says.