Opinions Wanted Framing Russian Pastels

[David St Lawrence]

I have been asked to frame eleven pastels by a relatively unknown Russian artist. The images are truly appealing and have elicited favorable comment from all who have seen previews of them.

The originals are captioned and signed only on the backs of the paintings or on a separate cover sheet. These paintings will be not be sold right away but will be on display in one or more local galleries.

I have proposed to frame the art with a small window at the bottom which will show the caption either in the artist's handwriting (Russian) or in a suitable script (English).

My reason for including the captions is that they differentiate this art from anything available locally and people responded favorably to the fact that the artist is a young Russian woman with a background much like many of our regional artists.

Each of the paintings is accompanied by a more detailed description of the subject. That I plan to put on a display card accompanying the framed paintings.

Have any of you run into this situation before where paintings were signed on the back? How have you handled it and what would you suggest I do differently here?

 

[JRB]

When a piece is signed on the back and the customer prefers that it show, we generally scan the signature and print it out on paper that looks about the same color of the original. Sometimes we just select a color that will look good in the mat opening.

We then cut an additional opening in the mat so that the copy of the signature or title will show.

John

 

[Prospero]

Personally, I find captions and extra windows in mats very distracting in the case of original artwork. Very detrimental to the visual impact of the picture. It tends to give the immpression of a cheap print. A brief biography and a few explanitory notes in a plastic sleeve attached to the back of the frame is much better IMHO.

 

[Jim Miller]

Depending on the customer's choice, we would 1) copy the signature and put it in a dustcover envelope; 2) copy it and put it in a window on the front; or 3) cut a Mylar-D/Melinex 516 clear film-covered window in the backing board to show the actual signature from the back.

 

[David St Lawrence]

Thanks for your feedback

I had considered that some viewers might confuse these originals with prints if I added the caption below the image.

It will be easy to eliminate the caption window and do a standard mat design for these pastels.

I will make up cards with all of the supporting data for each pastel and paste one copy to the back of the frame and have a spare card to hang on the wall near the framed picture when it is on display.