Photo Frames 1896 - 1920

This photo frame, made by Franciscus G. Lukera, has this really beautiful and distinctive kind of wood grain, it swirls around like a landscape or a seascape. The process of choosing and cutting the wood, placing and polishing, would have been very time-consuming, even loving. The frame itself is dark and tactile, and the way it is inlaid with this lighter stripe of geometrical shapes makes the frame really stand out, almost as much as the photograph it surrounds. It's very carefully made, and you can see where different pieces of wood have been joined together, not perfectly, but with a kind of care that makes it feel very human. I find myself drawn to the top right corner, where the wood grain makes a knot-like shape. I’m reminded a little of the frames made by Roger Fry for the Omega Workshop, though these are much more formal, and symmetrical. There's something about these makers, Lukera and Fry, that makes me wonder about the conversations artists have across time, even without knowing each other. And of course, just like a good painting, this frame leaves room for many stories.