Defining Edges: A New Look at Picture Frames

The choice of a frame affects the way we view a work of art in multiple ways, even when we are not aware of it. In this stimulating and truly original book, W. H. Bailey, an artist, designer, and frame consultant, shows how the frame is a vital part of viewing pictures and integral to their presentation. He shatters preconceived notions of borders and changes the way we see and understand art.

Bailey examines 56 paintings-including some well-known masterpieces-to explore how their frames, many designed by the artists themselves, relate to the pictures they surround. As The New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik says in his foreword: "Bailey views the act of framing not as a decorative act but as a meaningful one. . . a vindication of the purely visual, of seeing as a form of thought. A frame can be like a superior detective, come to force the picture to confess its real intentions, saying, as detectives will: 'Come out, come out! You're surrounded!'"

W.H. Bailey teaches display design at Parsons School of Design and LIM College in New York City. He has also taught and lectured at Hunter College, the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Visual Arts, and Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Bailey has worked as a visual consultant and frame-maker for many years, designing frames for the Museum of Modern Art and working personally with such artists as Jasper Johns, Jim Dine, and Lee Krasner.