Figure 1.--This unidentified American boy had his portrait taken in February 1927, although he wears what looks like a Spring outfit, fancy white blouse with a ruffled collar, short pants, and white knee socks. The portrait is done with a sepia tone. Note the large greyish paper frame with brown borders in two shades. The frame is done with rough (mock ragged) edges. Also notice the simulated corners done to look like an album mount. The photo is 7 1/2x4 1/2 inches. The frame is 10 1/4x 7 inches.

The paper frames popular in the 1920s can help date the portrait. We no longer see CDV and cabinent card portraits in the 1920s. The popular postcard format portraits and sbapshots begin to decline in popularity. but we still see some. We see formal studio portraits commonly being placed in large paper frames. We see various kinds of these frames. We continue to see the paper frames being done in America with gray frames. We are less sure about Europe. We do not yet have a good feel for the color and style of the frames during the 1920s. We need to expand our archive. We note both two and three-ply paper frames. Sepia-colored prints were popular. The actual size of the photograph tended to be much larger than the photographs we generally saw in the paper frames we began to see in the 1900s. We are not yet sure just when and where stand up frames began to appear.

Overall Photographic Trends

We no longer see CDV and cabinent card albumen portraits in the 1920s. The popular postcard format portraits and sbapshots begin to decline in popularity. but we still see some in the 20s. We of course see many family snapshots. Studuo portraits often came in destinctive paper frames. These frames can help date the images and also probably help determine what country the portrait came from, but here our assessment is just beginning.

Paper Frame Types

We see formal studio portraits commonly being placed in large paper frames. We note various kinds of these frames, but we arenot yet aware of the full extent of the available alternatives. We note both two and three-ply paper frames. The most common was the book type two-ply paper frame. The 1927 portrait here is a good example. We also note three-ply paper frames with the porrait at the center and over-lapping wings at the left and right opening to see the portrait. There presumbly were other frame types. but we are just beginning to collect information.

Trim

The frames might have simple trim with slight color variations. Note the large greyish paper frame with brown borders in two shades (igure 1). Also notice the simulated corners done to look like an album mount.

Frame Edges

The frame is done with rough edges. I am not sure what the proper term for this is. We would describe them as mock ragged edges. I thin the idea behind them was to give the portrait an antique aging look that made them look like a trasured family heirloom. We are not sure about the time-line for these ragged edges. There were different degrees of these rough edges. Some frames on had sligtly rough edges. Others had very deeply roughened ragged looking edges. We are not yet sure about the time-line here. We think that they were most common in the 1920s abd we see them throuhout the decade. We think they first appeared in the 1920s and we still see some in the 30s. We are unsure about countryvtrends. The examples we have found are American. We are not yet sure if thesecroughended edges frames weee popular in other countries.

Paper Color

We continue to see the paper frames being done in America with gray frames. We are less sure about Europe. We do not yet have a good feel for the color and style of the frames during the 1920s. We need to expand our archive. We note both two and three-ply paper frames. Sepia-colored prints were popular. The actual size of the photograph tended to be much larger than the photographs we generally saw in the paper frames we began to see in the 1900s. We are not yet sure just when and where stand up frames began to appear.

Decoration

We note a wide variety of decorations on the paper frames used for photographic portaits during the 1920s. Art deco styles were very popular. Some like the one here were very plain. Others had elalbiorate styling. A good example is portrait of a Polish-American boy in 1929.

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Created: 11:36 PM 3/16/2008
Last updated: 12:00 AM 7/8/2012