Great Depression Era Tramp Art Frame

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Description

A tramp art frame, hand-crafted in the classic American folk-art tradition and dating to the Depression era (c. 1930s). Like … Read more A tramp art frame, hand-crafted in the classic American folk-art tradition and dating to the Depression era (c. 1930s). Like most tramp art of the period, it was built from repurposed cigar-box wood — thin, freely available lumber that home craftsmen chip-carved and layered into remarkably dimensional pieces using nothing more than a pocketknife and patience.

This frame shows off the very best of the technique: crisp notch-carved (chip-carved) edges run the full length of every moulding, creating the signature sawtooth border. The wood is built up in multiple stacked layers (you can count roughly five in the corner cross-sections), giving the frame real depth and a stepped, pyramidal relief. Each of the four corners is crowned with a large radiating "fan" or petal burst — layered teardrop-shaped elements that fan outward like a flower, one of the most desirable and labor-intensive tramp art motifs.

Throughout, the individual carved pieces are secured with small brass tacks and hand-cut nails, many of them still bright and visible — a lovely, honest record of how the piece was assembled by hand.

The wood has aged to a warm, mellow brown with a natural patina that only decades bring. It would make a wonderful surround for a mirror, a painting, or a favorite photograph, or simply hang as sculptural folk art on its own. See less