ELI WILNER, LLC
NEW YORK, NY

About Eli Wilner & Company Frames function as decorative borders, as supports, as protection for paintings. They call attention to the enclosed art and even reflect light on it. Frames separate pictures from their surrounding environment and serve as a part of the comprehensive period style of interior design. As for their financial value, the actual price of the frame adds to the value of the painting. Artists have frequently designed frames or selected and combined ready-made moldings, sometimes making the frames themselves or leaving this to other craftspeople. Unlike conventional reproduction frames, the precise antique replica frames made by Eli Wilner & Company are created in much the same way as the original antique frames. Unlike most frame-makers, our gallery has not developed a repertoire of styles that we mill in quantity and then tweak for each order. No frame design is generated in quantity, no replicas are made from copies, and each frame is made one at a time, with great care and artistry. Each frame selection is made by drawing upon our inventory of over 3,500 original antique frames, and art-historical expertise regarding period-appropriate styles. Carved frames and those with applied ornament are all carefully composed and then meticulously gilded and patinated to emulate the effects of age. The result is a frame that has the charm and beauty of a antique frame. Eli Wilner & Company is the world's finest resource for antique American and European frames. As a specialist in period framing for nearly 40 years, Eli Wilner has completed over 15,000 framing projects for collectors and museums. Our gallery is held in high regard by both institutions and private collectors for our expertise, extensive inventory, and superior quality of craftsmanship. This regard and confidence is evidenced by customers such as The White House, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Yale University Art Gallery and many private individuals. Eli Wilner & Company's most-known project is the hand-carved and gilded replica of the lost original frame for Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze. This frame is the focal point of the renovated American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The frame's opening size is over 12 x 21 feet, and is surmounted by an elaborate construction twelve feet across displaying an eagle, flags, pikes, a banner and other regalia. Eli Wilner & Company also works with top auction houses worldwide to loan frames for their most important lots. Many of these paintings achieved record-breaking prices in a Wilner frame, including Nude, Green Leaves and Bust by Pablo Picasso which sold at Christie's on May 6, 2010 for $106,000,000. A replica frame was created by using a historical photograph showing the original frame on the painting in the 1932 Georges Petit exhibition, curated by Picasso himself. By the time the painting reached Christie's, this frame had been lost. The finest examples of antique frames have been sold in the marketplace for hundreds of thousands of dollars. One collector has spent nearly $10 million forming a antique frame collection. Eli Wilner & Company antique frame prices are generally between $8,500 and $65,000 depending on the rarity, size and condition of the frame. Eli Wilner & Company is the leading frame restoration expert. We are a preferred provider for both AXA and Chubb fine art insurance, and we have been chosen to perform frame restorations for the most prestigious public and private art collections. Eli Wilner & Company has completed hundreds of complex antique frame restorations for private collectors and public institutions. Increasingly, curators, dealer, collectors, and aficionados embrace the aesthetic and historical value of antique frames. With a 10,000 square foot studio, the Wilner expert carvers, gilders, and mold-makers are able to complete a remarkably wide range of projects, including those that smaller studios cannot accommodate. In the forty years that he has spent in picture framing, Eli Wilner’s approach has stressed the historical accuracy of matching the appropriate picture frame with the artist’s time period and tastes. Through extensive art historical research in major institutions we have determined where prominent artists have expressed framing preferences. The artists realized that the frame was an important marketing tool as well as an aesthetic statement. Eli Wilner & Company We are located eight blocks north of Sotheby's Auction House and seven blocks east of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The gallery is open Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00 am and 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. E-Mail Us using the form below to share any questions, comments, or suggestions with Eli Wilner & Company.