Eli Wilner
Encyclopedia
Eli Wilner is proprietor of Eli Wilner & Company, a New York art gallery specializing in American and European period frames from the 19th through the early 20th century. He is a leading frame dealer, collector, and restorer, as well as an acknowledged and published authority on period frames
. Wilner is a graduate of Brandeis University
, where he received a BA in Fine Arts in 1976, and of Hunter College
, where he received his MA in 1978. He was a Bryant Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
from 1995 to 1999. He has been an Art Forum member since 1993 and a member of the Director’s Circle of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
since 1997. In 1998, Wilner served on the Board of Trustees for the New York Academy of Art.
Eli Wilner & Company is now the world’s largest resource for antique frames, with over 3,000 frames in its collection. The company creates marriages of painting and frame consistent with style, artistic composition, and historical period. The company also operates a professional studio, employing skilled craftspeople providing full frame restoration services as well as precise frame replication.
The company has worked extensively with the White House, reframing over two-dozen American paintings from the collection. In addition, Eli Wilner & Company has worked with some of the nation’s most prominent museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art
and the Smithsonian American Art Museum
as well as leading auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s.
Sponsor of the 1998 exhibition in the Henry Luce Study Center, American Wing, THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, New York, NY: An extraordinary installation of American picture frames. The installation included examples of American frames from the early 19th Century through the early 20th Century.
The Gilded Edge: The Art of the Frame (2000)
Antique American Frames: Identification and Price Guide 2nd Edition (1999) (with Mervyn Kaufman)
Antique American Frames: Identification and Price Guide (1995) (with Mervyn Kaufman)
The Art of the Frame: American Frames of the Arts and Crafts Period (1988)
Smeaton, Suzanne, “American Frames of the Arts and Crafts Period 1870-1920,” The Magazine Antiques, November 1989, pp. 1124–1137.
Smeaton, Suzanne, “Frames in Context,” Antiques and Fine Art, January/February 1991, Vol. VIII, No 2, pp110–117.
Smeaton, Suzanne ... “Within Gilded Borders: The Frames of Stanford White,” American Art, National Museum of American Art: Smithsonian Institution, Spring 1993.
Articles about Eli Wilner and the gallery have appeared in the New York Times, Forbes Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Art & Antiques Magazine, and many other notable publications. Eli has been featured in three different segments of Martha Stewart Living
.
Picture frame
A picture frame is a decorative edging for a picture, such as a painting or photograph, intended to enhance it, make it easier to display, or protect it.-Construction:...
. Wilner is a graduate of Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
, where he received a BA in Fine Arts in 1976, and of Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
, where he received his MA in 1978. He was a Bryant Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
from 1995 to 1999. He has been an Art Forum member since 1993 and a member of the Director’s Circle of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...
since 1997. In 1998, Wilner served on the Board of Trustees for the New York Academy of Art.
Eli Wilner & Company
In 1983, Eli Wilner founded Eli Wilner & Company, an art gallery located on New York’s Upper East Side dedicated to the display and sale of American and European frames! The gallery has been primarily responsible for the increased awareness and appreciation of American and European period frames. Committed to the education of curators, collectors, and dealers, Eli Wilner & Company has curated many important frame exhibitions and lectured extensively about the antique frame for museums and groups throughout the United States.Eli Wilner & Company is now the world’s largest resource for antique frames, with over 3,000 frames in its collection. The company creates marriages of painting and frame consistent with style, artistic composition, and historical period. The company also operates a professional studio, employing skilled craftspeople providing full frame restoration services as well as precise frame replication.
The company has worked extensively with the White House, reframing over two-dozen American paintings from the collection. In addition, Eli Wilner & Company has worked with some of the nation’s most prominent museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
and the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...
as well as leading auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s.
Selected exhibitions
2004 The Art of the Frame: Gems From the Simoni Collection, PENSACOLA MUSEUM OF ART, Pensacola, FL: An exhibition of exemplary frames drawn from the collection of Justine Simoni, an unparalleled group of American frames from the 19th and early 20th centuries.Sponsor of the 1998 exhibition in the Henry Luce Study Center, American Wing, THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, New York, NY: An extraordinary installation of American picture frames. The installation included examples of American frames from the early 19th Century through the early 20th Century.
Books
The Gilded Edge Revised Edition: The Art of the Frame (2011)The Gilded Edge: The Art of the Frame (2000)
Antique American Frames: Identification and Price Guide 2nd Edition (1999) (with Mervyn Kaufman)
Antique American Frames: Identification and Price Guide (1995) (with Mervyn Kaufman)
The Art of the Frame: American Frames of the Arts and Crafts Period (1988)
Selected publications
Eli Wilner & Company has published over 100 articles on the period frame.Smeaton, Suzanne, “American Frames of the Arts and Crafts Period 1870-1920,” The Magazine Antiques, November 1989, pp. 1124–1137.
Smeaton, Suzanne, “Frames in Context,” Antiques and Fine Art, January/February 1991, Vol. VIII, No 2, pp110–117.
Smeaton, Suzanne ... “Within Gilded Borders: The Frames of Stanford White,” American Art, National Museum of American Art: Smithsonian Institution, Spring 1993.
Articles about Eli Wilner and the gallery have appeared in the New York Times, Forbes Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Art & Antiques Magazine, and many other notable publications. Eli has been featured in three different segments of Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Living is a magazine and a television show featuring entertaining and home decorating guru Martha Stewart. Both the magazine and the television program focus on the domestic arts. Martha Stewart Living began as a quarterly magazine in 1990, published by Time Inc..and is currently...
.