William Justema Part I - His Biography

I first became aware of William Justema during my research for ‘Crossing the Threshold: The Frames of Florine Stettheimer’. (American Art, Summer 2025 39:2)

Among the Stettheimer Papers at Yale’s Beinecke Library is a 3-page typewritten letter from 1938 signed simply ‘Billy’. The return address does not specify the name of the sender. The letter is a defense of his frame designs in response to an apparent accusation from Stettheimer that he had plagiarized her original frames. Eventually I was able to identify ‘Billy’ as William Justema. It was an interesting journey into the artistic milieu of the 1930’s, his association with Carl Van Vechten and his occasional attendance of the salon of the Stettheimer sisters.

I discuss the encounter between Stettheimer and Justema in American Art and endeavor here to offer more information about Justema, his life, and his frame designs than the article allowed. In a magical serendipity I learned during my research that Justema’s frame sketches and the prototype models for his frame designs have survived and can be fabricated. [1] (These are discussed in the Part II blogpost about Justema and his frame designs.)

William Justema (1905—1987) worked in design throughout his life. Born in Chicago, he moved with his family to Los Angeles while in his teens and soon became a close friend of the photographer Margrethe Mather, with whom he collaborated on photos. When they first met, Mather was closely associated with photographer Edward Weston until he left for Mexico with Tina Modotti. [2]

Figure 1: Justema approximately age 17, photographed by Margrethe Mather, c.1922

He studied painting in the San Francisco area with Stanton MacDonald-Wright and Xavier Martinez. While in San Francisco around 1929-31 Justema worked as an “all around painter-decorator at M.H .de Young Museum which was being refurbished at the time.” During this time he was able to persuade the museum director Lloyd Rollins to show Mather’s work and he created a small exhibition of their collaborative photographs entitled ‘Patterns In Photography” that opened in July, 1931. (Many of these images are included in his book Pattern: A Historical Panorama (1976), New York Graphic Society, Boston, MA.) 

Figure 2: Justema with calla lilies, photographed by Margrethe Mather, c.1922

Originally studying painting, in the 1930s Justema focused on frame design. He worked first in San Francisco, California for the Couvoisier Gallery. As early as September 1930 a note in the San Francisco Examiner describes an exhibition of crayon drawings by Justema on view at the Courvoisier Gallery and notes “the plain silvered frame, made by the artist, forms part of the composition.” In the early 1930s he made his first trip to New York and continued to travel between Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York for the next ten years.

Figure 3: Justema in New York City, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, March 4, 1937. Carl Van Vechten Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, MSS 1050.

In the mid-to-late 1930s he worked with the F .H. Newcomb Company in New York to produce and market a line of unusual frame designs. It was during this time that he had a space within the Julian Levy Gallery on East 57th Street as a show space for these frames. The effort appears short-lived; in May 1939 he would write to Carl Van Vechten that he would be leaving New York to take a position as a “sculptor-designer with a big display fixture-and-figure factory in Canton, Ohio” and that ‘this showroom is to be mine no more”.   World War II soon exerted itself and Justema enlisted in 1942.  Serving in the Army 1942-1944 he wrote poetry and published ‘Private Papers: Poems of An Army Year” in 1944. 

By 1951 after a 4 month trip to Italy, Justema seems to turn away from frame design and New York and would live in Salem, Oregon and San Francisco for the rest of his life.

Figure 4: Justema in San Francisco, c.1980. Photograph by Judy Dater.

It was in Oregon that Justema met and married his wife Doris Bowman (1905-1977) in 1953. Ultimately devoting himself to pattern, and textile and wallpaper design, he wrote three books on pattern, ornament, and color theory in the ensuing years: The Pleasures of Pattern (1968); Weaving and Needlecraft Color Course (with Doris Justema), (1971); and Pattern: A Historical Panorama (1976).

Justema died in San Francisco, January 1987. [3]

For a discussion of the frame designs Justema marketed in New York City in the 1930’s see the following blogpost ‘William Justema Part II- His Frames’

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[1] Several years ago, as a frame company was closing their business, Chip Doyle of Cincinnati, Ohio presciently rescued samples and archival materials otherwise destined for the trash. Among the materials are the samples and sketches by Justema for his frame designs from the 1930’s. It is due to Chip’s generosity that I was able to examine, study and photograph these materials.

[2] Justema wrote a lengthy essay about Margrethe Mather for the Center For Creative Photography, The University of Arizona, Tucson journal (Number 11, December 1979). A memoir of his friendship and time with Mather, the article offers extensive information regarding his own pursuits during the same time.

[3] Interestingly, Justema’s January 9, 1987 obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle states that Justema “spent several years as a monk in a monastery in Oregon”. In conversation with the librarian at the Mount Angel Abbey in Saint Benedict Oregon I have learned that Justema was never a monk. That said, he was a resident artist at the abbey and organized a highly successful religious art exhibit there that was covered by the Capital Journal of Salem, Oregon February 10, 1954.

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William Justema Part II - The frames

As noted in Part I it is thanks to the foresight of Chip Doyle that informative archival materials documenting Justema’s effort to market a line of his frame designs in New York still exist.

 Justema worked with the company F. H. Newcomb in the late 1930s as well as the Newcomb Macklin Company in 1941. [1] An undated sales brochure from the F.J. Newcomb Company in New York (FIG 1) asserts “At present there are nearly thirty different Justema designs. Each may be had in various widths and combinations and in an almost unlimited range of finishes.” While the claim may be accurate, I have been unable to identify thirty different designs- just the 13 noted below.

 The aim of this post is primarily to make the material known. (If you wish further information on any of them, please contact me directly.) Eight of the frames are named after notable artists: the Cezanne, the Derain, the Dufy, the Laurencin, the Matisse, the Picasso, the Renoir and the Van Gogh. As the images show, Justema had detailed notes for each design and suggestions for what artworks they would be well suited for and desirable finishes.

FIG 1 - FJ Newcomb Justema brochure

FIG 2 - Cezanne sketch and sample

FIG 3 - Derain sketch and sample

FIG 4 - Derain molding as a table

FIG 5 - Dufy frame samples

FIG 6 - Dufy sketch

FIG 7 - Laurencin sketch and sample

FIG 8 - Matisse sketch and sample

FIG 9 - Picasso sketch and sample

FIG 10 - Renoir samples

FIG 11 - Renoir sketch

FIG 12 - Van Gogh sketch and sample

 The remaining five are named alluding to the actual design- the Running Drape (not illustrated), the Camelia — a tondo mirror frame (not illustrated), the Sphere Corner (not illustrated), and the friendship frame (FIG 13 and 14) and the Banked Corner (FIG 15).

FIG 13 - Friendship Frame sample

FIG 14 - Friendship frame sketch

FIG 15 - Banked corner sketch with sample

 We also know that Justema sought patents for his designs. (See the patent for his Picasso design below.) Interestingly, I have thus far been unable to locate an extant frame in any of his designs. Should you know of one, please do let me know.

FIG 16 - Patent app design

 As discussed in my essay on Florine Stettheimer’s frames in the journal American Art (Summer 2025 39:2) Justema was adamant that his designs were his own and that he had not plagiarized her (or even been inspired by her frames). That said, his Dufy, Picasso and Renoir designs all have a striking similarity to the style of the frame that she designed for her Cathedral Series beginning in 1928. (FIGS 17 and 18). What do you think?

FIG 17 - Stettheimer Cathedrals of Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

FIG 18 - Stettheimer Cathedrals Frame Detail

It is especially ironic that Justema’s Dufy ‘pie crust’ design became a style offered by APF Framemakers many years ago surprisingly known as the ‘Stettheimer.’

FIG 19 - APF Stettheimer design

[1] The relationship between F. H. Newcomb and the Newcomb-Macklin Company of Chicago and New York is one that warrants further research as they do appear as separate entities in New York City directories for many of the same years. It was Newcomb-Macklin that became more widely known during the 19-teens and 20s having started in Chicago then adding a factory and showroom in New York City and a work force of salesmen that traveled the country and cultivated business, especially with the Taos School in New Mexico.

Framing John Marin

Originally published in Notes from a Visiting Scholar, Fall 2020, Menconi+Schoelkopf

American modernist John Marin (1870-1953) explored the role of frames and his artwork extensively throughout his career. Marin both incorporated them figuratively within his compositions and utilized them literally to enhance and enclose his artworks. Marin was educated in engineering and practiced as an architect throughout the 1890’s, a perspective that surely informed his artistic practice and frame choices. Early simple frames that surround many of his early watercolors were finished in nuanced shades of white and others were gilded in tones of silver. Later in his career, from the 1930’s onward, Marin created surprising, unusual frames, some modest wood profiles that he painted with patterns and colors related to the artwork and others that included driftwood and other found materials.  These later frames by themselves may seem humble and unsophisticated, yet when united with Marin’s artworks, they add dramatic and compelling visual interest.

We are fortunate to know a great deal about Marin’s framing practices. Two publications in particular devote valuable attention to Marin’s frames. The first is Ruth E. Fine’s book John Marin of 1990. In addition to her discussion of Marin’s frames [1], many of Marin’s artworks are illustrated in color in their original frames throughout the book. The second book John Marin’s Watercolors: A Medium for Modernism includes a chapter that details the thorough investigation and analysis of the framing treatments on seventeen Marin watercolors and two oils spanning the years 1914-1947; retaining their original framing treatments [2], most had been gifted to the museum in 1949 by Georgia O’Keeffe as the executrix of the Estate of Alfred Stieglitz. 

Marin’s early frames were made by George F. Of a frame shop founded by George F. Of, Sr. [3]. George F. Of, Jr. (1876-1954), an artist in his own right, worked in his father’s shop as a boy and took over the business upon the death of his father in 1905 [4]. Alfred Stieglitz had been working with George F. Of at least by 1902 - the inaugural issue of Camera Work from January 1903 contains a banner ad for George F. Of that lists the address 3 East 28th Street; in the same issue under ‘Some News Things Worth Looking Into’ it notes “The new store of Geo. F. Of, whose framing of photographs has added to the admiration expressed for many of the American prints.” It was from the 28th Street address that in 1915 Of relocated to 274 Madison Avenue (between 39th & 40th Streets), much closer to Stieglitz’s Gallery 291 located at Madison Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets.

Fig 1 Step frame profiles. Courtesy Menconi + Schoelkopf

Fig 2 Replicating the George Of white frames of the period, translucent washes of blue, green, and gray have been applied to this reproduction white frame on Little Fir Tree, Deer Isle, 1921. Courtesy Menconi + Schoelkopf

Among several profiles that Marin favored in the 1910’s were several iterations of  ‘step’ frames. (Fig 1) Often finished in silver leaf, these are frequently seen on Marin watercolors and paintings. Interestingly, in addition to the more well-known silver-gilded frames, there are a number of other original Of frames that are finished in white. Not just any white- as detailed in the Chicago book, Of utilized a variety of surface treatments where white enamel paint has been modified by the use of specific colors underneath and also translucent washes of blue, green and gray on the outside (sometimes added by Marin himself) that speak directly to the colors in each individual watercolor. (Fig 2)

An invoice [5] from Of to Stieglitz shown in the Chicago book for the ‘Marin account’ enumerates many different frames ordered with drawings of their profiles and notes regarding their finishes that include both silver leaf and ‘cool white enamel’. The framemaker’s invoice is on letterhead listing the address ‘274 Madison Avenue’ but this has been marked out and a stamp at left shows the shop has relocated to 126 West 57th Street. This tells us that the invoice is from July 1926 or later when city records list Of at the new address. These addresses and their corresponding dates illuminate how long Marin chose to use certain frame profiles and finishes.

Working with Menconi + Schoelkopf to effectively frame a number of Marin artworks has offered fascinating opportunities. Marin’s Weehawken Series, executed 1910-1916, and comprised of about 100 oil paintings all in small formats (12” X 8”, 14” X 10”, etc.) range from abstraction to figuration and employ dazzling color and brushwork. When asked to propose a frame for a significant group of the series I immediately thought of the range of ‘step frames’ that Marin and other artists used during these years and beyond. This approach honors Marin’s early frame choices and stylistically situates them in the early teens when they were painted. 

Fig 3 Detail of a silver leaf Weehawken Sequence frame. Courtesy Menconi + Schoelkopf

Fig 4 A framed Weehawken Sequence painting. Courtesy Menconi + Schoelkopf

After considering several iterations we settled on a step profile 3” wide, with the primary wide flat closest to the opening of the frame. (Fig 3) The nuance of any surface, whether painted or gilded, is critical to a successful frame treatment and this is especially true when framing art of the early 20th Century. We settled on silver leaf that was then toned with a translucent colored wash that complemented the paintings. The result was just right. (Fig 4)

Fig 5 Before and after reframing of Street Movement, Nassau Street, No. 1. Courtesy Menconi + Schoelkopf

Fig 6 Light silver leaf finish and silver finish with a carefully toned wash. Courtesy Menconi + Schoelkopf

Another example illustrating the importance of the finish was the reframing of  Street Movement, Nassau Street, No. 1 of 1936. The drawing/watercolor had been framed in a reproduction of an early Marin profile but was finished in a warm yellow gilding with no mat. Both the warm tones of the gold and the compressed border around the image constrained the overall effect. Instead, a narrow mat, in a color more congruent with the color of paper that grounds the image, was added and a less-wide style of step frame was chosen that employs one wide, recessed frieze - a simple profile that provides the perfect foil to the dynamic energy of Marin’s drawing of downtown New York City. (Fig 5) In this case, although still using silver leaf, the finish was carefully toned with a wash that gave the surface a darker, pewter shade that is supportive of the darker tones in the composition and still retains the elegant luster of a gilded surface. (Fig 6)

Marin’s later frames are remarkable for their inventiveness and originality. Marin made use of several different profiles for his later frames. Some were simple, others more complex. Some with painted surfaces to match the compositions and others chip-carved and embellished with shapes and lines that reinforced the same features in his artworks. In his eighties Marin remarked “If I were younger, I’d plunge into sculpture, but my frame-making will have to satisfy my sculptural urges” [6]. 

One such example is the frame original to Movement in Red and Grey No. 1 of 1949. (Fig 7) By leaving most of the wood surface in its natural state the warm tones speak directly to the colors in the composition. Further grounding the artwork within its surround Marin has painted all four inner sections of the frame with a central passage of the same pale grey in the composition and asserted the edges with a black calligraphic line that echoes those within. (Fig 8)

Fig 7 Movement in Red and Grey No. 1 in its original frame from 1949. Courtesy Menconi + Schoelkopf

Fig 8 Detail of original frame showing pale gray and black calligraphic lines. Courtesy Menconi + Schoelkopf

While striking in their effect and clearly a component of the artist’s aesthetic vision many of the frames made by Marin were removed from his artworks over previous decades.  As early as 1963 framer Henry Heydenryk remarked on the practice of artists painting their frames and noted that Marin had done so “…so forcefully and assiduously that the coloring and patterns on the frame became too dominant for the painting in it. Many owners have replaced his frames with more restrained, more neutral moldings” [7].

Fig 9 Movement: Sea Played with Boat Motive, 1947, in one of Marin’s original driftwood frames. Courtesy Menconi + Schoelkopf

Happily, some of these frames have survived and were acquired by Menconi+Schoelkopf  so that they could be repatriated with Marin artworks. One such example is the marriage of Movement: Sea Played with Boat Motive, 1947 with one of Marin’s ‘driftwood’ frames. (Fig 9) The frame is narrow and anchored by corners painted in blue; narrow lengths of driftwood are affixed to each frame section with unapologetically visible screws. Each inner corner contains an ‘L’ shaped bit of coarse wood that is scored with a undulant line much like those on the canvas.  Though not original to this particular artwork the match is not only successful but revelatory-a telling example of the transformation affected by the use of the artist-made frame. 

Marin artworks embraced by Marin frames become something more, calling to mind the 1937 observation by critic Ralph Flint, “He has done a neat trick in framing…in an arrangement of weathered strips picked off the beach in Cape Split…a frame that will have its place in present-day Americana as sure as collectors are collectors” [8].

NOTES

1. Fine, Ruth E., John Marin, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, 1990. 201–207
2. Tedeschi, Martha and Kristi Daum et. al., John Marin’s Watercolors: A Medium for Modernism, The Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Press, 2010. 58–77
3. George Ferdinand Of, Sr. (unknown birthdate-d.1905) immigrated to the US from Germany in 1867 and founded the shop in New York in 1873.
4. Of Jr. studied at the Art Students League for five years beginning in 1893 and spent a year with Abbott Thayer on his Dublin, NH farm in 1900. Later that year Of, Jr. accompanied the Thayer family to Italy and visited relatives in Germany, studied briefly in Munich and Paris and returned to courses at the League. Of, Jr.’s paintings were championed by many including Walter Pach though it seems that the demands of running a successful frame shop limited his career as a painter.
5. Alfred Stieglitz/Georgia O’Keeffe Archive, Yale Collection of American Literature Bienecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven Connecticut.
6. Gertrude Benson, “82 Year Old Man Tells Artist’s Credo,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 6, 1952.
7. The Art and History of Frames, Henry Heydenryk, James H. Heineman, Inc. 1963, pg 98.
8. Ralph Flint “John Marin Blazes New Trails,” The New York Sun, 6–16, 1937.