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Matting, Mounting and Framing Art
Max Hyder
Matting, Mounting and Framing Art is Max Hyder's practical handbook for anyone who wants to frame their own artwork or photographs to professional standards. Published by Watson-Guptill in 1986, it's a clear, hands-on guide through the whole process: choosing and cutting mats, the differences among frames and materials, wet and dry mounting methods, and specialized touches like fabric-covered mats and gold leafing. Hyder lays out the tools and raw materials plainly and illustrates the techniques with worked examples, so a motivated beginner can follow along. It's a workshop manual rather than a design treatise—the emphasis is on getting clean, archival-minded results—and it has served artists, photographers, and hobby framers well for decades. For anyone tired of paying framing-shop prices, or who simply enjoys doing careful handwork, it's a useful and confidence-building reference.
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The author
Max Hyder is an artist and author who wrote this guide out of practical framing experience, aiming it at fellow artists and photographers rather than at professional framers alone.
The book
Published by Watson-Guptill in 1986, Matting, Mounting and Framing Art is a step-by-step manual covering mats and their cutting, frame types and materials, wet and dry mounting, and specialized treatments such as fabric-covered mats and gold leafing. It surveys the tools and materials and demonstrates techniques through examples.
How to read it
As a workbench reference. The value is in the specifics—how to cut a clean bevel, which mounting method suits which piece—so it rewards keeping near the work rather than reading straight through.
For more context
Pairs with more recent guidance on archival, conservation-grade framing materials, which have advanced since the 1980s.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Max Hyder
- Publisher
- Watson-Guptill
- Year
- 1986
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Craft & How-to
- Location
- Maine