PHS featured in ARTIST PROFILE magazine.
18 July 2008
Artist Profile is an innovative new quarterly magazine that profiles our leading artists and rising art stars. The magazine features intimate studio portraits that document leading artists, young talent and their working environments.
Featured in this issue is the history of the picture hanging system, the magazine goes on sale 18th July 2008.
It is some time in the late 1870s. Theo van Gogh, manager of Goupil’s Gallery in Paris, thinks there must be a better way of hanging the next exhibition than screwing each painting to the wall.
One evening, in a bar just off Place Pigalle, he meets an old friend, Jean Boyer, a technician and picture hanger. “Hello Jean, long time no see. I’m supposed to be meeting my brother, Vincent, here but he’s a bit unreliable,” says Theo, “he has ideas of being an artist – only he’s hopeless really.”
Over a Pastis, Theo outlines his problem at work. “It just so happens,” says Jean, “that I have been working on an idea to use brass rods with some sort of hooks that slide up and down. The idea is to use two, one each side of the picture.”
By 1879, Maison Boyer has been established as a business. The brass rods have evolved into a workable system, Goupil has given Theo a pay rise and he has more time to spend in the pub after work. [We can’t guarantee that every word of this is true – but it makes a nice story.]
Soon the owners of galleries and chateaux all over France were using Boyer’s system to hang their paintings and before long, so were the public collection galleries.
In 1982, Boyer was looking for a distributor of their products in the United Kingdom. A one-man picture framer took up the idea and eventually his business evolved into Picture Hanging Systems Ltd. They introduced this century-old technology to the British public and it was immediately taken up by major galleries and serious art collectors.
An enquiry from an architect working on a project for The Tate Gallery made it clear that there was a need for a more modern version of Boyer’s idea. Their designer’s first reaction was 'surely we could design something better than that,’ it looked so old fashioned, but that was part of its charm and of course, it worked. They had to accept that its age demanded respect. So they turned their creative talents to designing a completely different, alternative.
The result of this is the Avanti System, a hightech, wall-mounted rail with either clear nylon or stainless steel cables and fully adjustable hooks. This was later joined by the Locator System.
Luke Norman worked for the parent Company in the UK before he decided in 2003 to settle in Brisbane, where he has established Picture Hanging Systems Pty Ltd.
In the UK, Luke was a key member of staff. As such he was responsible for redesigning the Company’s manufacturing and assembly facilities. The result of which is that several processes which had previously been subcontracted are now carried out ‘in house’. He was also instrumental in developing a system of free-standing display panels, for temporary exhibitions, with a built-in hanging rail. These have proved extremely successful in the UK and plans are underway to produce them in Australia in the near future. The range of lighting will also be increased to include individual picture lights and the Locator Hanging & Lighting System.
Advice, to gallery owners, art consultants or private individuals, in the form of a personal visit if necessary, is available within the Brisbane area as is an installation service. In other areas, a network of ‘Approved Installers’ is being established. They will also be qualified to give advice.
Picture Hanging Systems are the manufacturers of The Avanti System, here in Australia, accredited Distributors of Stas products for Australia and the sole Distributors of Maison Boyer products for Australia and New Zealand.
