Hi Greg

Thanks for your replies.

Just a point of clarification. I was not claiming that “frames are ordinary things to be found anywhere”. Rather the reverse. I was claiming that the use of the frame for visual art is associated with a specific period of European art history (very roughly, 1600 to 1900) and that it is not a general feature of art worldwide, or even of European art before and after that period. Where the frame is concerned, Europe has been very much the exception, not part of a general rule. That’s why I said that those theorists (Derrida etc) who place such emphasis on the frame (and sometimes batten on Las Meninas as a result) are, whether they know it or not, being very parochial in their approach to art.

I think it’s possible to give a persuasive explanation of why the frame emerged when it did, and died when it did, but I won’t launch into that here.

On the general question of “higher order thoughts” I must confess to a certain scepticism – both about what they are (I think any definition is likely to be very questionable) and also about whether frames might generate them. 

DA