We successfully treated two paintings: both of which had experienced moisture damage to the extent that shrinkage of the canvas occurred, causing injury to the paint layer. In both cases, it was necessary to re-stretch the canvas in order to begin the restoration. There are several techniques to stretch canvas. However, when loosening of the paint and/or ground layers along cracks where the layers lift upward into peaks (a process called “tenting”) is evident, the most effective technique or method to us is the “Dutch Method”.
Light After Dark: Custom Frames in the Arts and Crafts Style
Vastly under appreciated for over half a century, the Arts and Crafts period is gleaning second looks from historians, collectors, and art enthusiasts- those who had previously discarded much of the original frames from that period in favor of the more popular, and often reproduction, French and English inspired frames. I think it is likely that many of the Artisans from the Arts and Crafts period would have been mortified to find their paintings in the very style of frame to which their frame had been created as a form of revolt! Today, this resurgence of interest in the Arts and Crafts ‘revolt’ has sparked a flame of curiosity and an endeavor to reunite paintings with original frames, or reproduction frames made to closely resemble the originals. Since so many of the original Arts and Crafts frames were routinely over-painted, stripped and refinished- or simply discarded- few original period frames of quality are extant. Therefore, to find an example of an original frame in a condition of any note is a rare find.
Conservation and Restoration of the Chevy Chase Sideboard
At the time of Hurricane Katrina, the Chevy Chase Sideboard lay in a warehouse, broken down for shipment and secured on pallets, awaiting transportation north. This journey was scheduled to occur in mere days when the contents of the entire building were inundated by a flood that swamped the entire ninth ward, as well as most of the city of New Orleans.
Treating a Work of Art on Paper: Richard Serra’a Oteiza
David Chandler, Chief Conservator of Works of Art on Paper, recently treated an etching by American contemporary minimalist sculptor and artist Richard Serra. The work, titled Oteiza, was bought to The Center with a rather large and unsightly scrape of grey latex paint across the upper left of the piece. The paint compromised both the printed and white paper areas.