Preserving a Legacy: Conserving a Portrait of Marshall Field II
At The Conservation Center, we love hearing the stories our clients share about their artworks, and learning more about family histories. This was certainly true in the case of a portrait that was recently treated by our Painting Department. The sitter in the portrait is Marshall Field II, and the piece was brought to us for conservation treatment by his great-grandson, Marshall Field V.
Asafo Flags: A Stitch in Time
Hefner's Art Collection Lives On
Treasured Family Violin Treatment
Some of our favorite projects are ones rich in family history, like a violin our Furniture and Objects Department just finished working on this month. The violin, made by our client’s father, is a 1/4 size student instrument from Mittenwald, Germany, made between 1920 and 1930. The top is Sitka Spruce the neck ribs and back are of flamed maple.
It Takes a Team: Treating a Japanese Temple
Making sure that artworks live on for generations to come is among of our top priorities here at The Center. In many cases, achieving that means various departments have to play a part in ensuring that treatments go smoothly, and pieces are properly cared for throughout the conservation process. This is certainly true of a Japanese temple figure that recently came to the lab for treatment.
A Screen Sneak-Peak!
Good for the Sol: Conserving a LeWitt Sculpture
The Center’s conservators have become familiar with Lewitt’s work after conserving dozens of paintings, works on paper, and sculptural works by the artist. Our most recent interaction with the artist’s work was the treatment of his piece, “1 2 3 4 5 (Vertical),” a painted aluminum sculpture with a steel base.
The Delight of a Dubuffet
Seascape Escape
This sunny coastal scene was painted by Michalis Economou, a Greek artist who first learned painting techniques under the tutelage of Konstantinos Volanakis, also known as the “father of Greek seascape painting.” Although living in Paris for nearly 5 years, Economou’s oeuvre consists mainly of serene, rustic landscapes.
Gilded Brilliance: New Decorations for a Pair of 19th Century Frames
Truisms
A friend and long-time supporter of The Center recently brought in a piece to update its display. The artwork, which is composed of many individual artworks— plaques with various texts by Jenny Holzer— was to be rearranged and given new framing materials. The result is a work that is more cohesive and visually pleasing.
Great (Artist) Aunt Margaret
Many of us have things passed down from our family, maybe stuffed in boxes in the attic or basement, that are treasures to us. These treasures, though maybe not valuable in the eyes of the public (or art market), are priceless to us. “Everybody thinks their Great Aunt Margaret was a great artist,” said one of our clients. Yet sometimes, as that same client found out, it turns out to be true.
Brightening a Blanke Painting: Marie Blanke, Chicago Artist
A painting by early twentieth-century Chicago artist Marie Blanke was significantly brightened after a good cleaning and a fresh coat of varnish. The original canvas, which was deformed and brittle from age, was flattened with a combination of heat, suction, humidity, and weight techniques, and then strengthened by being lined to a prepared canvas. The painting was put back into its original frame, the miters of which were stabilized.
Hinge-Worthy: Updating the Hinges on a Mark Bradford Piece
Sometimes pieces arrive at The Center in good condition, but have inappropriate framing treatments. We are frequently asked to reframe art, or to provide solutions to address faulty framing. For instance, one piece came to us in great condition, it had simply slipped from its mount inside its frame. The piece was a mixed media work by Mark Bradford, an installation and conceptual artist from Los Angeles who had first experimented artistically in his mother’s hair salon, and now has pieces in museums around the world.
A Bright Future: Reviving a Frederick Douglass Print
Frederick Douglass changed the course of history with his powerful writing and moving speeches. An escaped slave, Douglass devoted his life to the abolition movement and even became involved in the movement for women’s rights. Douglass also published his own newsletter called the North Star and wrote numerous autobiographies.
Lester’s Legacy: A Book of Memories
The Center has conserved and digitally replicated everything from family albums, all types of journals, archives, letters, and rare or cultural materials that are irreplaceable. This story focuses on how The Center assisted a client with creating two digital and archival scrapbooks that documented the original material from personal memories and events. The custom made digital scrapbooks were then bound in leather with custom designed clam shell boxes for protection and safe handling. This is an example of how The Center continually strives to save, preserve, and protect works - whether a family heirloom or a rare work of art.
Transfixing and Tintorettesque
Art has the incredible ability to take hold of you, transfix you, and then transport you into another state of mind. That’s exactly what happens to one of our clients when he gazes at “The Trinity with the Virgin and Two Donors,” a painting attributed by one expert to Marten de Vos, a Flemish history painter and portraitist of the late 16th century.
A Greco-Roman Holiday
As the weather grows colder here in Chicago, we are constantly dreaming of our next getaway. One classic that captures our wanderlust is Audrey Hepburn’s “Roman Holiday.” Unfortunately, Rome is a little far, but luckily, we had the opportunity this month to watch the treatment of a Greco-Roman painting instead.
The Glessner House Piece
Last month we had the pleasure of hosting a private tour of our conservation laboratory and warehouse in collaboration with the Glessner House Museum. The museum previously brought us a ceramic piece from their collection that had shattered. When the tour came through in the first week of the month, the group was fortunately able to see the piece mid-treatment.
