More Than a Cardboard Box: Treating and Framing a Free Humanity Work
Thoughts on Varnish from a Conservator
Five Favorite Tools from our Furniture Laboratory
"Portrait of a Woman"
Lincoln’s Loveseat: Restoring a Historical “Courting Couch”
Love is in the air with Valentine’s Day this month, and we couldn’t think of a more suitable time to finish restoring Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln’s “Courting Couch” for The Springfield Art Association’s collection in Springfield, Illinois. Romantic sparks flew between the 16th U.S. president and his future First Lady, Mary Todd, right on this horsehair-upholstered sofa built in the 1830s. The Conservation Center revived an 180-year old loveseat and along the process, uncovered a lost piece of history hidden in the arm cavity.
Through The Eyes of Lincoln: A Very Special Pair of Opera Glasses
Located in the Land of Lincoln, The Conservation Center sees its fair share of memorabilia connected to the 16th President of the United States. Among various Lincoln memorabilia, in 2014 we had the honor of restoring the courting couch, the sofa on which a young Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd actually sat throughout their courtship in the home of Mary’s sister, Elizabeth. So when a Lincoln relic causes our conservators to stop in awe, rest assured it is a truly special item.
Six Degrees of Abraham Lincoln: A Historic Mirror Stored at The Conservation Center
While The Conservation Center is well known for its fine art conservation capabilities, additional expert services are offered as well. One of our clients, Martha Manning, has become quite familiar with the work that The Center provides, having many of her cherished art and heirloom pieces treated here over the years. As she explains, "I collect objects. I love them whether they are simple or ornate, I love the their accompanying stories and I love preserving them." But when Martha moved from her old home with sky-high ceilings into a 14th floor apartment in a mid-rise building, she was struck with a conundrum. A gigantic gilt mirror that had been in the family for generations would no longer fit in her home, and with such a rich backstory, she knew she couldn't give it up just yet.
A Note on Abraham Lincoln from Mark B. Pohlad, Ph.D
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) is considered one of this country’s greatest presidents. He has been called America’s first citizen and Illinois’ favorite son. Of course, Lincoln’s words and actions — the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation, for example — are surely history-defining. But the objects associated with him are also crucially important for understanding his world, for experiencing his time, and for recovering his very person.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
The Center is proud to have treated objects from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary! For more stories about Lincoln, you can explore their website or follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Once the museum reopens, they’ll be able to welcome their five millionth visitor!
Kerry James Marshall's "Ipso Facto"
In 2016, The Center had the pleasure of working on a personal piece for Kerry James Marshall titled Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness and we were very honored when the artist gave us the opportunity to work on another piece from his personal collection. “Ipso Facto” is a painting executed on two plywood panels joined together with batons and screws. The diptych is primed and painted with what appears to be moderately applied acrylic. Both panels depict a figure’s rear. The left panel is painted in white, with various colors playfully peeking through the brush strokes, and the other is painted in black surrounded by small white flowers with intimate red and green details. The piece is unvarnished and while unsigned, the painting is characteristic of Marshall’s work.
The Colorful World of an Ebony G. Patterson Piece
Architectural Drawings by Jeanne Gang
Studio Gang is a widely recognized and respected architecture firm with offices in Chicago and New York. They are responsible for many worldly structures, including local Chicago icons, the Aqua Tower and Northerly Island. The Conservation Center is honored to have collaborated with Studio Gang on the design of our state-of-the-art conservation facility.
Treating a Tony Tasset Sculpture
Tony Tasset, though born and raised in Cincinnati, has developed deep roots in Chicago and is a recognized artist in the Chicago art world. After Tasset moved to Chicago to earn his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1986, he has been actively producing art for the city to enjoy. Chicago residents and tourists alike might remember some of his public sculptures, such as the giant, 30’ tall eyeball sculpture in the Loop, the colorful storage-container sculpture from Grant Park that was transferred to the University of Illinois at Chicago campus where the artist now teaches, or the giant sculpture of a deer on the city’s newly-renovated Riverwalk showcased just last year.
Hello Pretty "Yellow Lady": Shedding Light on an Ed Paschke Painting
Well before Matt Groening’s Marge Simpson character became pop icon, artist Ed Paschke (1939–2004) created his own version of a Yellow Lady in 1969. In the same way that the bizarre appearances and situations as depicted in “The Simpsons” comment on pop culture, Paschke’s manipulations of mass media aim to do the same. The technicolor tones and flat background aim to dissociate the woman from her body and her surroundings; the addition of the admiring man takes on the role of the consumer and the viewer, aiming to make the voyeur uncomfortable. While only minor conservation was needed for this vibrant painting, the private collector knew very little about its history, causing us to reach out to the Ed Paschke Foundation and even the artist’s daughter, Sharon Paschke. Neither was familiar of the piece’s existence, and Sharon, especially, was excited to see a new example of her father’s early work. In order to discover more about this very special Yellow Lady, we studied the canvas under ultraviolet light and found some surprising details. With these new findings, The Conservation Center was able to shed new light on this painting for its owner as well as the Paschke family.
"Mess is Less": Roger Brown's Unique Multimedia Piece
Though Roger Brown was born in Alabama and split his time between homes in Chicago, Michigan, and California, the Windy City always held a special place in his heart. Brown moved to Chicago in 1962 to attend the American Academy of Art, where he completed a commercial design program. Brown then enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he received his BFA in 1968 and MFA in 1970. During this time, Brown and his colleagues (many of whom would become part of the group known as the Chicago Imagists) began to nurture an appreciation for self-taught artists, seeing them not as “outsider” artists, but as worthy of respect and inclusion into the mainstream art world. This, coupled with his travels throughout the United States, Africa, Europe, and Russia, had a profound influence on Brown’s art. Though his works are often bright and simple in composition, the artist’s practice frequently presents a darkly satirical view of contemporary life and American culture.
EBONY Books, a Theaster Gates Collection
Chicago artist Theaster Gates acquired several volumes of historical EBONY magazines through a donation from the Johnson Publishing Corporation. The magazines were bound into several volumes that are currently housed and displayed at the Stony Island Arts Bank, an iconic building located in Chicago’s South Side that Gates purchased for the Rebuild Foundation . The Rebuild Foundation is a not-for-profit that focuses on redevelopment and neighborhood revitalization to engage artistic practice within the community.
Charles White: A Retrospective
Charles White, born and educated in Chicago, was one of the preeminent artists to emerge during the city’s Black Renaissance of the 1930’s and 1940’s. This year, White’s hometown is recognizing his contribution to the portrayal of African American culture and history with a retrospective of the artist’s paintings, drawings, and prints at the Art Institute of Chicago. After being on display in Chicago from now until September, the exhibition will travel on to New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Los Angeles’ County Museum of Art. Given the current recognition White is receiving locally, we were honored to also find ourselves interacting with the artist’s powerful work at the same time it was on display at the Art Institute.
Time Capsule Reveal at Rush University Medical Center
The Conservation Center recently worked with Rush University Medical Center's archivist Nathalie Wheaton to unveil the contents of several time capsules recovered on Rush's campus during an excavation in August.
The time capsules dated back more than a century, and were recovered from the cornerstones of Presbyterian Hospital's Daniel A. Jones Memorial Building, Rush Medical College's Senn Hall, and Rawson Laboratory. Materials inside the capsules ranged from the 1800s to 1924, and The Center worked with Rush to remove and document the contents inside two of the three recovered capsules.
Farnsworth House Wardrobe Damaged by Flood Waters Restored at The Center
The Farnsworth House located in Plano, Illinois experienced a devastating flood in 2008. The Conservation Center was contacted and our team was sent to safely remove the wardrobe during restoration of the house. It remained secure in our fine art storage facility until conservation treatment was approved.
