Conserving Outdoor Sculpture: Big Sweep by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Part 2 of 2
In part one of this series, we discussed assessing what needed to be done to conserve Big Sweep by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.
In part one of this series, we discussed assessing what needed to be done to conserve Big Sweep by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.
The successful conservation of the sedan chair now on display in Court to Café relied on a collaborative approach with conservators providing expertise in the treatment of furniture, objects, paintings, and textiles. As presented in Part 1 of this blog, the leather, paintings, and textile components of the sedan chair all needed attention. The goal of the treatment was to stabilize and visually integrate these elements through minimal treatment and using stable and reversible conservation materials, as required by conservation ethics.
In August, a conservation project on the sculpture Big Sweep was completed. Big Sweep was designed by artists Coosje van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg, who worked closely with fabricator Carlson & Co. to realize the sculpture in its final form.
Court to Café, part of the Passport to Paris exhibition, includes eight period decorative arts pieces from the Denver Art Museum’s own collections—seven furniture items and one mantle clock. When conservators examined the objects several months before the exhibition to determine if they needed treatment prior to display, they were pleased to note that the objects were in fairly good condition, requiring only minimal cleaning and some other minor and localized treatment.
Also part of the TEFAF was the conservation of the painting’s frame. The frame is "period," meaning stylistically it is of similar age as that of the painting, but not original to our Canaletto. This is not surprising since frames, historically, were not really perceived as works of art themselves and, indeed, the idea of placing a higher value on the “package” of both the painting and its original frame is a relatively new concept. Our frame is constructed of wood with hand-carved elements originally gilded using water and oil gilding techniques.
Canaletto Overall.jpg
The New World department has a comprehensive display of pre-Columbian artifacts from Central, Meso-, and South America located in the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Study Gallery of Pre-Columbian Art on Level 4 of the North Building. Objects in this space are made of clay (ceramics), metals, wood, and stone and served a utilitarian, decorative and religious/spiritual purpose. Often, all three functions were rolled into one.
The idea of reversibility is a very important concept in modern conservation practice. I chose materials with good and known aging characteristics, understanding that my work may need to be removed and/or redone, in the future. It is important that my conservation treatments are reversible. I know that the adhesive I chose to bond the original and lining canvases could be separated in the future and will not cause further harm to the artwork.
Now that I’ve reduced the distracting bumps caused by the previous lining adhesive, I must now re-line the picture to another auxiliary canvas support. I was hoping not to have to re-line the picture, but it was not possible to locally mend the tear since the fibers along the tear edges were too frayed and weak.
It’s now time to move onto the structural phase of the conservation treatment for the Canaletto work. Structural work entails further securing of any loose media, such as paint or ground, and any repairs if necessary to the canvas and stretcher. Our Canaletto was lined in the past, which means that the original canvas was adhered to a secondary canvas. There are a variety of reasons historically why paintings were lined, but in the case of the Canaletto it was most likely due to the tear in the original canvas.
After many hours and consultations with Timothy, cleaning is complete. I am always amazed at how much more one sees of a picture once the discolored varnish is removed—subtle details in the composition become visible and the picture's overall sense of depth is enhanced.
I’ve been cleaning the Canaletto, taking my Q-tips to the surface and gently removing all of the restorer-applied discolored varnish and overpaint. Upon removal of some overpaint, an area discussed in our earlier video post, I discovered a turret, or tower. This is a pretty exciting discovery. While it doesn't make a lot of visual sense in the context of the painting, it is nevertheless interesting and makes one wonder if it was overpainted in the first place because it didn't work or if there was some other reason.
It's likely you have a photograph, painting, illustrated card, or drawing that just doesn't look the same as it did when you first brought it home. Heck, you probably have a shirt that isn't as bright as it once was and maybe there's a stain or two on it reminding you of a not-so-graceful moment. The world is a tough place and the effects of temperature, light, water/humidity, and other humans mark us and our things without fail.