Week #13 Conservation I

Still Life of Fruit before and after conservation.

Still Life of Fruit, 1938, oil on Masonite, 14 ¼” x 20 ¾” Conserved.

This month I want to shine a light on the wonder that is art conservation. So, we will share some of the many paintings that the Dusti Bongé Art Foundation has worked hard to return to good, stable condition, as part of our mission to promote Dusti Bongé’s legacy. And we are lucky to have been working with a most amazing team of conservators, Hirabayashi Studio.

Artworks, like anything else, including us humans, tend to deteriorate over the years: cracks start to appear, spots emerge where there were none before, careless moments lead to scars, etc., etc. Luckily, in the case of art, the subsequent fixes do not leave the new and improved version looking weirdly smooth, puffy, or perpetually surprised. Our before and after pictures are proof of this.

In the case of oil paintings there are various ways deterioration may occur. At the most basic level there are two kinds of potential problems with paintings as they age. One is the condition of the underlying canvas or board, and the second is the condition of the, possibly many, layers of paint. Considering the work goes through endless cycles of temperature and humidity changes, and is exposed daily to dust, grime, and light, you may well find that your once stunning work has become dull, brittle and unappealing. Enter conservation.

Here is a great example of one of Dusti’s early still life paintings from 1939, a simple arrangement of fruit, both in a bowl and on the table. In this small oil on Masonite, you can clearly see that there were several areas of paint loss around the red apples (or tomatoes?), as well as some other spots. Small chips of paint had flaked off the surface, simply due to age. You may also notice that the work looked slightly dull and flat. Once conserved, the areas of paint loss have been fixed, the colors are more vibrant again, and you can see the texture of the paint. Even the napkins look cleaner!

NOTE: Please forgive the glare on the second image, which, incidentally, does illustrate its refreshed brightness very well.