Preserving Art for the Future

05/31/2007

By Andrew Seguin, The Chapin School

Art is most often an act of creation, but the current display in Chapin's art case reminds us that there is also an art to preserving that creation. The materials in the exhibit focus on the restoration and conservation of paintings.

Photographs of three paintings illustrate the artworks' appearances before and after restoration. In one photograph, a damaged portrait of a young woman by Lois Lang lacks definition: The woman's hand blends amorphously into her dress, the dress's folds are invisible and there is a greenish cast to the entire painting. But with restoration, the hand again becomes a hand, and the warmth of the woman's skin returns.

Another set of photographs shows a well-known Venetian cityscape by Canaletto. Before the work was restored, the clouds depicted in its sky could hardly be discerned, and the sky itself was not the deep blue expected of a clear afternoon. After, it's as if a veil has been lifted, revealing the brilliant sky Canaletto must have been inspired to paint. It raises the question: How many great works of art are similarly veiled?

The number may be higher than we think; as the accompanying text explains, art conservation is a relatively young field. "The conservation of art became established as a profession after the disastrous floods in Florence in November 1966, when so many extraordinary works of art were irreparably damaged." It continues: "Prior to that time, there were some conservation schools, but it was not a profession and was mostly taught by apprenticeship." There are now three graduate programs in art conservation in the United States.

The range of knowledge required for the profession - art history, studio art and chemistry - is evident in the vials of pigments and cleaning solvents included in the display, as well as in the tools used in conservation: brushes, a spatula, scalpels and a burnisher for gilding gold leaf. A conservator must match an artist's touch with a scientist's foresight to be sure that, for example, the clouds they help to reappear do not make other parts of the painting disappear. It's a difficult business, and it's not limited to relics of the past - art made with modern materials presents its own unique challenges. Regardless, conservators work to ensure that art has a future.

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