Thursday, May 13, 2010
Wooden Artifacts Morning Session, 8:30am – 10:00am
The 1855 Restoration of a 16th Century French Dressoir
Joseph Godla, Conservator, The Frick Collection
Better late than never. At least that’s what I’m hoping for, as I post this one week after the talks were given. And I was almost 10 minutes late to this first talk of the morning wooden artifacts session on Thursday, May 13. In my defense, a lack of laptop/internet and Milwaukee traffic are to blame, in that order. And perhaps a deficiency of coffee…
But, I digress. The first talk that morning was given by Joseph Godla and was entitled “The 1855 Restoration of a 16th Century French Dressoir.” When I arrived, Mr. Godla was discussing the history of a French Dressoir belonging to the Frick collection. It was clear that the piece was popular as it had been published at least a dozen times in the last hundred years. The dressoir was last owned by Mr. Henry Clay Frick and is now a part of the Frick Collection. An interesting historical side note was that the dealer who sold Mr. Frick the piece actually sold it before the dealer himself had purchased the piece.
An early restoration campaign dated to 1855 is known from documents accompanying the piece. At that time losses were infilled; however, these were kept to a minimum and replacements to the piece were very conservative. Mr. Godla went on to discuss a letter he had received during his research from someone who stated they “had one just like it.” After Mr. Godla went to see this piece he concluded that it was fairly similar in style, but the dimensions were unique in that they were identical. This led Mr. Godla to believe that the maker of this piece had the Frick piece in their possession.
An additional interesting bit of information was presented as Mr. Godla showed an image of an inscription that was found in the dressoir. It is obscured by pressure points and a scuff mark, but it gives a date of 1574 and a yet unidentified signature.
An informative question and answer session followed which gave the audience some insight into how the dressoir was taken apart – including the back, which Mr. Godla stated was digitally removed.
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The Treatment of a Carved and Painted Buffet by Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard
Julie Simek, Associate Paintings Conservator, Kuniej Berry Associates
As a fan of Paul Gauguin, I was very excited to see the title of this talk and intrigued to find out more about the buffet. I had never previously heard about Gauguin or Bernard creating furniture and I was interested to see if the two-dimensional style they are known for would translate into a furniture piece, or if it would be completely different from anything I’ve seen by them.
The first part of Ms. Simek’s talk covered the history of Bernard and Gauguin’s partnership. It was a well matched pairing as both were interested in broad areas of color and they heavily influenced each other, as is evident in their paintings. Gauguin is credited with teaching Bernard how to carve. Both artists signed and dated the buffet; however, there are questions as to the attribution of individual panels. To help in this identification, panels were compared by Simek to the paintings of each of artist.
The condition of the buffet included lifting paint and losses. The losses allowed an ink underdrawing to show through in some areas. There were also coatings present on the surface; however, it needed to be determined if these were artist applied before any removal could be considered.
Analysis included a cross-section sample, which revealed that there was no ground present beneath the paint. Additionally, FTIR analysis identified the top layer as a wax, which is interesting because it is known that Gauguin preferred wax to varnish on his paintings.
For treatment, solutions and cleaning techniques were adjusted as needed in each area of the buffet to preserve layers original to the artists. A varnish layer was used over the existing paint to protect the layers and as a barrier for further in-painting. This restored continuity and depth to the piece and helped to bring the buffet out from relative obscurity to an important piece in the museum’s exhibit.
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A Conservation Collaboration: The James Monroe Gilded Ceremonial Armchair
Rick Vogt, Conservator, F.C. Vogt Company
The order of the morning session talks was switched around and Rick Vogt was moved up to the 9:30 time slot. I found Mr. Vogt’s talk to be very engaging and well organized, though I will admit to a slight bias. I was fortunate to have gained my first conservation experiences while working for Mr. Vogt at the F.C. Vogt company a mere five years ago!
The James Monroe gilded ceremonial armchair comes from the James Monroe Law Library and Museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia. When assessing the chair for treatment, Mr. Vogt immediately recognized the need for research and collaboration to successfully address the needs of the piece. He quoted Barbara Applebaum’s text, Conservation Treatment Methodology, in explaining his concerns for the piece: “Unless sufficient attention is paid to the object’s non-material aspects, we may end up preserving the material but not the object’s meaning.”
The collaboration was large in scope, comprising 12 people with varying degrees of involvement. It included conservators from various areas of specialty, White House staff who provided documents about the chair; and curators with information on the Monroe family history. A specific time frame guided the project and required a good amount of organization to get the project done on time and to standard.
The first step of the project was information gathering and two types of data were needed:
. Non-material information –> Style characteristics, Specific history of the object
. Material information –> Visual analysis, Microscopic analysis
After discussing the history of the armchair, Mr. Vogt gave an overview of the condition assessment which included some insect damage, a twisted seat, losses of fabric and other issues affecting the overall stability of the piece. He also noted there were variations in the surface coatings on the wood which indicated multiple gilding and coating campaigns.
To treat the piece, Mr. Vogt created a new seat frame which was fit over the original. Araldite was used to replace toes that were lost on the feet. Insect borings were consolidated during the gilding conservation campaign and the wood was re-gilded and coated at that time. The chair was then sent out for upholstery conservation. Fragments of the original fabric covering were discovered under the existing upholstery, so a fabric was selected that was believed to closely match the original in both color and style.
Throughout his discussion, Mr. Vogt stressed the importance of collaboration to conservators in private practice and smaller institutions. These professionals may not have access to the same resources that those in larger institutions do. Recognizing one’s own capabilities and utilizing others with different abilities and specializations is important for a successful collaboration and helps to ensure every aspect of an object is conserved for future generations.
Mr. Vogt stated at the beginning of the talk that he is willing to share slides and/or text of his research. He can be reached at fcvco@verizon.net.