In his presentation, Michael Kramer from the Gilder\u2019s Studio discussed the treatment of the William Tecumseh Sherman Monument, a gilded bronze statue created by Augustus St. Gauden that currently resides in Central Park, New York. Kramer provided a detailed history of the monument, which was installed in 1903, and a candid explanation of the failures seen on its most recent regilding campaign.
\nDuring the life of the statue, the object underwent several campaigns of gilding and toning, often met with disapproval by the public as the resulting appearance was considered too bright and garish. \u00a0 In a 1990 campaign, the monument was regilded and later toned with wax and gelatin. \u00a0Failures in this coating were noted in 2005 and attributed, by Kramer, to years of collected pigeon excrement that had eaten into the surface.
\nAt that point, Kramer was commissioned by the Central Park Conservancy to regild and investigate stable coating systems that would also provide protection from pigeon infestation. \u00a0Tests of four different\u00a0systems were applied to coupons and affixed to the sculpture for a year. The coupons were subjected to real life scenarios to measure\u00a0performance and assessed using hydraulic adhesion tests. \u00a0Results showed that while two coats of Butcher\u2019s White Diamond wax with colors in oil proved most visually appealing, its ability to withstand pigeon infestations was questioned.\u00a0\u00a0 The three coat aliphatic urethane Ronan Aquathane system using a glaze over Japanese colors was aesthetically the second best alternative and performed better than the wax when subjected to the hydraulic adhesion tests.
\nIn 2013, the sculpture was stripped and regilded by Kramer. \u00a0After curing for two weeks, the toning system was applied. Unfortunately, cracks were noticed in the gilding after only two months. \u00a0It was\u00a0discovered that the flaws penetrated beyond the coating system and went as deep as the size layer. \u00a0Extensive analysis revealed\u00a0that the formula of the size that was\u00a0tested five years earlier had changed and was likely the cause of the failures. \u00a0Kramer\u00a0emphasized that sometimes, despite efforts to replicate the use of the products and methodology used during the testing phase, things may not work out when in the field, He ended his presentation by sharing useful lessons he had learned: \u00a0First,\u00a0lab testing may not translate to real world situations, second,\u00a0know your product- manufacturers are not obligated to inform users of any formulaic changes and finally, artisans need to ensure the product they tested is the exact one they are using in situ.
\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In his presentation, Michael Kramer from the Gilder\u2019s Studio discussed the treatment of the William Tecumseh Sherman Monument, a gilded bronze statue created by Augustus St. Gauden that currently resides in Central Park, New York. Kramer provided a detailed history of the monument, which was installed in 1903, and a candid explanation of the failures … Continue reading “43rd Annual Meeting, General Session, May 15, \u201cThe Best Laid Plans: Investigation, Application and Failure of the Finishes on the Sherman Monument", by Michael Kramer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-14235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annual-meeting","category-general-sessions","tag-aics-43rd-annual-meeting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/266"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}