Conservation Case Studies
True Colors Restored
André Derain’s The Turning Road, L’Estaque—one of the most popular in the MFAH collections—was not on display for nearly two years. From 2003 to 2005, the museum’s paintings conservators worked to restore the monumental painting to a state closer to the artist’s original intent.
Over its lifetime, the painting had lost some of its vibrancy due to the addition of a resin varnish that dulled with time; a layer of grime and dirt; and the results of cleaning and conservation campaigns carried out by previous owners. All of these factors detracted from Derain’s bright, joyous color palette, a hallmark of the Fauve style in which he worked. MFAH visitors can now see the finished work with the colors originally chosen by the artist.
A Gift of Conservation
In a worldwide search, a pair of exquisite17th-century Japanese screens in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston collection was chosen for conservation by experts at the Association for Conservation of National Treasures in Kyushu, Japan. The selection by the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo was part of the Japanese government’s multi-decade efforts, known as “The Cooperative Program for the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects”, to conserve and to showcase its country’s national artistic treasures. Depicting Japan’s ancient Hie Sannō festival that originated in 1072, the twelve-panel screens are crafted from ink, color and gold on gilded paper, with fabric surround and decorative paper backing on a wooden lattice framework.
The screens were transported to the Kyushu National Museum in April, 2007. The year-long conservation process entailed treating the paint layer for pigment deterioration, removing old lining and mending paper, applying new lining and toning in losses. The restored paintings were mounted onto a newly constructed wooden framework, bordered with custom-dyed and hand-woven gold brocade, decorated with hand-printed paper on the back, and finished with new lacquer wooden strips and original metal ornaments. The screens returned to Houston in late 2008 to be featured in the MFAH exhibition Art Unfolded: The Gift of Conservation from Japan, which highlighted the painstaking restoration of these magnificent examples of Japanese artistry.
Forensic Connoisseurship
New England Village (1912-14) by Maurice Prendergast is one of the paintings of the Wintermann Collection of American Art given to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 1985. The 2010 exhibition, “Prendergast in Italy,” gave the museum’s paintings conservation team an opportunity to explore treatment options for the painting.
The treatment of Prendergast’s New England Village is the first of its kind at the MFAH – the removal of a wax lining for aesthetic reasons rather than structural. The wax lining adhesive had flattened some of the paint topography and obscured the vibrancy of the colors by seeping through the paint layers. The removal of this lining reestablished much of the original color relationships and surface topography of the painting.
During the treatment of this painting, the conservators also made an unexpected discovery – a change to the original dimensions. At the top of the paintings, there is a uniform line of abrasion that is characteristic of an abraded tacking edge. All the other tacking edges had been cut away, but the upper edge had been left to become part of the composition. The conservators decided to leave the painting stretched as it was before treatment and constructed a special frame to return the image to its original dimensions.
Please view the slideshow for more information about the results of this treatment by Paintings Conservator Maite Leal.