From what I can tell after talking with some of their former clients or reading newspaper articles about them, they all seemed to be very charming con men. Many of the restorers who operated in my city in the 19th and 20th century were artists that were imported from Europe or very charismatic frame shop owners. (American Institute for Conservation) Overall, it can be a very expensive process. If you have an object you want conserved, ask for samples of their reports and see if they’re members of the AIC. We provide the clients with the photographic and written documentation to let them know exactly what materials we used. A modern conservator will use materials that are easily reversible and he/she will never purposefully do something to damage the artwork. Modern conservators carefully document the object to be treated in writing and in photos before, during and after treatment. In general, there aren’t that many trained conservators and it’s hard to get a job in a museum or run a private practice these days. There’s a lot of science and chemistry involved as well as art and art history. There is still only one school where you can get a PhD. There are three schools you can go to in the US for a MA or MS in art conservation and each school only takes 10 students a year. ![]() I’ve seen paintings where tears were stitched together with needle and thread or where a damage was repaired with band-aids and make-up! (or duct-tape, Elmer’s glue, masking tape, bondo, plaster, etc.)Īrt conservation (as opposed to restoration) as we know it in the US is relatively new. They would repaint and repair as best they could and tried to figure it out as they went along. A lot of what we see in my studio are restorations done by a local artist or frame shop. It was difficult to find anyone who knew anything about restoration, especially here in the south. However, over here in the Colonies in the late 18th, 19th and into the 20th centuries, there wasn’t that kind of tradition. Their techniques were not anything we would use today–they often repainted entire paintings in oils or used hide glue to line paintings. In general, Europe has a long tradition of restoration where the masters passed their secret techniques along to their apprentices. Credit Agence France-Presse - Getty Images ![]() ![]() From left, the original version by Elías García Martínez, a 19th-century painter a deteriorated version of the fresco the restored version by Cecilia Giménez. Did these artists even look at cats, or did they just slap a human face on a catlike shape? Who knows? Perhaps readers have their own theories that are theirs.īut when Laurie sent me the first such picture, it reminded me of this completely screwed-up attempt by a Spanish woman “artist” to restore a damaged fresco, resulting in what the New York Times called “probably the worst art restoration project of all time.” (From NYT): The three versions of the “ecce homo” fresco of Jesus. One thing I noticed in Laurie’s collection is that the malformed cats, like the two above, often have humanlike faces. Laurie shows lots of grotesque attempts to depict felids (giving her funny responses), and I’ll show but two: on cats what ain’t cats“, which shows something I’ve long recognized: medieval artists simply couldn’t paint cats accurately. ![]() And I’d be remiss if I didn’t direct you to her most recent post, “. …on myriad themes, including – but, not limited to – ancient Rome to cats (especially THEO!) to “The Walking Dead” to Amsterdam to atheism to hockey to “Everybody Loves Raymond” to “Les Mis” and almost ALWAYS quotes Emerson! One of our readers, Laurie Sidoni, has started her own website, A Classicist Writes, covering a mix of topics that looks propitious:
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