Look Inside: The Back of the Painting

20mm

Jenny Sherman is the Conservator at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and specialises in European Old Master paintings with particular emphasis on Italian works. She has carried out treatment and technical study of paintings ranging from the thirteenth century to the present day. She has worked at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Conservation Center at New York University and she ran a private conservation practice in New York for many years before moving to New Zealand.

This fascinating book by three painting conservators explores the backs of thirty-three paintings, ranging from fourteenth-century artworks to the present day and held in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

Waters, Hillary & Sherman

Sarah Hillary is Principal Conservator at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and specialises in the study of historical artist’s techniques. She has published research on New Zealand artists Colin McCahon, Rita Angus and Frances Hodgkins, and international artists James Tissot and Guido Reni. She has also been involved in curating exhibitions about artist techniques. She is a practising artist.

The seal of the Prince of Yugoslavia, the icon that protected persecuted Russians, Monet’s repurposed canvas, the excised first wife, the stolen Tissot . . . all these stories can be found on the backs of paintings in New Zealand art museums.

The Back of the Painting

Linda Waters is Conservator Paintings at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and has particular interests in the treatment of paintings from the mid-twentieth century onwards and how the material nature of artworks contributes to their narrative. She has expertise in the microscopy and analysis of paint crosssections and has undertaken research on artists’ pigments.

CMYK: 220mm x 160mm with 150 mm flaps

The Back of the Painting Secrets and stories from art conservation

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Linda Waters, Sarah Hillary and Jenny Sherman

Cover image: Front of Refugee children (c.1916), Frances Hodgkins.

Courtesy of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Case image: Back of Refugee children (c.1916), Frances Hodgkins.

Courtesy of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

8/12/20 10:44 AM

The Back of the Painting Secrets and stories from art conservation

Linda Waters, Sarah Hillary and Jenny Sherman

The Paintings

18

Antonio Veneziano Head and shoulders of a bearded saint (c.1380)

24

Master of San Miniato Madonna and Child with pomegranate (1470)

30

Guidoccio Cozzarelli Dance of Salome (c.1470)

36

Lucas Gassel The baptism of Christ (c.1530)

44

50

16

Attributed to Bartolomäus Bruyn Birth of the Saviour (1530) Unknown artist, after Paul Bril Landscape with Pan and Syrinx (c.1630)

70

John Webber Poedua [Poetua], daughter of Oreo, chief of Ulaietea, one of the Society Isles (1785)

78

Unknown artist Portrait of Mrs George Vaile (c.1853)

84

Gottfried Lindauer Tamati Waka Te Puhi (1878)

90

Claude Monet La débâcle (1880)

98

Wilhelm Dittmer Taketake (Wanganui chief) (c.1904)

106 Petrus Van der Velden Portrait of Dr Gray Hassell (c.1906)

56

Claude Lorrain Landscape with Hagar and the angel (1654)

112

Lucien Pissarro Landscape through trees, Tilty Wood (1915)

64

Palekh school The Martyr Glikeria and Her Life (c.1760–1800)

118

Frances Hodgkins Refugee children (c.1916)

126 Solomon J Solomon Eros (1921)

132 James Tissot Still on top (c.1925)

192 Gordon Walters Genealogy 5 (1971)

138 Rita Angus Head of a Maori boy (c.1938)

198 Tony Fomison Wildman (1973)

144 Anthony Treadwell Te Awamutu grandstand (1948) 150 Unknown artist, after Gottfried Lindauer Portrait of an unidentified male Māori subject (c.1950–60) 156 Louise Henderson Les deux amies (1953) 162 Colin McCahon Will he save him (1959)

206 Geoff Thornley Construction #11 – Tondo (1981) 212 Rohan Wealleans Study for a beginning (Yellow) (2002) 218 Julian Dashper Untitled (2005–06) 224 Helen Calder Everything in its right place (Arrangement for seventeen colour groups, 17/51) (2011–17)

168 Ralph Hotere Long red line (1965) 174 Ralph Hotere Orange on black (1968) 180 Flora Scales Anemones (c.1969) 186 Ray Thorburn Modular 13, series 2 (1970)

17

Antonio Veneziano Head and shoulders of a bearded saint c.1380

Antonio Veneziano Head and shoulders of a bearded saint (c.1380) Tempera and gold on wood, 185 mm diameter Collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Given 1982 by Mary, Dora and Esmond de Beer through the National Art Collections Fund, London.

This small, round, tempera on gold-ground painting is a fragment from a larger multi-panel altarpiece, also known as a polyptych.1 This little roundel would most likely have come from a larger wood panel or a spandrel within the framework of the polyptych.

Close inspection reveals the delicate, hatch-like strokes of the tempera paint and the fine detail such as the hairs in the saint’s beard and brows, and the delicate wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. It also reveals significant old damage. Patchy losses to the gesso and gilding are visible – many have been filled and ‘restored’ at least once – and the gilt surface is cracked and uneven. There is also a considerable amount of retouching on the painted figure, but fortunately the saint’s face and head are better preserved.

The extent of old damage accounts for why this little fragment is no longer part of a larger panel from a polyptych. We can presume that the altarpiece was partially destroyed or ruined, and that only pieces of it could be salvaged.

When we study the back of the little panel we notice some striking elements. Most obvious are the patches of black and magenta paper that have an almost flame-like effect. These torn fragments are artefacts from a two-toned paper backing that was pasted to the back of the panel and not completely removed.

Two handwritten paper labels are affixed to the middle of the panel. The older one describes the object and notes from where and when an early collector purchased it: Lucca in 1893. The other, written by hand on a printed British Museum label, records the

21

Claude Monet

Claude Monet La débâcle (1880) Oil on canvas, 540 x 650 mm Collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

Given 1982 by Mary, Dora and Esmond de Beer through the National Art Collections Fund, London.

La débâcle 1880

The French Impressionist Claude Monet painted this scene as the ice on the river Seine began to thaw near his home in Vétheuil, a remote Paris suburb. This work, in oil on canvas, is painted in a directly observed manner en plein air, or outdoors. One of several in a series, it is typical of Monet’s painting technique, in which fullbodied paint was built up with quickly applied strokes and dabs, creating a lively, textured surface.

On the back of the painting we see many features that are typical of a late-nineteenth-century Impressionist painting. It has a five-membered, original wood stretcher that includes a vertical crossbar, and most of the original stretcher keys (which can be tapped with a small hammer to expand the stretcher to hold the canvas taut).

The commercially prepared, aged linen canvas has an artists’ supplier’s stamp, a small patch repairing a tear, an illegible paper label and two customs

93

Gordon Walters Genealogy 5 1971

Gordon Walters Genealogy 5 (1971) Synthetic polymer emulsion on canvas, 1523 x 1523 mm Collection of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Gift of Dame Jenny Gibbs in honour of Chris Saines, Gallery Director (1996–2013).

On the back of Genealogy 5 by Gordon Walters, the ghost of the painting on the front appears as faint horizontal lines in the canvas. Little flashes of black can also be seen around the sides as the image continues down the tacking edges, emphasising the solidity of the work’s structure.

In later work the artist took a softer approach and would extend the painting only a few millimetres down the sides. Walters explored his ideas through sketching and collage, which could be rapidly produced and altered, but there was little room for error or modification during the painting process. By the time painting began, the experimental and creative side of his work was complete.

Chris Heaphy, who collaborated with Walters in 1993 and remained his friend until Walters’ death in 1995, often spent time with Walters in his studio. He remembers watching him attach medium-weight cotton duck on to stretchers with carpet tacks and trimming the edges with pinking shears. Walters would then apply several coats of white paint as a ground layer; once this was dry and taut, the image was drawn up with pencil using a ruler and compass.

Instead of using masking tape, which would have caused a build-up of paint on the edges, he would apply paint for the outlines using a drafting tool. Producing long straight lines and circles of even thickness and intensity required incredible skill.

Any mistake and it was all over, as it was not possible to disguise an error or remove it satisfactorily. (See page 231 for photographs of Walters’ equipment.)

195

Helen Calder

Helen Calder Everything in its right place (Arrangement for seventeen colour groups, 17/51) (2011–17) Acrylic paint, stainless steel pins, 1700 x 2470 x 80 mm Collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Purchased 2018.

Everything in its right place (Arrangement for seventeen colour groups, 17/51) 2011–17

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1. The small vestiges of paint at the edges. 2. Detail showing the muslin reinforcing on the reverse. 3. Swirls of pigment visible in the dried ‘skin’ of paint.

226

Everything in its right place is a symphony of pure colour. In this sculptural painting, dense strips of paint hang from the wall in a beautifully modulated scale. It was commissioned from the artist Helen Calder in 2018 for Toi Art and I worked with her over a couple of days during its installation.

Each of the fifty-one pieces had to be examined before being hung, so prior to moving them – which involved two installers gently cradling each piece – I documented the condition of the paint, both in writing and with photographs, to record the material characteristics of each one. Condition reports like this one are always undertaken by conservators for the objects in their care, and are used as a benchmark against which to measure any change or deterioration in the future.

As Helen and I worked, our conversation turned to how she had made the strips of paint. We discussed her process in some detail, including the technical hurdles she had to overcome to create the strips, or ‘skins’ as she called them. Helen explained that much of her work was about understanding the amount of time each piece of paint needed to cure after being formed in order to know that it was stable and could then be exhibited. To produce them she worked on a covered table top. While each strip was lying flat, she set a hole reinforced with calico or muslin into the paint on the back.

Helen then gauged when each skin was dry enough to hang vertically, after which she allowed for a sort of ‘curing’ time – a period to assess any changes in the hanging strips – before she

227

THE BACK OF THE PAINTING Linda Waters, Sarah Hillary and Jenny Sherman RRP: $45.00 ISBN: 978-0-9951338-8-4 PUBLISHED: April 2021 PAGE EXTENT: 248 pages FORMAT: Paperback with jacket SIZE: 220 x 160 mm

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