Little Dove at the Doctor
In our last post we talked about the beginning of the journey of our Arthur Dove Fog Horns piece that began when we took it off display so that it could be assessed by a painting conservator. This post will be focusing on what we learned from watching the assessment. Conservators on the job have one main goal: to preserve the artists intent . Their job is not to strictly fix damage and clean the work, as often the issue is much more complicated than that. Often times, things that can be perceived as damage are actually just a part of the artists original techniques. An example is a 'holiday'. Not to be confused with vacation time, the term 'holiday' in the art conservation world refers to a gap in the paint that was a product of the artists style of brushwork. Without trained eyes, these 'holidays' can be mistaken for cracks or scratches. The next step for a conservator is to assess what needs to be fixed. Are there cracks that might spread without attenti...