A few years ago, I added a Near Infra-red (NIR) spectrometer to the small arsenal of tools in our conservation studio. NIR can be used for identifying pigments and binders, and it works by comparing unknown samples to known examples in a library of spectra. Through trial and error, I discovered that NIR has great potential for determining the approximate age of wood. The following video is an introduction to the technique, which is being refined prior to publication. The post How Old Is That African Mask? appeared first on Woodshed Art Auctions ..read more

Study for Porta della Carta. John Singer Sargent was born to expatriate American parents in Florence in 1856. Always in search of culture, his family traveled often throughout Europe, always finding their way back to Italy, the perceived epicenter of all things culturally significant. Even after establishing residency in England in 1886, Sargent returned to Italy numerous times, including annual visits to the country between the years of 1897 and 1914. Sargent took a novel approach to painting the city that had been the inspiration for tourist paintings of the previous two centuries. Instead o ..read more

Routine examination of a painting rarely reveals surprises, but one portrait of a beautiful woman led to a cross-Atlantic adventure for oil painting conservator Bruce Wood.  Infra-red photography revealed a complex and energetic drawing hidden beneath the surface of the paint. Study for The Honourable Mrs. Graham. The painting was initially identified as a copy of the most famous painting in Edinburgh’s Scottish National Galleries:  The Honourable Mrs Graham’s full-length portrait created by her admirer, Thomas Gainsborough. However, examination of the under-drawing and comparison of it with G ..read more

Last month, Woodshed Art Auctions was consigned a portrait painting of a woman, signed Picasso and dated 1939.  While examining its condition, a few startling things were discovered. Visual inspection revealed that the painting looked like others from the mid-20th century: Dry paint, an even layer of light grime and dust both front and back, and the stretcher is a style used in Europe. Next, ultraviolet lighting was used to examine the paint.  It revealed that the cotton duck canvas was commercially primed with gesso,  and then tacked to the stretcher.   The age of the canvas and gesso was con ..read more

Born in Stockholm in 1862, Hilma af Klint was unknowingly one of the earliest abstract painters. Aside from being an artist, Klint was a practicing mystic, holding seances and channeling ancient spirits. Her occultist beliefs, particularly those of theosophy, formed the crux of her work. Her goal was to gain a spiritual unity by reconciling the duality of spiritual life and the material world. Spiral shapes recur in Klint’s work and symbolize progress toward this reconciliation. Left: Hilma af Klint, The Ten Largest, No. 7, Adulthood, Group IV, 1907. Right: Hilma af Klint, Altarpiece, No. 1, G ..read more

Arshile Gorky (1904-1948), was a talented Armenian born American painter who is regarded as the connection between American Abstract Expressionist movement and the European Surrealist themes in painting.  His mature sense of spontaneity was decades ahead of his time and influenced artists that followed in his footsteps, including Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell and others associated with the New York School. “Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see physically with his eyes.” –AG Still life, 1929. Vosdanik Adoian was Gorky’s given name b ..read more

Prominent American artist Robert Indiana, best known for his iconic 1960’s LOVE series, died on May 19, 2018 in his home on Vinalhaven Island in Maine – he was 89 years old. Robert Indiana in Vinalhaven, Maine, 2002 Indiana’s adaptation of LOVE, the L & O stacked on top of V & E with the O tilting slightly to the right, resonated with the ideals of the 1960’s.  Antiwar protesting, free love and experimentation, shedding remnants of the Cold War and addressing civil rights were all hotbed issues of this era.  Indiana’s approach, using powerful words, numbers and solid areas of color wit ..read more

1917 Portrait of Chaim Soutine by Amedeo Modigliani, oil on canvas. Chaim Soutine was a French-Russian painter born in 1893 and raised in a small Jewish settlement near Minsk, Belarus. From a young age he expressed a strong interest in drawing. He was often faced with opposition from his mostly Orthodox community due to Talmudic proscriptions regarding images. At age 16 Soutine set off to study at the Vilna Academy of Fine Arts where he was exposed to a variety of artwork ranging from older Russian masters to artists of the Russian avant-garde.  Soutine excelled quickly in painting and drawing ..read more

Philip Guston: Head and Bottle (1975).   Philip Guston working on a mural, c.1940. Philip Guston was born in Montreal, Canada and moved with his family to America (Los Angeles) when he was 6. He went to the Manual Arts High School with Jackson Pollock (they both were expelled) and received a scholarship to Otis Art Institute, which he attended briefly. In the 30’s he painted murals for the WPA on their Federal Art Project and later taught painting at the State University of Iowa. In the mid 40’s he moved to New York and became part of a circle of artists, writers and composers, including Wille ..read more

“Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.” Jackson Pollock was an influential American painter and the leading force behind the abstract expressionist movement. He transformed the art world when he introduced his first drip paintings in 1947. His work brought together elements of Cubism, Surrealism and Impressionism, and with this method he transcended them all. Time Life Magazine Article, 1949 During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety, yet he was also a controversial figure who fought personal battles throughout his whole life. He was born in ..read more