Abstract
Some important issues in relation to the conservation, treatment and display of paintings at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam over the last 25 years are discussed. Examples of the treatment include key works by Kazimir Malevich, Modern American painters from the 1950s-1970s and Cobra artists. The challenges for conservators and criteria for decisions about treatment and display at the museum included reviewing former conservation treatments and the question of material authenticity. The discovery of water sensitivity in oil paint used by artists including Jasper Johns and Karel Appel in the 1950s and 1960s has had an impact in relation to cleaning these works. The relationship between painting technique and paint quality is discussed in relation to the works of Karel Appel and Asger Jorn. These studies have led to the characterisation of novel degradation phenomena and technical evidence has helped to predict water sensitivity and inform more specific cleaning methods. Despite these advances not every work of art can been treated and sometimes we have to except that ‘less is more’.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Learner T, The Paint Quiz, unpublished.
- 2.
K.J. van den Berg, M. de Keijzer, L. Megens, H. van Keulen and S. de Groot, internal RCE report 2006-076, 2007.
- 3.
K.J. van den Berg, personal communication February 2014.
- 4.
Van den Berg, Megens, de Groot (RCE), and Burnstock (CIA), unpublished results 2009.
- 5.
Bracht, E, van den Berg, KJ, de groot, S, Megens, L (FTRI, XRF), RCE 2010, Project in progress.
- 6.
Dutch filmmaker who became well known with its presentation. It is called The Reality of Karel Appel. Musique Barbare by Karel Appel (1962).
- 7.
K. Appel donated the painting to the Stedelijk Museum end 1962 after the exhibition ‘Art since 1950’, Seattle, as a part of the collection Sandberg. The painting was then titled ‘From the beginning’.
- 8.
The film was shot on location in a build studio for the film in ‘Huize Groeneveld’, Baarn, The Netherlands at the time that Appel was still living in Paris.
- 9.
2008, conservator M. Engel and 2010 V. Blok.
- 10.
Appel used a table as a palette. Among the metal jars we can distinguish a pot with ETA paint (emulsion of casein).
- 11.
Interview with the author on the 25th Mars 2013. Jacqueline de Jong, Dutch artist, had a relationship with Asger Jorn from 1959 to 1970. Paint material was bought at Sennelier, 3 Quai Voltaire, Paris (Since 1887).
- 12.
17 rue Brézin, XIV Arrondissement, Paris, where he lived and worked from 1958 on. The place is shown in the very beginning of the film The reality of Karel Appel (Vrijman 1962): Two man with a wooden chariot working for ‘Quincaillerie Couleurs de Montparnasse’ are delivering quite large canvases packed in brown paper and big jars probably containing paint.
References
Burnstock A, van den Berg KJ, de Groot S, Wijnberg L (2006) An investigation of water-sensitive oil paints in twentieth century paintings. In: Modern paints uncovered, proceedings symposium Tate Modern London, The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 2006, pp 177–188
Chavannes M, Leeuwenstein M, Bongaarts M, de froot S, Diependaal H, van Keulen H, Wijnberg L (2014) I try to keep surfaces an anymous as possible. Conservation issues in Richard Serra’s monumental paintstick drawings on canvas, 14–19 September 2014
Daudin M, van Keulen H (2014) Dry cleaning: research and practice. These proceedings, Chapter 24
Izzo FC, van den Berg KJ, van Keulen H, Zendri E, Ferriani B (2014) Modern oil paints – formulations, organic additives and degradation: some case studies. In: van den Berg KJ et al (eds) Issues in contemporary oil paint. Springer, Dordrecht
Mills L (2008) Water-sensitive oil paints: an experimental investigation characterizing the causes of the phenomena and analysis of a case study painting ‘Les Animaux’, 1961, by Karel Appel, Courtauld Institute, January 2008
Mills L, Bracht E, Wijnberg L (2010) Less is more – the rationale behind the decision not to treat a painting. Poster presentation, CAWC symposium, 9–11 June 2010, Amsterdam
Sassen JH, Vrieze J et al (2008) ‘karel appel, JAZZ, 1958–1962’, 09.02 – 01.06.2008. Exhibition catalogue, Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen 2008:23
Silvester A, Burnstock A, Megens L, Learner T, Chiari G, van den Berg KJ (2014) A cause of water-sensitivity in modern oil paint films: the formation of magnesium sulphate. Stud Conserv 59(1):38–51
Soldano A, van den Berg KJ (2014) Investigation into the surface conductivity of water-sensitive modern oil paints. These proceedings, Chapter 27
Volk A, van den Berg KJ (2014) Agar – a new tool for the surface cleaning of water sensitive oil paint? These proceedings, Chapter 26
Vrijman J (1962) Film the reality of Karel Appel (1962), Jan Vrijman Cineproductie
Witlox M (2003) Asger Jorn’s abstract minded figure (1962) Opstaande verf door schildertechniek en consolidatie. In: Cr 1, voorjaar 2003, pp 26–32
Wijnberg L, van den Berg KJ, Burnstock A, Froment E (2007) Jasper Johns ‘Untitled 1964–’65. In: ArtMatters (4), Zwolle, 2007, pp 68–80
Wijnberg L, Bracht E, van den Berg KJ, de Keijzer M, van Keulen H (2011) A study of the grounds used by three post-war American Artists (1954–1974): Barnett Newman, Ellsworth Kelly and Brice Marden, ICOM Committee for Conservation 16th Triennial Meeting, Lissabon 2011, Bridgland J (ed); paper nr. 1324
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wijnberg, L. (2014). Do We See What We Know or Do We Know What We See? Conservation of Oil Paintings in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. In: van den Berg, K., et al. Issues in Contemporary Oil Paint. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10100-2_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10100-2_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-10099-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-10100-2
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)