Outdoor Sculpture Department: Structural and surface cleaning treatment
Fernand Léger, Les Femmes au Perroquet, after 1955, 134 3/4 x 194 1/2 x 9 inches, before and after treatment.
This monumental bronze by Fernand Léger titled Les Femmes au Perroquet, after 1955, was recently added to our client’s collection at their winery. In the past, the work had been displayed in locations where it was exposed to high winds, moisture, and salt spray, thus accelerating condition issues and existing stress cracks to the metal. Our outdoor sculpture team traveled to Canada to treat the bronze, which is a single relief that depicts three women in a forest-like environment with a parrot. The work consists of multiple bronze panels welded together at the back and supported by a frame that had been compromised over years of outdoor exposure.
Léger was a French artist influenced in his early career by cubism, which he then modified into his own personal style by using subjects found in consumer society and featuring stylized figures, houses, chairs, animals, and decorative motifs with an emphasis on graphic linework. His use of simplified lines and geometric shapes represented his own take on cubism, often called “Tubism,” and was referenced later by early pop artists. Léger was especially known for his round figures with distinctive, shapely forms and smooth, flat surfaces. The motif of women with a parrot is seen throughout Leger’s later career, and he returned to the image in a variety of scale and media, including painting, ceramic, and bronze.
The first step of the treatment was to stabilize the horizontal stress cracks which were TIG welded on site. The team could then surface clean, reduce areas of corrosion, and finally integrate the surface of the layered patina. The final step was to heat the bronze and apply a high performance wax to protect the surface followed by a cold wax application. The wax was then buffed to produce an overall soft sheen to the surface of bronze.
Before, during, and after treatment.
Detail of proper left crack before welding (left) and after (right).
