Works on Paper Department: Alice Neel
Paper Conservator Beth during treatment.
Our client recently purchased this stunning color lithograph by Alice Neel titled Bather from 1982. The print exhibited slight yellowing discoloration throughout the surface and edges from UV exposure in the window mat.
Alice Neel was a great American painter who worked in relative obscurity for most of her career until the late 1960s, as she remained committed to figurative subjects during a period when abstract expression, pop art and minimalism was favored. Her success has grown with a series of recent exhibitions that highlight her decades of practice that chronicled living people in portraits of her neighbors, fellow artists, writers, intellectuals, and family members, as well as those living on the margins of society. In her work and life she was devoted to social justice, survival, and hardship. Each stark, expressive portrait captured the individuality and depths of her sitters with distinctive brushwork and color. In 2022, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco exhibited the first comprehensive museum survey of her work.
The treatment for this lithograph was to first gently surface clean to carefully avoid the graphite inscriptions, and then the hinges were removed. The print could then be humidified with pH-adjusted water and put in an immersion bath. After being washed the remaining stains on the margins were locally treated until the discoloration was sufficiently reduced, and the lithograph was finally pressed to flatten and prepare for framing.
Before and after treatment, overall.
Before and after treatment, detail.
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