Category: Art Conservation

Bringing Isaac Walter Jenner’s paintings back to life

Posted by QAGOMA   ●   18 Oct 2023

Two oil paintings by Isaac Walter Jenner (1836–1902) from 1897 and gifted to the Gallery in 2020 both needed significant interventive structural and cosmetic conservation treatment before going on display this year for the first time. Ruby Awburn, then Assistant Conservator (Paintings) at QAGOMA, describes the months of careful work required to restore these important…

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Go behind-the-scenes as we conserve ‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’

Posted by Anne Carter   ●   17 Oct 2023

Large scale paintings from Queensland’s Colonial period are extremely rare. Currently on display in the Australian Art Collection (Gallery 10, Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Galleries) at the Queensland Art Gallery is an oil painting that has recently been conserved while research into a replica frame have brought it back to its former glory. This…

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Preserving our Asian scrolls

Posted by QAGOMA   ●   3 Oct 2023

Thirty-eight Asian scrolls and twenty-one folding screens were recently assessed in a comprehensive survey to prioritise their rehousing in preparation to display the painted scrolls Courtesan and Maid (illustrated) and Vairocana bonji. Hanging Scroll: Courtesan and Maid (illustrated) in the current exhibition ‘I Can Spin Skies‘. The condition of the scrolls varied, with some scrolls…

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Getting ready for bed: Contemporary art conservation

Posted by QAGOMA   ●   11 Apr 2023

The conservator’s public image is most likely of someone cleaning an old painting with a cotton wool swab in a studio with classical music playing. However, art conservation — particularly contemporary art conservation — calls for an innovative and creative approach to the unique challenges presented by contemporary art display. Preparing fragile and complex art…

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Getting ready for Romney’s tragic muse

Posted by QAGOMA   ●   7 Mar 2023

Nearly three metres long and two across — and gilded entirely in gold leaf — the imposing frame for George Romney’s 1771 painting, Mrs Yates as the Tragic Muse, Melpomene (illustrated) is a time capsule of framing fashions, repairs and interventions. QAGOMA is presently the only gallery in Australia with a framing studio where experts both restore and make…

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The Mystery behind William Dobell’s ‘The Cypriot’

Posted by QAGOMA   ●   4 Nov 2022

In 1940, William Dobell (1899-1970) returned to Australia after ten years in Europe. He completed The Cypriot (illustrated) that same year, a portrait of his friend Aegus Gabrielides. Was it the first major painting he produced, and what is the mystery behind the work? RELATED: The life and art of William Dobell DELVE DEEPER: The…

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