Go behind-the-scenes as we clean ‘Evening (Mt Coot-tha from Dutton Park)’

F.J. Martyn Roberts painting Evening (Mt Coot-tha from Dutton Park) 1898 is an important Brisbane landscape so a six month project carrying out a delicate conservation treatment to clean and restore this work was scheduled. Due to the aging process of the upper varnish layers, and the restoration treatment that had taken place before the painting…

Anthony Alder’s ‘Heron’s home’

Once a prominent colonial Queensland artist, Anthony Alder (1838-1915) and his works had all but vanished from public memory until, in 2011, his descendants’ estate was offered to the State Library of Queensland. Here, we reintroduce you to one of his works in the QAGOMA Collection Heron’s home 1895.  Heron’s home: Before Conservation Art history…

Lyrical Lines: Examining two Drawings by Charles Blackman

The preparation of artworks by Gallery Conservators for the exhibition ‘Lure of the Sun: Charles Blackman in Queensland‘ offered an opportunity to observe Blackman’s deliberate selection of certain materials and techniques to depict his subjects. This exhibition explores Blackman’s formative relationships with Queensland artists and writers that were pivotal in his development as one of Australia’s…

Behind the SaVAge K’lub

In the lead-up to ‘The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT8), QAGOMA’s conservation staff applied their skills and knowledge to several artworks that are on display. We share some background information on one of the exhibition’s major works, which required the collaboration of the Queensland Museum. Collaboration with the Queensland Museum Rosanna Raymond’s APT8…

There’s a soap in my painting!

Surely the last place you would look for the soap is in your favourite oil painting? Not so, as over the past decade conservators and conservation scientists have been investigating the peculiar phenomena of soap formation in the rich, oil-laden layers of paint used in the paintings and masterpieces we love to look at. But…