AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

A recent acquisition from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation by the National Gallery of Art, Birdman Trainer by Joe Light, a painting in enamel on plywood, required treatment to stabilize the structure, and the fabrication of an auxiliary support for display in an exhibition that showcases this new collection.

In 2020 the National Gallery of Art acquired a selection of 40 artworks from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, all made by black artists from the southern United States in the 20th century. In preparation for the exhibition that showcases this collection, Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South, which opened in September 2022, many pieces required treatment that involved four conservation departments at the museum. One of these pieces is Birdman Trainer, 1987, by Joe Light, painted in enamel on plywood. In addition to treatment to stabilize the structure, the fabrication of an auxiliary support was required for its safe display.

All of the artists in the Souls Grown Deep collection recycled materials to create their works. For his painting support, Joe Light re-used a section of wood paneling, a thin 3-ply structure, the type you would find in a residential setting in the mid-twentieth century such as Prefinished V-Plank Weldwood Plywood for interiors. In this instance, he applied the paint to the original backside of the paneling. In its former context, this side would have been the front. As formerly used material, pre-existing damage was present in the support, but the goal of the treatment was to only stabilize the structure, and to preserve the condition in which the artist found the panel.

As the painting is not intended to be framed, and the plywood paneling was never meant to be self-supporting, an auxiliary support was designed to allow the panel to be displayed upright without sagging. For thin panels, a perimeter strainer is often used, but for this painting the design was modified to give the appearance that the panel was self-supporting. The attachment system was simplified from a spring mechanism to a washer since the panel is a manufactured wood product that was fabricated to be dimensionally stable and non-reactive to the environment. The epoxy adhesive that is normally used to attach the hardware to the panel, Araldite 1253, unfortunately, was discontinued, so testing was carried out to find a suitable alternative. By applying traditional approaches to a non-traditional painting, the treatment of Birdman Trainer was a success by allowing it to be safely displayed and appreciated by the public.

(Note: A poster and shorter version of this paper will be presented at the conference Wood Science and Technology III, October 19-21, 2023 Maastricht, The Netherlands)