AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

In 2017, Georges Braque’s Pitcher, Candlestick, and Black Fish (Vase et poisson noir), 1943, underwent a long-awaited treatment at the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas. The painting was cleaned and its wax-resin extracted following the removal of its lining; the methodology of the structural treatment is described in the proceedings of the Conserving Canvas conference held at Yale University in 2019. Technical imaging throughout the treatment led to a deepened understanding of the work’s early history by clarifying the design of a second underlying composition. It also led to the discovery of a third, as the removal of the stretcher and lining canvas, necessitated by the structural treatment, enabled infrared images of the back without their obscuring effects. Digital estimations of these earlier states bear striking resemblance to works from the 1920s and 1930s, thereby possibly extending the canvas’s lifetime by more than a decade. The extension of the canvas’s lifetime as revealed by technical imaging speaks to Braque’s well-documented tendency to rework or paint over compositions, while linen shortages during the Second World War could have provided additional motivation for repainting beyond creative impulse. The presentation will focus on Pitcher’s early history as revealed by technical imaging. Woven into that discussion will be a short explanation of how technical imaging informed the creation of the digital estimations.