smithsonian american art museum lunder conservation …

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM LUNDER CONSERVATION CENTER

CONDITION REPORT

Accession #: 1985.66.362,158

Artist: Edwin Willard Deming (1860-1942)

Title: Indian Hunting Buffalo

Date: Late 19th to early 20th century

Materials: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 36 ¼ x 50 1/8 in.

(92.1 x 127.3 cm) Requested

Treatment By: George Gurney,

Deputy Chief Curator

Examiner: Amber Kerr-Allison, Graduate Intern

Exam Date: 2007-09-06

Distinguishing Marks:

Obverse:

Artist signature, lower left corner of painting: ‘(painted symbol) E W DEMING’

Reverse:

Upper left of top stretcher bar written in black ink: ‘E.W. DEMING

Indian Hunting Buffalo’

Upper center of top stretcher bar written in black ink: ‘362,158 Deming’ Upper center of center stretcher bar, chartreuse label: [Typed] National Museum of American Art [Typed] Smithsonian Institution, 8th and G Sts., Washington, DC 20560 [Typed] Accession No. [Written] 1985.66.362,158 [Typed] Artist [Written] E.W. Deming

[Typed] Title [Written] Indian Hunting Buffalo [Typed] SI-1130 Rev. 2-12-81

Bottom left of lower of stretcher bar, written in black ink: ‘NMAA 1985.66.362,158’

Description:

The painting under examination is that of an Indian riding on horseback about to spear a striding buffalo (Fig. 1). The image was painted with oil on canvas using gestured brushstrokes to

emphasize the shapes and define the central figures of the Indian, horse and buffalo. These

figures have a strongly painted outline which accentuates them from the background composition. There is a significant amount of textural impasto throughout the lower third of the painting and a

moderate amount within the sky and figurative grouping. This painting was requested for a loan

exhibition when it was inspected and discovered to be in need of conservation.

Fig. 1 – Edwin Willard Deming, Indian Hunting Buffalo, oil on

canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

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9/6/2007 - Condition report and treatment proposal for Indian Hunting Buffalo, Edwin Willard Deming, SAAM

accession # 1985.66.362.158.

Edwin Willard Deming (1860-1942) was an American artist whose career focused on the

rendering of American Indians through illustrations, paintings and sculptures. He grew up on the American frontier where he became acquainted with and befriend Indians at an early age. During

his teen years, Deming traveled throughout the Indian Territories of Oklahoma sketching the

individuals and cultural practices of the tribes he encountered. His experience inspired him to

pursue a formal education in art so that he could become a painter of Indians. Deming enrolled at the Art Student League in New York and then traveled to Paris where he spent a year at the

Académie Julian (1884-85) studying under the direction of Gustave Boulanger (French, 1824-

1888) and Jules Lefebvre (French, 1836-1911). Deming returned to the United States in 1885 and traveled to the western frontier to be among the Indians and to paint them. Though he spent

most of his later life in New York City, he would often visit various Indian tribes throughout the

United States, Mexico and Canada. His notable works include a series of romantic murals depicting Indian life, which were installed in the American Museum of Natural History and the

Museum of the American Indian in New York1.

Condition Report:

Auxiliary Support:

Description – The painting is stretched with metal tacks onto a five-member wooden expandable

stretcher which appears to be original to the painting. The stretcher is constructed of four squared members with a vertical cross-member in the center, each measuring 1” height x 3” width in

inches (2.54 x 7.62 cm). The corners and central bar are joined by a butted mortise and tenon

construction with expandable keys. Nine of ten wooden keys are present, two in each corner and one at the lower end of the central vertical bar. Each of the outside four members has a flat

profile with a minor bevel along the outer edge measuring approximately ¼ inch and tapering

toward the outer tacking edge of the painting. The vertical bar has a flat profile on both sides. Brown paper tape is adhered to the reverse along the outside edges and extends over the taking

edge of the painting. There are various written inscriptions and a label present on the reverse of

the stretcher, as indicated in the distinguishing marks section of this report.

Condition – The stretcher is in relatively stable condition with only one expansion key missing at

the top of the central cross-member. The wood has darkened considerable due to oxidation and

has an accumulation of dirt and grime across the surface. There is a considerable amount of dust along the lower edge of the stretcher and a number of gauges, scraps and niches throughout the

surfaces, edges and corners of each wooden member. Nail holes are present along the four

outside members, which were likely incurred during a previous framing. The lower stretcher bar

has been splintered in two places where nails were previously secured and there is a remnant of a nail head in the upper left stretcher bar. The brown paper tape, attached along the tacking edges

and reverse, is brittle to the touch and delaminating from the surface due to a degraded adhesive.

Sections of the tape are barely adhered or have detached completely. The inscription labels on the reverse are well adhered and stable.

Primary Support:

1 Eldridge, Charles. "Edwin Willard Deming, Biography." Art in New Mexico, 1900-1945: Paths to Taos

and Santa Fe (1986): Smithsonion Americqan Art Museum, Prism Collection Search. [Database online.]

Smithsonian Institution. 2005.

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accession # 1985.66.362.158.

Description – The support fabric is a finely woven, plain weave, linen (est.) canvas with 30 x 36

threads per square inch. The canvas is secured to the stretcher with metal tacks evenly spaced within 1 to 1.5 inches along all four sides. The corners are folded and tacked down along the

sides and the canvas is trimmed to the height of the stretcher along the tacking edges. The fabric

appears to have been sized prior to the application of the ground layer.

Condition – The canvas is in good structural condition overall. The metal tacks are securely

placed with only a few missing along the top tacking edge, one near each corner. The tack holes

appear to be original, though the left tacking edge may have been re-stretched as there are additional tacking holes and staple marks present. There is a small oblong puncture in the canvas

which has resulted in a loss of fabric measuring approximately ½” long by ¼” wide. It is located

just below the buffalo’s head, 42 ½” over and 25 ¼” down from the top left corner. There are exposed threads and minor distortions along the outer rim of this small hole. The overall

tensioning of the canvas is somewhat slack, with noticeable movement and minor draws in the

upper corners due to over-keying of the stretcher. The reverse of the canvas has a considerable

amount of dirt and grime evenly distributed across the surface. The fabric is fairly oxidized and discolored to a dark golden-brown tone. There are numerous liquid stains across the reverse

which are in splattered and dripped patterns and may be the result of separate incidents. The

canvas reverse reveals occasional slubs and nubs within the weave structure, some of which are physically prominent. Examination of the reserve of the canvas using ultraviolet light failed to

reveal any additional details.

Ground and Paint Layers:

Description – The ground is a cream colored oil paint (est.) moderately applied in an overall even layer which extends to the tacking edge. The even consistency and application of the

ground suggest it was a commercially prepared canvas, though there was not any indication of a

canvas stamp present. The paint has the visual characteristics and quality of an oil paint. The bottom and intermediate layers of the painting are applied in the indirect method with a

succession of opaque and glaze layers. Portions of the intermediate layers were scraped down

and repainted to give weave prominence and a dry-brush effect to the image, especially in the

foreground of the composition and throughout the lower third of the painting. The uppermost areas of sky and field were applied wet-on-wet with color mixing, animated brushstrokes and

prominent areas of impasto. The figurative grouping is distinctly outlined with gestured

brushstrokes using a distinctively painted border of red or black paint. Faint pentimenti are visible along the top of the horse’s head, along the edge of the buffalo’s head and shoulder, and

along the outline of the Indian’s proper right arm and spear. The sky has a thickly applied top

layer which has a horizontal impasto and the field is comprised of thick brush strokes with some areas of pronounced texturing and impasto which do not correlate with the depicted image. The

background is rendered in pastel colors to give an atmospheric perspective, while the figurative

grouping, middle and foreground are rendered in warmer earthtones. The paint layers extend to

the fold of the tacking edge.

Condition – The ground layer is well adhered to the canvas with minor abrasions and losses

along the tacking edge and surrounding the small puncture hole. There is a patterned vertical craquelure in the paint along the top third of the painting. These are similar to mechanical cracks

resulting from tensioning and stretching, however they appear to be beneath the upper most layers

of paint as the cracks don’t extend to the surface. Interlayer cleavage of the paint layers is evident along the upper section of the sky and along the left and right edges, some of which is

located along stretcher bar marks which are attributable to fluctuations and contractions of the

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accession # 1985.66.362.158.

slack canvas during varying relative humidity. The cleavage has resulted in flaking and loss of

upper layers of paint, revealing an initial layer of brightly painted blue in the sky and under layers of paint within the landscape. This is especially evident in the large paint loss located along the

top edge of the painting, located 33 ¼” over and 1 ½” down from the top left corner. The

revealed colors are dramatically different from the final layers of the composition and may

indicate an overpainted image below. This is also suggested by the prominent areas of impasto within the foreground which do not correlate with the imagery. There is a loss of paint along the

edge of the puncture hole and minor abrasions in the painted surface, the most prominent being: a

6” abrasion above the Indian’s head extending at a 45˚ angle to the right; a 5” abrasion extending at a 45˚ angle from the left edge inward just to the left of the horse’s tail; and a 3” downward

crescent shaped abrasion just below the Indian’s proper right elbow. A condition report diagram

of the painted surface has been provided for reference in Figure 2 of this report.

When examined by raking light the paint layers showed mechanical cracks along the edges and

through the center, likely caused by the fluctuation of the slack canvas against the stretcher bar,

with additional feather cracks along the upper right edge. The painted surface was also examined under ultraviolet light. This revealed a prominent shadow of the Indian’s figure casting onto the

buffalo, a feature which lacks distinction when viewing the same area in visible light. Ultraviolet

light also showed that a portion of the glazing in the upper right corner may have been disturbed as it appeared slightly more reduced then the surrounding layers of paint. Examination of the

surface using Infrared light was inconclusive. X-radiography was used to examine the lower left

corner of the painting in an area of high impasto and in the area of the Indian’s and horses’ heads. Only minor changes in the positioning of the two heads could be seen with x-rays, indicating that

the highly textured surface does not result from an underlying image, but is likely a desired

surface effect crated by the artist.

Surface Coating:

Description – There is a thin matte layer of varnish brushed across the surface of the painting

with additional applications of a higher gloss varnish over the figures and interspersed along the

lower third of the painting. The additional layer(s) of varnish appear to saturate these areas and

provide an enhanced glossy appearance from the matte surface of the background.

Condition – The overall matte varnish has discolored causing a flat visual appearance to the

image and obscuring the depth and intended color scheme of the composition. The areas of higher gloss within the figures and lower third of the painting have discolored considerably and

are now dark amber in color, revealing prominent drips along the lower right of the image and

causing discoloration within the figurative group and foreground areas. There is a moderate layer of deposited dirt and grime across the entire surface and some smudge marks in the upper right

corner. Examination of the varnished surface under ultraviolet light revealed an overall

yellowish-green fluorescence in the matte varnish, suggesting a natural resin, and a slightly

orange-yellow fluorescence in the glossy areas, suggesting the possible use of shellac or a pigmented resin. Ultraviolet light also revealed that the varnish layers were applied by brush in a

rapid succession of vertical, horizontal and ‘V’ shaped brushstrokes across the surface. This may

be evidence of original varnish layers applied selectively by the artist to achieve a particular surface quality and saturation in his composition.

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accession # 1985.66.362.158.

Previous Restoration:

The painting does not appear to have received an overall treatment. The reduction of a glazing in the upper right corner could be an indication of a cleaning test, or may be a reworking of this area

by the artist. Examination using ultraviolet light did not reveal the presence of overpaint or

retouching, and the varnish layers appeared to be continuous.

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accession # 1985.66.362.158.

Figure 3 - Before treatment photograph, normal light, obverse.

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accession # 1985.66.362.158.

Figure 4 - Before treatment photograph, ultraviolet light, obverse.

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accession # 1985.66.362.158.

Figure 5 - Before treatment photograph, raking light, obverse.

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accession # 1985.66.362.158.

Figure 6 - Before treatment photograph, normal light, reverse.

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accession # 1985.66.362.158.

Treatment Proposal:

The overall condition of this painting is fair due to the flaking paint, interlayer cleavage, amount of surface grime, and the discoloration of the varnish layer. After consultation with George

Gurney, Deputy Chief Curator, the goals of this conservation treatment will be to stabilize the

structural condition of the painting, consolidate the flaking in cleavage, create an insert to repair

the small puncture hole, clean the surface, remove/reduce the varnish layer, and provide aesthetic compensation to areas of loss within the image. It is hoped that this painting can be stabilized for

future loans. To accommodate this request a loose lining will be affixed to the original stretcher

and a padded backing board will be attached to the reverse of the stretcher to provide additional support and reduce fluctuation and movement in the original canvas. Of particular interest is the

application of the separate varnish layers seen under ultraviolet light examination. Samples will

be taken from along the tacking edge for analysis to determine if these varnish layers were applied by the artist so that an appropriate methodology for the removal or reduction in varnish

can be determined. X-radiography will also be performed to see whether there is another image

beneath the surface. The following steps outline the treatment proposed based on the condition

assessment, material analysis, consultation with other conservators, and the cleaning and solvent tests performed:

1) Consolidate and set down any areas of paint which exhibit flaking and interlayer

cleavage using 10% Aquazol 500 in 1:1 isopropanol to water solution, applied by

brush and then set-down with a taking iron.

2) Remove grime from surface using 5% citrate gel, cleared with a dry swab then

rinsed with deionized water; upon drying the surface will be rinsed again using

mineral spirits applied by cotton swab.

3) Remove and/or reduce varnish using appropriate solvent system, such as a 2:1

acetone to mineral spirit solution.

4) Release tacking edges and remove from stretcher, then brush and vacuum reverse

of painting using a mild suction to remove debris and dust.

5) Vacuum then clean the surface of the stretcher using warm water applied by

cotton swabs.

6) Apply moisture treatment to reverse of painting, first in isolated areas of cupping

and around puncture, then overall, using dampened blotter paper and weights.

7) Create a template of punctured loss in canvas in preparation for insert. Remove a

small section of the original tacking edge from the excess fabric in the upper right

corner of the original canvas.

8) Use template to align weave direction and draw a pattern for insert onto section

removed from original canvas. Cut insert out and adhere into place using Jade

#305 adhesive, after drying under weights the insert will be reinforced using a

patch of stable-Tex® fabric which has been infused with BEVA

® 371 diluted in

petroleum benzine. The reinforcing patch will be only slightly larger than the

insert and will be adhered using a taking iron.

9) Prepare linen fabric for a loose lining by stretching, sizing with water and re-

stretching on a work strainer before attaching it to the original stretcher.

10) Square-off corners of original stretcher and cut two replacement keys.

11) Stretch loose lining fabric onto original stretcher.

12) Attach edge lining to original tacking edge. BEVA® 371, 2 mil film will be

attached to the bottom of pre-cut strips of Holytex® fabric. Edges closest to the

fold in the tacking edge will be trimmed with pinking shears before they are

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accession # 1985.66.362.158.

adhered to the inside of the tacking edge. The tacking edges will be supported at

a 90 angle by wooden braces clamped to the work surface while the edge-lining

strips are adhered using a tacking iron.

13) The canvas will be re-stretched onto the original stretcher which has the loose

lining fabric attached.

14) An isolating layer of varnish will be brush applied across the paint surface using

Paraloid B-72 or MS2A.

15) Areas of loss will be filled using an aqueous-based, reversible, synthetic fill

material such as Flügger or Modostuc.

16) Inpaint areas of loss using conservation paints in synthetic resin.

17) Spray-coat a final layer of varnish, if required, to even saturation and provided a

continuous surface coating gloss.

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