The Conservation of a Gertrude Abercrombie Painting: From Discovery to Auction

As part of our stewardship of this spectacular Abercrombie, we decided with the consignor to have the painting professionally cleaned by Baumgartner Fine Art Restoration to return the painting to as close to the color and finish that Gertrude intended as possible. The painting did not present with any condition issues, but the passage of time had resulted in an accumulation of grime and clouding of the varnish layer that was obscuring the full range of hues and meticulous detail that Abercrombie originally applied to the panel. Sure enough, removing the old varnish layer and the grime with it revealed the magnificent magically realistic paint surface just as Gertrude deemed it complete back in 1951. The following link will take you to a video capturing the conservation process and a conservation about the work between myself and conservator Julian Baumgartner. A longer form version of our conversation can be found here.