"Visitors can watch a conservator at work on one of the great unfinished paintings of the 20th century, as part of a new exhibition at the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham, where the artist spent most of his life. Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta, which occupied Spencer for more than a decade but remained incomplete at the time of his death in 1959, has been hung high up in the gallery since it opened in 1962."
""I was quite shocked to realise just how thin the paint is-you can see the ground coming through in most paint passages," says Leake, who is completing a master's degree in easel painting conservation at London's Courtauld Institute. Ultra-violet (UV) light reveals "little pinpoint breaks" in the paint layer, which Leake believes are consistent with Spencer's desire to finish the painting quickly, before he died."
Visitors can watch a conservator working on Stanley Spencer's unfinished Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta at the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham. The painting, started over a decade and left incomplete at Spencer's 1959 death, was hung high until now; it has been brought to ground level for conservation. Student conservator Olivia Leake is investigating the artist's methods and materials. Examination reveals a visible pencil grid, surprisingly thin paint with ground showing through, UV-detected pinpoint breaks suggesting rushed finishing, underdrawing alterations, and an overpainted water area changed from green to blue. The project engages visitors and demonstrates conservation funding needs.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]