by Veronique Geniets
Student in Conservation and Restoration of sculptures
Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de La Cambre, Brussels
Period
November 2009 – May 2010
Title
Conservation of outdoor painted steel sculptures of the twentieth and current century
Keywords
Outdoor sculptures, painted metal, iron, steel, synthetic paint, coating
Abstract
Outdoor painted steel sculptures of the twentieth and current century suffer from pollution, acid rain, vandalism,...The consequences are a degradation of the paint layers and corrosion. This is a difficult conservation problem as those sculptures are wished to retain their original purpose and most corrosion products will disrupt the paint. The usual approach is a complete removal of the paint layers and a removal of the rusted surfaces, a preparation of the metal and an application of a new paint system. Unfortunately this act is not always documented and a lot of information of the original paint and the original colour will be lost. This thesis will examine the options to conserve the original paint layer.
What happens between the metal and the paint layers? I will work around two sculptures. The first one is “Konstruktion” of Ulrich Rückriem, conserved in the garden of the Middelheim Museum Antwerp. This sculpture is composed of steel plate with a primer and an original blue paint and two blue repaints. The second sculpture is “Corten” of Jacques Moeschal, conserved at the University of Antwerp (Ruca) and composed of Corten steel with a white paint layer. Analyses of the material, the technology, the history of the sculpture, the artist’s intent, the current state of the sculpture and the results of laboratory tests will guide the proposal of treatment.
Supervisors
Patrick Storme, Dr. Jana Sanyova, Dr. Ir. Mathieu Vanderhasten,
Language
French
Contact
verogeniets@yahoo.com