Conservation of "The Gross Clinic"

Last night Jodie and I attended a reception for the American Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art at the lovely home of Judy and Steaven Jones on Amalfi Drive in the Riviera section of Pacific Palisades (which I will note was once the residence of comedian/actor Jerry Lewis).  The program for the evening was a lecture given by Mark Tucker, Vice Chairman of Conservation and The Aronson Senior Conservator of Paintings at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts on the conservation and restoration of one of the finest paintings ever made in this country: Thomas Eakins' (1844-1916) "Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross", commonly known as "The Gross Clinic".

Thomas Eakins
Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross
1875 Oil on Canvas
8' x 6' 6"
Philadelphia Museum of Art &
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

Mr. Tucker first shared with us the story of how Eakins created his masterpiece in anticipation of being exhibited in the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, but unfortunately such recognition was not to be.  The subject matter turned out to be too much for the sensibilities of the selection committee and the painting ended up on display at Ward One of the U.S. Army Post Hospital.  The sentiment at the time is well described by a critic for the New York Tribune who wrote, "... one of the most powerful, horrible, yet fascinating pictures that has been painted anywhere in this century...but the more one praises it, the more one must condemn its admission to a gallery where men and women of weak nerves must be compelled to look at it, for not to look at it is impossible."

The painting was acquired for $200 and lived for decades in the College Building of Jefferson Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and was later relocated to the Jefferson Alumni Hall.  The university resisted all offers over the years to sell the masterpiece until 2006 when an offer was received from the National Gallery of Art and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas (home of the founders of WalMart) for a stunning sum of $68 million.  Citizens and institutions in the City of Philadelphia started a campaign to keep city's most famous painting in the place where it was created.  Finally, with the support of over 3,600 donors, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts were successful in acquiring the painting.

A major conservation effort was undertaken by Theodor Siegl of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1961.  During the many years that the painting was owned by the Jefferson Medical College, conservators tried to maintain its condition as best they could, given the best practices of the day.  But it turns out those practices had their damaging effects on the painting.  At one point, the stability of the canvas so deteriorated that the painting was mounted on plywood to stabilize the canvas and protect the paints from further deterioration.  Siegl was able to separate the canvas from the plywood backing and stabilize the canvas by mounting it on a new stretcher providing structural integrity to the work. Siegl and his team also meticulously removed layers of prior restorers' varnish and non-original retouching without damaging the original paint.  However, this process revealed that prior cleanings had worn away some of the upper layers of paint in certain areas of the painting.  Siegl applied a new varnish which safely safely isolated any corrective inpainting they applied from the original work.
 

Mr. Tucker shared several examples of Eakins' work that demonstrated his technique of painting certain scenes with bright colors and then using a darkening glaze to lower the tonal value.  Unfortunately, conservators in the past often confused this darkening glaze with accumulated dirt and removed it from his paintings when "cleaning" them.  This was the case with the prior cleaning of The Gross Clinic.  Fortunately, Mr. Tucker and his team of conservators had access to two critical resources that provided them with a roadmap to return the masterpiece to its original glory.  First, Eakins made a detailed ink wash replica of the painting in order to have black and white reproductions of the painting printed.  This ink wash replica helped establish the true tonal values of the original.  Second, when the painting was on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1917, a large format photograph of the painting was taken by museum staff.  These two valuable resources helped the conservators restore the painting to its present condition.

The Gross Clinic
on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
his painting "The Agnew Clinic" in the background

For those wishing a much better explanation of the project than my gross oversimplification (no pun intended), I refer you to the Philadelphia Museum of Art's comprehensive presentation on the restoration project at http://www.philamuseum.org/research/22-398-561-450.html?page=1.

Thanks to Mark Tucker for a wonderful lecture, to Judy and Steaven Jones for their delightful hospitality and to the American Art Council and the curatorial staff at LACMA for making the evening possible.  Sorry I couldn't share photos of the event.  I had camera in hand, but did not have a backup battery when mine went dead.  Better luck next time.

That is it for this post and as always, if I can be of any assistance to you or any of your friends, family or colleagues with any of your real estate needs (residential, commercial or otherwise) or if I can help find a real estate professional for you to work with in your local community, please let me know.  It would be my pleasure to help.

Jim Rea
Keller Williams Palisades