Until the 1960s, the Russian Museum would restore artworks with a carved
wooden base only from time to time, despite the fact that the integrity
of many such pieces in its possession left much to be desired.
The integrity of traditionally crafted old Russian wooden sculptures (carved
wooden base, partial or blanket pavoloka (canvas layer), primer (levkas),
paintwork (tempera), gold or silver plating) was particularly endangered.
The condition of these works had been lamentably preordained by the
Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church
in its decrees of 1722, 1727, 1832, and 1835, which banned the depiction of
three-dimensional images of saints. Whenever Old Russian polychromic
sculptures or iconographic images from the icon-cases of a set of sanctuary
doors had to be restored, it was customary for the Russian Museum to give
the job to tempera painting restorers. It is to be regretted that this work
was only done periodically and selectively.
In the 1950s, the Russian Museum sent out numerous expeditionary field
groups to salvage Old Russian artworks from ruined and abandoned churches
across northern Russia, where they had been stranded after the war of
1941-1945. This activity resulted in a much-enlarged collection of Old
Russian artworks, but the integrity of the new arrivals was usually less
than satisfactory – they urgently needed restoration and conservation.
This effort was greatly facilitated by the Russian Museum’s decision, in
1961, to set up a studio dedicated to wooden sculpture conservation
comprised of three sub-sections: for polychromic wooden sculpture,
gold-plated decorative carving, and furniture.
Appointed to steer the new studio was
Irina Dubovik,
a graduate of the Industrial Art School in Leningrad and one of the best
restorers on the Russian Museum’s staff. Dubovik had personally participated
in many an expedition party, recovering countless works of Russian
polychromic wooden sculpture and carved items in northern Russia and along
the Volga. Many up-and-coming restorers – future acclaimed masters in the
making – learned the secrets of art conservation under Dubovik’s tutelage:
Yuri Chumandrin,
Lyudmila Prokhorova,
Galina Preobrazhenskaya,
Lerra Lapina,
Marina Uryupina,
and others.
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Lead restoration artist Zhanna
Maksimenko working on an 18th-century carved icon. 2010 |
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In terms of hands-on work, which continued without interruption, the
studio’s history can be formally divided into several periods. In its
first years, it was entirely engrossed in the conservation of the many
pieces whose condition was defined as “extremely poor” and required
emergency action. Those were the formative years, when the staff
perfected the strengthening techniques for painted and gold-plated
primer. Initially drawing on the expertise of tempera restorers, whose
tradition went back quite a long time, the techniques had to be adapted
to a new challenge -- tackling complex, three-dimensional objects. This
period was filled with hard work and coincided with a surge of genuine
interest in the scientific fundamentals of art conservation, the
formation of its ground principles, and the emergence of new manmade
materials with properties that seemed to be well-suited to the practice
of art conservation.
The wooden sculpture conservation studio flourished during this period,
forging collaborative ties with the Hermitage, the National Art Conservation
Studio (GTsKhRM), the All-Union Research Institute for Art Conservation (VNIIR),
and a number of chemical labs. It also continued its search for new formulas
that would reliably strengthen disintegrating wooden bases and gold-plated
primers. The studio experimented with a polybutylmethacrylate (PBM) xylol
solution, a vinyl resin alcohol solution, wax and resin mastics, and a PVAc
dispersion. The studio tested the PVAc (polyvinylacetate) dispersion in
practice and discussed the results with the staff of VNIIR and GTsKhRM. The
chemical lab at VNIIR developed several formulas based on the PVAc
dispersion and blended polymers with 2 ethylhexyl acetate and ethylene to
effectively strengthen disintegrating gold-plated primers. The wooden
sculpture conservation studio subsequently tested and incorporated them into
its conservation practice.
The search for new conservation formulas and techniques to use on wooden
sculptures was prompted by the poor condition of certain wooden sculptures
created in the early 1900s, 1920s, 1930s, and more recently. Sculptors’
hasty use of materials that were either raw or not properly prepared had a
most unfortunate effect on the longevity of their works. Not infrequently,
the sculptors themselves would be compelled to fix multiple cracks that
appeared in their pieces even before they were finished, with all manner of
fillers. Some sculptors would even use materials that did not agree with
wood (the sculptor Suvorov, for instance, used cement to plug up the cracks
in some of his wooden sculptures).
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The restored 1533 ambon at the
exhibition Veliky Novgorod Art in the Era of Metropolitan
Macarius. 2017
Photo: Virtual Russian Museum
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As these fillers disintegrate, they will usually cause the cracks to expand
further and also create new ones. The first period of the studio’s history
included many years of hard, painstaking work on the conservation of artwork
with significant damage to the wooden base, canvas, primer, paintwork, and
gold-plating.
The previously mentioned decrees of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox
Church, issued in 1722, 1727, 1832, and 1835 and prohibiting the
three-dimensional portrayal of holy figures, were directly to blame for the
impaired longevity of Old Russian polychromic sculptures. Following the ban,
these sculptures had to be hidden, most often in unsuitable conditions.
Improper storage caused all kinds of damage and loss to the sculptures, and
later, when the sculptures were allowed to return to the churches, they were
repaired and retouched. Keeping this and other information in mind, the
staff of the wooden sculpture and scientific research sub-departments of the
Russian Museum do comprehensive studies of Old Russian sculptures to clarify
the condition of the original artwork.
The methods of “freeing” original Old Russian artworks from later
re-paintings and additions are consistently being improved. The studio has
adopted a “dry” clearing technique whereby the added paintwork is lightly
moistened with turpentine and then scraped off with a micro-scalpel. All the
work is done under a microscope. The clearing process takes longer, but the
delay is made up for by the quality of the original image that can be
maintained.
The comprehensive
restoration of an Old Russian masterpiece – the 1533 wooden ambo
from the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Veliky Novgorod
– is one of the most recent fascinating conservation projects undertaken by
the wooden sculpture team.
