West Lake Conservators
Mural Conservation Photos and Information
Susan S.
Blakney, Fellow AIC, IIC
Senior Paintings Conservator
West Lake Conservators, Ltd.
Tel: (315) 685-8534
The March Of Time a 12' x 21' oil on canvas painted by Henry Sandham completed in 1896 depicting a dramatic parade on Boston Common by the Grand Army of the Republic held on Boston Common thirty years after the end of the war. The mural was received rolled and severely deteriorated by a previous conservation attempt that had failed. The canvas was saturated with wax and had suffered from poor storage when received at West Lake in early 2004. The conservation was completed by late summer and the restored mural is ready to be exhibited in Alexandria, Virginia.
March of Time as received:
Pre and Post Details:
Psi Upsilon Fraternity
Cornell University
December, 2003
December 2003: The Structural Conservation of 536 sq.ft. of severely flaking oil on concrete executed in 1930 by Burgess Green for the bar/pub in PsI Upsilon Fraternity at Cornell, Ithaca NY.
Pre and Post Details:
Scenic Murals of Aurora, NY
Aurora Inn
December, 2002 - June, 2003
Giovanni Piazzoni Murals
Old Main Library -
Asian Art Museum
San Francisco, California
October, 1999 - August, 2003
In April of 1999 West Lake was called to be part of a team of preservation
experts asked to remove and conserve fourteen Giovanni Piazzoni murals from
the lobby of the old Main Public Library in downtown San Francisco. The
unused building was being seismically retrofitted, strengthened, and
redesigned as the new Asian Art Museum and the marouflage murals had
been solid mounted to unstable brick walls.
Ten of the murals were painted in the early 1930's and depicted the Sea and the Mountains
and Forests of Northern California. Four more were painted in 1945 and
later mounted in the Library (c. 1972). These later additions, namely
The Mountain, The Forest, The Night, and The Dawn had been mounted with
an irreversible adhesive making the removal and re-mounting extremely difficult.
These four were shipped to West Lake in the fall of 1999 and were successfully
cleaned, preserved and remounted to honeycomb panel supports by August of 2003.
Facing the murals:
Arrival in Skaneateles
Completed and Ready to Crate for Shipping
The completed four murals are in the Treasurer's Building in Sancramento
The remaining 10 murals will be in the new de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park
Susan Blakney and the West Lake staff have completed the preservation of 21 murals since 1975.
