Case Studies
A Dangerous Curve
It was so warped when it arrived at Lowy, that it formed an arch. This extreme distortion made it impossible for it to fit into a frame or hang properly for viewing ...
A Dramatic Revelation
“It was the worst case of blanching I’d ever seen,” says conservator Marlene Raedisch. Blanching occurs when environmental moisture becomes securely incorporated into the varnish ...
A Revolutionary Restoration
Lowy faced several unique challenges when it was called upon to restore a massive 14-foot by 17-foot oil painting of a battle scene from the American Revolution ...
Curiously George
“Along with the iconic style and subject matter, there were other clues — the age of the canvas, the transparency of the pigment and the colors of the palette — that pointed to the conclusion that Gilbert Stuart painted this portrait of George Washington,” recalls Larry Shar ...
Dressing Up a Modern Master
When art dealer Deedee Wigmore of D. Wigmore Fine Art in New York needed to clean and frame 60 paintings from the 1930s and ‘40s by the American modern master Charles Green Shaw, she knew she could count on Lowy ...
Rolled Out of Storage ...
A painting by Winold Reiss arrived at Lowy after remaining in storage for many years, neglected, and in need of conservation. It depicted a scene from Procter & Gamble’s Ivorydale Plant that shows ...
The Reblooming of Two Martin Johnson Heade Florals
The restoration journey of two floral still lifes by the American painter Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) began when James Maroney, a Vermont-based dealer in American art, received ...
Saving An Historic New Yorker
By the time William Henry Powell’s “Portrait of George Law” (1856) found its way from The Tudor Place: Historic House and Garden in Washington, D.C. (Martha Washington’s ancestral home) to the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences in New York it it had ...
LaFarge Mural Revitalized by Lowy Conservators
Lowy has just completed a challenging conservation of a large mural study painted by John LaFarge. Part of the collection of the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, “The Angel of the Sun” has been installed ...
Ingenuity and Craftsmanship Provide the Answer
It didn’t take an expert to see that the beautiful Impressionist light of “October Morning”, by Willard Metcalf was completely obscured by a dark surface coating when the painting arrived at Lowy. It was obvious that this layer ...
History Revealed
“For an art conservator, it’s a special joy to reveal part of a painting that’s been hidden for years,” says Lowy’s Fred Schmidt enthusiastically. “And this case was especially gratifying because the ‘hidden ’ element is such an important part of the overall composition.” Late last year ...
Historic Mural by Berninghaus Restored
“The latest grand scale project taken on by Lowy conservators was the restoration of an historic mural by Oscar E. Berninghaus. The 8 x 12’ oil on canvas, “Commerce on the Levee in the early 80s” was originally commissioned for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St.Louis, Missouri ...
Preserving Family Ties
New Yorker Eric Pike, creative director of publications at Martha Stewart Living magazine, claims a lifelong fascination with a single painting: an unsigned portrait of Daniel Webster, the noted early 19th-century Massachusetts ...
Reviving a Modern Master
Many brilliant artists throughout history, although recognized in their time, have remained long and undeservedly forgotten, for one reason or another. A select few, however, have been fortunate enough ...