Conservation
Zoom Program with Rick Kerschner - December 7th, 2021
Join us on December 7 at 7:00 pm for a presentation by our Coordinating Conservator Rick Kerschner, who will share the details of the recently completed cleaning of the Lost Mural. Conservators worked from April to August 2021 and the results are truly dazzling! Paint sampling, testing, color palette determination and cleaning of harmful varnishes, charcoal dust, and grime have all been achieved. Register here.
This program is free and open to the public.
August 2021 - Cleaning Phase of Conservation Complete!
After four and a half months of work by our conservation team, the cleaning of the Lost Mural was completed at the end of August, 2021. This process involved removing layers of darkened varnish, dirt, and grime from the mural’s surface. Today, the mural more closely resembles the artwork created by Ben Zion Black in 1910 than it has in decades.
Explore the images below to see how the mural has changed since it was documented through archival photographs in 1986. Click on each image for a detailed description.
Make a contribution to help us complete the final stage of conservation: the restoration of the mural’s damaged areas.
Sun and central panel
Left-hand Panel/Blue Curtains
Red Curtains
July 2021 - Rick Kerschner Explains how the Mural is Cleaned.
Watch the video below for an in-depth discussion with Coordinating Conservator Rick Kerschner about the techniques being used to clean the Lost Mural, as well as amazing up-close images of the mural as it undergoes this incredible transformation. This program took place on Zoom on July 29th, 2021.
June 2021 - Conservation Underway!
This spring, the Lost Mural Project began the first of two phases of conservation work aimed at fully restoring the mural. On April 19th, 2021, conservators Constance Silver and Jennifer Baker began carefully cleaning the entire surface of the mural. This process involves removing several layers of varnish and dirt from the mural’s surface. The varnish, which has a yellowish tinge, has been slowly reacting to a chemical which was applied to the mural’s surface to protect it during the 2015 move; it is getting harder to remove as time passes. Removing it now is an essential and urgent part of restoring the mural to how it looked when it was painted.
While removing the varnish is important for the preservation of the mural, it is also a visually stunning process. As the yellowed varnish and layers of grime are cleared away from the mural, exquisite colors are appearing beneath!
On the left, the bright yellow paint of the mural’s central sun motif paint is visible.To the right, the paint is partially obscured by a layer of varnish and dirt which has accumulated over more than a century. On the far right, a poultice containing specially selected solvents helps to soften the varnish for removal while leaving the paint beneath unharmed. Photo by Rick Kerschner.
Several experts, including Peter Manseau, Lilly Endowment Curator of Religion at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, have voiced their support for this conservation work: “the Lost Mural is a symbol that crosses generations and validates the universal story of communities built by refugees and immigrants... The ability of future generations to learn from this important piece of American history depends on actions taken today.”
Phase one, the cleaning of the mural is scheduled to conclude at the end of the summer, and will be followed by a second phase, in which areas of the mural which were damaged when paint flaked away will be restored. To learn how you can help support this restoration phase, which is currently in planning stages, click here.
September 2020 - Conservation Assessment Complete!
On September 18th, our conservator completed a month-long assessment of the Lost Mural, during which she cleaned and partially restored two small areas of the mural. During this project, she also made several discoveries about the work of the mural’s painter, Ben Zion Black.
While we have known for several years that the mural was originally much more vibrant than it appears today, It was still astonishing when grime cleaned away from one of the mural’s two Lions of Judah revealed the striking contrast between the brilliant gold highlighting the lion’s musculature and the dark shadows which make it pop off the plaster. This discovery illuminates Ben Zion Black’s full artistic skill in creating depth and dimensionality. The conservator explained that when the mural is fully cleaned, the expansive three-dimensional effects created by the tromp l’oeil pillars, tent, and curtains will usher the viewer into the scene, welcoming all who stand directly under the mural into the biblical Tent of the Tabernacle.
Right-hand Lion of Judah before cleaning
Right-hand Lion of Judah after cleaning
Another discovery made
was the existence of underdrawings - preparatory drawings done directly on the plaster prior to painting, which sketched out the mural’s design.
Along the edge of the curtains, faint lines show that Black didn’t perfectly follow his sketch when he painted in the tasseled edging.
This provides another tantalizing clue to his artistic process.
The final area where our conservator worked was a 2’x3’ rectangle on the right-hand panel, containing the bottom of the large drape and a portion of one column. Here she not only removed varnish and grime, but also carefully in-painted areas where the original paint layer had flaked off prior to 2012. This small section is now fully restored and gives us a stirring glimpse how the entire Lost Mural will look once conservation is completed!
This 2’x3’ section of the mural’s right panel is shown here before restoration.
This 2’x3’ section of the mural’s right panel is shown here after restoration.
We are now at the cusp of revealing the full majesty and scale of Ben Zion Black’s technical artistry. At this juncture, we are raising funds to complete the conservation of the mural.
Please contribute to our Celebrate L’Chaim Campaign and help bring the Lost Mural fully back to life!
Previous Updates:
August 2020 - Conservation Underway on the Lost Mural.
On August 17th 2020, a conservator began cleaning 110 years of varnish and grime away from a small section of the Lost Mural’s surface. This marked the beginning of a month-long project in which we will explore ways to clean and restore the mural, in preparation for a full-scale effort to complete the mural’s conservation.
The current conservation effort aims to further bring the mural’s vibrant original colors back to life. Those colors were originally discovered during conservation work carried out in 2012 to 2015. The lost colors range from the rich blues of the drapery which forms the Tent of the Tabernacle to the deep red of the tablets and the warm butter yellow of the mural’s central sunburst. Restoring their original vibrancy is a key aspect of giving voice to the immigrant community of Burlington’s Old North End neighborhood, where the mural was painted in 1910.
For this project, work is being done on a previously untouched portion of the mural, which includes an area of significant paint loss. The assessment will include both cleaning this portion of the mural and developing techniques for restoring the damaged area. The findings will allow the Lost Mural Project to finalize plans for how the entire mural will be restored.
To learn more about the conservation of the Lost Mural, please email friends@lostmural.org.
To contribute to our conservation fund, please visit: https://www.lostmural.org/support
Between 2012 and 2015, art conservators worked extensively to save the painted surface of the Lost Mural.
That work involved both painstakingly re-attaching flaking paint to the plaster the mural was painted on, and beginning the task of cleaning the mural's surface.
In this 2014 video, art conservator Constance Silver explains her work restoring the Lost Mural and shows the dramatic results of early cleaning tests which reveal the mural’s original vibrant hues.
In 2020 and 2021 the Friends of the Lost Mural are raising funds to complete the task of revealing the mural’s original colors.