Facilitating the conservation treatment of Eva Hesse\u2019s Addendum through practice-based research, including a comparative evaluation of novel cleaning systems

Angelica Bartoletti,David Chelazzi,Bronwyn A Ormsby,Tamar Maor,Nicole Bonelli,Lora V Angelova,Piero Baglioni

doi:10.1186/s40494-020-00378-z

Abstract

This paper describes the methodology and practice-based research underpinning the development of a successful cleaning strategy for Eva Hesse’s sculpture Addendum (1967, Tate Collection T02394). Research strands included: technical and art historical investigations to determine the materials and construction of the work of art and to define the aims of the conservation treatment; the production, soiling and accelerated ageing of mock-up samples using contemporary equivalent materials; and the systematic, iterative evaluation of soiling removal systems, which were further refined for appropriate use on the work of art. The comparative cleaning system evaluation was employed to determine options which offered optimal soiling removal efficacy and posed minimal risk to the work of art. Newly developed Nanorestore Gel® Peggy series (i.e. polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVA/PVP)-based hydrogels), designed for the cleaning of modern and contemporary art, were evaluated with a range of other gels, emulsifiers and cosmetic sponges and assessed through a combination of empirical observation, microscopy and spectroscopic techniques. Promising options, combined with tailored aqueous phases derived from trials on mock-up samples, were then evaluated on discreet areas of the sculpture. After extensive testing, the top papier mâché section of Addendum was surface cleaned using an aqueous solution applied with cosmetic sponges, and the ropes were surface cleaned using a modified version of Nanorestore Gel® Peggy 5 (PVA/PVP) loaded with a tailored aqueous solution. The optimisation of this hydrogel, combined with the extensive supporting research, enabled the successful, low-risk, conservation treatment of Addendum for the first time since acquisition.

Highlights

The removal of surface dirt, grime and other marks from modern painted surfaces can prove challenging for many reasons including determining the significance of any soiling layer, devising a low-risk method of Bartoletti et al Herit Sci (2020) 8:35One significant example is the sculptural wall installation Addendum (Fig. 1), created in 1967 by the Germanborn American sculptor Eva Hesse (1936–1970) for the exhibition Art in Series.1 The sculpture is comprised of a softwood rectangular box with seventeen raised hemispheres arranged at increasing intervals, covered in papier mâché and painted grey with acrylic dispersion paint and coated in an unpigmented polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) layer
General observations and comments were recorded on the relative cleaning efficacy and intrinsic risks related to each system
Optimising the cleaning strategy—Addendum Papier mâché section None of the containing systems proved useful for cleaning the papier mâché section and, among the cosmetic sponges tested (Tables 2 and 3), only the NYX Pro Beauty Wedges and the SENSAI sponge cloth were further evaluated on the sculpture in combination with the most promising cleaning fluid selected from initial trials, i.e. an aqueous solution of ECOSURFTM EH-6/tri-ammonium citrate (TAC) (Additional file 1: Table S3) at concentrations varying from 0.5 to 1%

Summary

Introduction

The removal of surface dirt (or soiling), grime and other marks from modern painted surfaces can prove challenging for many reasons including determining the significance of any soiling layer, devising a low-risk method of Bartoletti et al Herit Sci (2020) 8:35One significant example is the sculptural wall installation Addendum (Fig. 1), created in 1967 by the Germanborn American sculptor Eva Hesse (1936–1970) for the exhibition Art in Series.1 The sculpture is comprised of a softwood rectangular box with seventeen raised hemispheres arranged at increasing intervals, covered in papier mâché and painted grey with acrylic dispersion (emulsion) paint and coated in an unpigmented polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) layer. The Shellsol®D40-based microemulsions were included in the free-liquid section as they behave as free-liquids, and proved very effective in removing the soiling from the mock-ups (Additional file 1: Table S3); except for Series 2–15, the microemulsions tended to alter the surface gloss of the papier mâché and rope mock-ups, suggesting that the coating layers were softening to an unacceptable degree.

Results

Conclusion