Written by Aziza Jackson Wednesday, 09 March 2011 21:40

Hale Aspacio Woodruff's Savery Library Murals Are Removed For Restoration

Talladega, Alabama (Daily Home).- Monday 7 March 2011 marked the beginning of the end for Talladega College’s prized Amistad Murals’ display in Savery Library. Work on the first three panels “The Revolt,” “The Court Scene,” and “Back to Africa,” began early Monday morning with the detachment of the first mural “The Revolt,” starting around 9:30 a.m. The second set of three panels depicting an Underground Railroad scene, a scene of the first day of registration at Swayne Hall, and the building of Savery Library are scheduled to come down early on Tuesday 8th March.All six murals painted by world-renowned artist Hale Aspacio Woodruff have been hanging in TC’s Savery Library since the 1930s, and are undergoing a detachment process from its walls before being restored at the Atlanta Art Conservation Center. Larry Shutts, associate conservator of paintings at the Atlanta Art Conservation Center, had the important hands-on task of carefully detaching the canvases, from which the murals were painted, from the walls of the library. Shutts, who has had a lot of experience with detaching and restoring murals, has also done work detaching large-scale murals at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

He arrived at the college last Thursday and did some testing and took some precautionary steps over the weekend before the actual detachment process began Monday. Weak spots on the paintings were covered with strips of Japanese tissue that were adhered to the paintings with a wax resin to prevent any damage in the detachment and transportation of the murals. “It’s kind of a precautionary step,” Shutts said. After all the precautionary steps, Shutts prepared himself for what would be a long and tedious process Monday.

“Basically, from this point we roll them up and put them on the tube,” Shutts said. “After they are rolled up they will be transported to the museum in Atlanta.” Upon arrival at the conservation center, the murals will be adhered to another piece of fabric and then onto enormous wooden stretchers where they will be cleaned and restored. “Once they are cleaned, any areas of damage will be restored,” Shutts said.

After almost 70 years of dirt and dust build-up in the library, Shutts said the paintings are in very good shape for their age. “They’ve done well,” Shutts said. “The very best thing is that this is a very dark vestibule so there’s no natural light coming in. “It’s poorly lit but that’s good.” Shutts said another contributing factor to the murals’ vibrant appearance is that they were constructed with good quality materials and paint. He also noted the murals were done in two different batches about three years apart, and were attached to the walls in different ways.

Moldings around the first three Amistad mural panels were holding them in place with the help of tacks, the second set of murals depicting an Underground Railroad scene, a scene of the first day of registration at Swayne Hall, and the building of Savery Library were held in place by an adhesive and nailed to the wall. “This one is going to take a little more effort to get off,” Shutts said, pointing to the last panel that depicted the construction of Savery Library.




Shutts said that panel and the one depicting a scene of the first day of registration at Swayne Hall were the two panels that were in the worst shape. Work on the first panel, “The Revolt,” started around 9:30 a.m. and literally wrapped up around 10:30 a.m. With the assistance of Marc Tourville and Edward Upson from U.S. Art, a transportation agency affiliated with the High Museum of Art, Shutts cautiously peeled the canvas off the wall inch-by-inch before rolling it onto a gigantic 7-foot cardboard tube that will soon be transported with the other five tubes in a climate-controlled truck to the conservation center in Atlanta.

Shutts had to use several tools including a spatula to work the canvases off of the surface of the walls. “It’s an exciting day for me to be the president of this institution as the murals come down to be restored,” said TC President Billy C. Hawkins as he looked on during the detachment process. “This will be the last time these murals hang in this library. March 7, 2011 is certainly a day to be remembered. It’s pretty emotional for all of us but it’ll be great for Talladega College.”

While at the conservation center, the murals will be cleaned and re-stretched during a period of eight to 12 months. After the restoration process, the murals will be presented at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in an exhibit titled “Rising Up: Hale Woodruff’s Murals at Talladega College” from June 2 to Sept. 2, 2012. The Talladega College murals will be on display with Woodruff’s other mural commissions throughout his career. To accompany the exhibit there will also be a catalogue of essays done on Woodruff, his murals, Talladega College, and the time period that influenced Woodruff’s mural paintings at Talladega College.

The next two confirmed venues for the tour will be the National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington D.C. where the murals will be displayed Oct. 6, 2012, to Feb. 28, 2013, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, IN. where they will be displayed from March 23, 2013, to June 16, 2013. A fourth venue for the murals has not been determined as of yet, but the contract states that the fourth venue will be scheduled from July 20, 2013, to October 13, 2013.

Billy C. Hawkins said that several cities are vying for that fourth spot on the tour, and many others are trying to schedule fifth, sixth, seventh, and even eighth spots. He said museums in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and New Orleans are currently in discussion but are not yet confirmed. Because of the demand for the murals, Hawkins said the projected 2013 deadline for their return back to Talladega College’s campus could very well be extended.

The worth of each of the six panels varies between $6 million and $8 million; they are collectively worth about $40.5 million. The restoration of all six murals comes with a $116,000 price tag that has been fully paid for by the High Art Museum, along with an insurance plan that fully covers the murals for the entire exhibition tour.




Hawkins said the contract also states that a fundraiser for Talladega College is to be held at each museum in which the murals are exhibited. Macy’s will help with the fundraiser and look to attract donors in each city to the exhibit. According to the contract, each museum that is hosting the Amistad murals exhibit will be making a $25,000 contribution directly to Talladega College.

“We’re getting calls now about other cities wanting them,” Hawkins said. “I would hope the state of Alabama comes on and really recognizes what we have here.” Hawkins also said that state Sen. Jerry Fielding is helping in that regard, and working with Hawkins to rally around the Amistad murals project that will ultimately lead to the construction of a $13 million museum on Talladega College’s campus to house the murals once they return.

“We want this to be more than a museum for Talladega College,” Hawkins said. “We want this to be a museum for the state of Alabama.”

Source - Daily Home (newspaper) + AKN writer

---

Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~