Peter Farrugia’s feature ‘Canvases and coronets’ (The Sunday Times, May 6) might give readers the wrong impression.
I found it strange that my name, together with that of RoccoBuhagiar, was singled out in connection with the generic claim that the Erardi painting, TheVirgin of Divine Grace at the Capuchin church in Victoria, was “retouched by various painters”.
Historically, the painting was enlarged by Rocco Buhagiar, who was also commissioned to paint the two vertical paintings of St Anne and St Joachim which flank the altarpiece.
For the record I will narrate the exact circumstances surrounding my involvement in the painting’s restoration process. I was contacted by the then Capuchin convent superior, Fr Spiridione Galea, and his successor Fr Joe Mallia after the crowns of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus were pulled from the canvas and stolen in the mid-1970s. As a result, the canvas suffered minute cuts because the crowns were forcibly pulled together with the screws and bolts which secured them to it.
It was eventually agreed that the painting would be carried to my temporary studio at home in Victoria. I was charged with the elimination of the cuts and reintegrating the minute perforations originally done for the passing of the screws holding the respective crowns. My involvement was solely limited to this and in no way did I ‘retouch’ the whole painting as claimed in the article.
I am including a close-up photo of the damage suffered by the painting prior to my intervention. When, some years later, the crowns were stolen again, I was not consulted and hence any restoration interventions were carried out by others.
I used the restoration technique I learned during my years atthe Accademia in Perugia under Prof. Lanciotto Fumi, and by exploiting other techniques as applied by old masters such as the painters Giuseppe Briffa and Toussant Busuttil, who were also restorers at the Malta Museum of Fine Arts.
They were both close friends of my father, the sculptor Wistinu Camilleri, and the three of them grew and collaborated together in all spheres of art. Eventually they took me under their wing and instructed me in the art of restoration. I also obtained further expertise in conservation and restoration from Raimondo Boenni, who led a team of restorers for the restoration project on Mattia Preti’s St John’s Co-Cathedral vaults in the early 1960s.
It was the Capuchin, Fr Faustino Testaferrata, who retouched the whole painting prior to the first crowning ceremony of the Erardi painting.
I do not know of anybody else who might have retouched the painting.
As an experienced artist, I see a huge leap in art appreciationeven by the lay person. Even restoration technology has made huge strides.
However, I believe that technical examination rarely solves attribution issues in a definitive manner. It often shows that our questions and presumptions are much too simple and stereotyped.
It is time to move the debateabout restoration which is intricately tied up with questions of scientific analysis.
Let us detach the quest to examine works of art scientifically from the process of restoration.
Knowing and intervening are different things.
Source: www.timesofmalta.com
Furniture appeals to classic and contemporary tastes – and fingers, too - Spartanburg Herald-Journal
In some pieces, you'll see the smooth-as-glass finish, protecting intricate patterns in the exotic wood. You expect them to be warm to the touch.
In other pieces in which the natural flaws of the wood were exploited and objectified, you know there would be contrasting textures of worm holes, rough saw cuts, dings and even arrested rot ... if you could only run your fingertips across the tempting surfaces.
But you can't — at least you shouldn't. Read the little signs: “Please Do Not Touch.”
McDunn knows people want to touch his heirloom/contemporary pieces of wood furniture; he knows touch is one of his biggest selling points. But selling the furniture is the point, and the hands of people who are just browsing have often accidentally damaged his goods, which, for many would-be buyers, carry sticker-shock prices. Consider that the least expensive item in the collection is the small Unibox made of maple: $190 and big enough for a few pieces of very nice and small jewelry.
The most expensive piece is the Walnut Corner Cabinet, with walnut exterior, cypress interior, solid brass hardware with platinum patina, and antique restoration glass. It sells for $8,600 and would hold grandma's good china quite nicely.
This is no place for hard-as-nails manicures or oily fingers.
Don't let the high-end prices keep you from seeing this exhibit. Even if you can't afford anything, there's plenty of satisfaction in just looking. The appreciation of handmade quality and unique design is free from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at the Chapman Cultural Center.
Admission is $4 per adult, $2 for students, and $7 for the whole family. The 22-piece exhibit is in town through Aug. 4.
The mix of mostly cabinetry and tables reflects McDunn's 30 years of woodworking experience in the Upstate. Some of the pieces are classic and traditional. Some are even reproductions of the finest work of the 1800s, such as the Kiawah Pine Huntboard (mortise-and-tenon pegged carcass; hand-cut dovetails; single-slab top, back, bottom and side panels; book-matched drawer fronts; hand-planed and scraped; shellac and oil finish — $7,800).
Top-quality materials and expert craftsmanship make this South Carolina-themed design better than the antique original. Other pieces reflect McDunn's personal, more contemporary style, such as the Sphere Table Cherry Crotch & Ebony that sits atop two giant silver-leafed balls ($3,800). What the market has taught him is to combine his personal taste with conventional demand to produce pieces he calls “heirloom/contemporary.”
In addition to making furniture designed to sell commercially and pieces that scratch his creative itch, McDunn and his Greenville staff of three do commissioned furniture based on clients' wants and needs.
One of the most eye-catching exhibits is the Lacquer Finish Lotus Table, which belongs to a friend and is not for sale. Instead of legs, this entry table stands on a series of bentwood slats that converge about a third of the way from the floor and flare top and bottom, leaving see-through open space in between. Because McDunn's friend is a woodcraftsman too, the perimeter of the tabletop is laser-inlaid with silhouettes of tools of the trade: hammers, nails, saws, etc. It is the sort of piece that is intriguing from afar and even more interesting up close.
Attention to detail is McDunn's hallmark, and he challenges potential customers to make long-term decisions when considering furniture. Sure, his work is expensive, but it will last more than a single lifetime and will only increase in value, unlike the mass-produced pressboard knockoffs of discount furniture warehouses. And when you make that investment in truly fine furniture, it will be yours to touch and to appreciate all the more.
Source: www.goupstate.com
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