Georgia O’Keeffe Painting Damaged By Tarantula Goes On Show After Restoration
Spiders, amirite? Spring, painted by Georgia O’Keeffe in 1948, was the largest canvas that the modernist artist had created at the time. It also encompassed some of her most iconic motifs—including desert primroses, animal bones, and the Pedernal mountain peak near her New Mexico house. Things were looking rosy until a tarantula tunneled through the roof at her 18th-century Abiquiú house and apparently caused a leak, bringing water damage to the art.
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, which acquired the work when it opened in 1997, had spent the last several months repairing the painting. It took a tedious 1,250 hours and US$145,000—US$75,000 of which was funded through a Bank of America grant (the other US$70,000 came from the museum’s own pocket)—to refreshen those petals and polish the vertebra.
As reported by the Associated Press, experts not only had to fix the water damage on the 4 x 7-foot painting but also clean up defects from past restorations and its layer of varnish, a material that conservators have abandoned for some time.
The museum’s head of conservation Dale Kronkright said the project was the most ambitious restorative work he has been involved in.
Almost a metaphor for fresh beginnings in the new year, the revitalized Spring has finally blossomed and will greet visitors at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum through October 10, before being loaned to the San Diego Museum of Art for display in 2023.
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[via Associated Press and ARTnews, images via various sources]
