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Museum objects are usually beautiful and highly attractive and show off their best side. It is not for nothing that we speak of a “museum piece”. But they rarely come to the museum in this top condition. Barbara Beer's book, It's Not About Beautiful, takes you behind the scenes of the Vienna Museum and provides insights into the work of the restoration workshops. As the title of the book sums it up, it is less important to make a “beautiful” piece than to preserve the objects, including their soul, characteristics and individual story(s), in the long term. In many cases, decay processes need to be stopped and surfaces cleaned. In Anton Hlavaček's monumental painting The Imperial City on the Danube - Vienna from the Nußberg (1884), the sky over Vienna, which has turned gray over the years, now shines again in the fresh light blue of a summer day, as the artist painted it 140 years ago and corresponds to his intention at the time.
Using the example of 15 objects, Barbara Beer shows the meticulous work of the restorers. Not only their broad specialist knowledge, but also a lot of love and, above all, a lot, or a lot of time, gives the exhibits a second life.
The book begins with the Praterwal, which Güner Ayaz, who was commissioned to demolish the restaurant Zum Walfisch in the Prater in 2013, saved on his own initiative. In the workshops of the Vienna Museum, the 1.7-ton giant made of wood and copper sheet from 1951 not only had to be restored, but also adapted for its new, now hanging presentation on four ropes in the museum.
The picture Young Mother (1914) by Egon Schiele is also fascinating, as it is one of the few pictures that does not have a varnish surface. Infrared and X-ray images showed that Schiele originally painted two children, but later painted over one child. Schiele's painting process proved to be extremely complex; there are areas with several almost impasto layers on top of each other, while in other places there is only a thinly applied primer.
The six-part historical Vienna model (1897/98) by Erwin Pendl also proved to be labor-intensive; 2,400 hours of work were necessary to dust off Vienna on a scale of 1:450. The expense results, among other things, from previous restoration (mis)treatment that did not correspond to today's standards.
Examples include the original of the lead-cast thunder fountain, which was visible for many years in the lower Belvedere, a mammoth tooth, the Bösendorfer grand piano from Grillparzer's apartment and a rescued facade inscription from Adolf Grünsfeld's watch, jewelry and silverware shop at Favoritenstrasse 60. With all the illustrious objects, it is not only their successful restorations that are fascinating, but also their back stories, which are all facets of Vienna's eventful history.
The large-scale question “How do you save art?” is answered by three women who are highly ambitious, committed and competent with expertise and attention to detail at a high artistic level. But first things first: Fabienne Meyer works as a restorer specializing in paper restoration at the copper engraving cabinet of the Berlin State Museums. Sibylle Wulff, also a restorer (focus on paintings), looks after the over 600-year-old art collection of the University of Leipzig. The third member of the group, Martina Leykamm, is a freelance illustrator. She used the knowledge of the two restorers in her drawings. The result is an extraordinary book, rich in content and informative at a high technical level, but at the same time as easy to read as a children's picture book. The intention was clear: “People should be interested in picking up the book,” said Wulff. That also succeeded. It was "Not a textbook, no instructions, but a deep insight, with lots of background information, and an ultimate art rescue pleasure - this book cannot and should not be more than that." (Quote: Foreword).
The book begins with a graphic depiction of an art robbery at night. The thief is after the portrait of Hugo von Hangenstein. The next pages provide insight into the picture's story of suffering. Dirt, temperature differences and other injuries affect the work of art before it is discovered in a garage. Now the professional restoration begins. Restoration studio including tools and examination methods are shown. This is followed by a study of materials for paintings, you learn details about wooden sculptures, read and marvel at the elaborate packaging and find graphic answers sketched with loving strokes for each damaged work of art. On pages 76 and 77, "Hugo" is professionally restored. Missing paper is added, followed by a passe-partout and a new frame. Ultimately, “Hugo” shines with its old freshness.
At the end of the book How do you save art? The question is: Who saves art? No fewer than 30 people provide answers, all of which are represented graphically, which makes it easier to show their skills. The final question about art rescue finds a universal answer in the very last sentence of the book, which is itself a work of art with fold-out pages: "Everyone who is interested in art."
Conclusion: Under the title It's not about beautiful, not only 15 restoration stories of objects from the Vienna Museum are described in detail, but each object also tells a piece of Vienna's history from the Middle Ages to the present day. The lovingly illustrated large format How do you save art? gives insight into restoration workshops and techniques. It could also make you want to take up this career, which requires creativity and guarantees variety at the highest level. (Thomas Hofmann, June 21, 2024)