This oil on canvas by Frances H Norris Streit suffers from water damage and a thick contamination of surface dirt, which happened to be petroleum-based. The dirt causes the color of the paint film to appear much darker than it is. Laborious efforts have been underway, using three different chemical solutions to carefully lift the dirt. This process is having such a profound effect that we wanted to share it with you.
Frances Hammond Norris Streit (1918 – 1997) was born in Fulton County, Indiana and died in Long Island, New York. She schooled at the Heron Institute of Art in Indianapolis, IN, receiving a BFA, and furthered her education at the State University of Iowa. Before WWII she worked under the name Frances H. Norris, exhibiting at the Carnegie Institute and the Hoosier Salon. Included in Artists of the Hoosier Salon index as Frances Norris, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the East, Lauter’s Indiana Artists, and Davenport’s. By WWII she had married and was working in New York as Frances N. Streit and Frances Norris Streit where she specialized in late period murals. She painted the official portrait of Indiana Governor George N. Craig.
