These two great pieces of Americana are oil paintings done on copper plates by the artist William Aiken Walker (1839 – 1921). Copper has always been a great preserver of oil paint, and we’re glad to say that the foundational aspects for these two works are rather good. It’s likely that they have never been varnished and, as you can imagine, they are quite covered with surface contaminates. And due to the nature of copper and how it can corrode when contacted with cleaning solvents, we’ll have to be gentle in our approach and use a gel system. We can’t wait to see the natural colors and the clarity of the details that are already quite impressive. Stay tuned for more…

William Aiken Walker (1839-1921) was an American artist who was born to an Irish Protestant father and a mother of South Carolina background in Charleston, South Carolina in 1839.  In 1842, when his father died, Walker’s mother moved the family to Baltimore, Maryland, where they remained until returning to Charleston in 1848.

In 1861, during the American Civil War, Walker enlisted in the Confederate army and served under General Wade Hampton in the Hampton’s Legion.  He was wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines (1862).  After recuperating, he was transferred back to Charleston, where he was assigned picket duty, which gave him time to paint.  For the next two years, he made maps and drawings of Charleston’s defenses.  He was separated from the military at the end of 1864.  After the Civil War, Walker moved to Baltimore, where he produced small paintings of the “Old South” to sell as tourist souvenirs.

He is best known for his paintings depicting the lives of poor black emancipated slaves, especially sharecroppers in the post-Reconstruction American South.  Two of his paintings were reproduced by Currier and Ives as chromolithographs.

Walker continued painting until his death on January 3, 1921 in Charleston, where he is buried in the family plot at Magnolia Cemetery.

This Japanese doll suffered from sun damage that had really effected the red colors making them a lighter shade. Adhering the kimono to the doll were pins, and to the pedestal were nails. There was also a stain on the pedestal.

The first approach to strengthen the color of the red fabric was less invasive and used dyes, but after tests it was determined this was not going to give the desired result. Period Japanese silk that was used for kimonos was then ordered from Japan. From the waist up all of the red fabric was replaced, and at the the bottom, where the kimono was attached to the pedestal by nails, it was determined that nail removal would be more damaging to the kimono than the fabric replacement, and therefore the original fabric was left.

The stain on the pedestal was tested with numerous solutions of different strengths. Unfortunately none of these was more effective than being able to lighten the color of the stain. In-painting was then used in the area to conceal the presence.

This is our first time using an expandable packaging material, and it turned out to be a rather fun experience. The product uses air to expand around the artwork, which is ideal for an asymmetrical object. These were nestled around the sculpture in our shipping box that we had fortified with styrofoam. You can never have too much packaging.