This painting by Joseph Antonio Hekking (1830 – 1903) suffered from dirt particulates and heavy residue across the surface. The painting had been executed on a canvas and then attached to a board. There was mold on the canvas, and the canvas no longer provided a stable foundation for the paint film. As a result, dryness of the paint film had led to cracking and caused what is known as craquelures. There were three holes in the canvas that had led to paint loss.

The painting was de-fit and then carefully removed from its board mount. Then the mold was treated and the canvas archivally adhered to new linen to provide additional strength. This process involved a heat press, with the pressure of that machine helping to stabilize the craquelures. Careful cleaning removed the dirt particulates and other surface residue. Fortunately, the canvas tears were shallow enough that they could be treated by the relining; in-filling and in-painting concealed these areas, and further in-painting addressed the craquelures. Conservation varnish to finish.

A new custom, hand carved frame was prepared in the style of the American Whistler Reverse Antique with 22 karat gilding and a black lacquer liner.

J. A. Hekking (1830-1903) was a versatile and talented landscape painter who lived in New York and Connecticut and was active from the early 1850’s to the later 1870’s.  Hekking was a frequent participant at major exhibitions. His paintings were inspired by the Adirondack and White Mountains, Connecticut, New York views, and the Jersey shore.  He worked with Frederick Rondeland.  His paintings were actively acquired by important collectors including J.S. Farrand, Sarah Holderby, N.L. Lindsey, T. Foster, and George Watter Vincent Smith.

Hekking exhibited at the National Academy of Design (eight paintings between 1859 and 1875); the 1865 Michigan State Fair; the Crystal Palace in New York, 1853; Cosmopolitan Art Association, 1858; Utica Art Association, 1868; Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1869; Boston;1869; the Buffalo YMCA, 1861 and the Chicago Industrial Exposition in 1876. Hekking is listed in the exhibition records of the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Groce and Wallace New York Historical Society Dictionary of Artists in America.

This Dune painting by Frank Virgil Dudley (1868-1957) suffered from heavy smoke and dirt particulates across the surface. There was some paint loss along the top as well as a crease around the perimeter due to the stress caused by the stretcher bar, and there were some craquelures that were discovered.

The cleaning process had a tremendous effect, but it made the craquelures more apparent. Consolidation returned these areas to plane, and in-fill and in-painting concealed them.

A new custom and handmade American Impressionist frame was made with carved corners and gilded with 22 karat gold.

In an auction at the beginning of the year, Frank Dudley set his career high mark, and we glad to see not only the appreciation for the style of American Impressionism, but also the appreciation for the “Painter of the Dunes,” as Dudley became to be known as.

Frank Dudley (1868-1957), born in Delavan, Wisconsin, had worked as a youth with his father as a house painter.  Frank was one of three brothers born to deaf-mute parents, James A. and Flora Virgil Dudley. Communicating in sign language, James Dudley taught his sons the craft of house painting. James also had some skill as a draftsman and easel painter, and Frank likely received his earliest art instruction from his father. He also studied easel painting with Albert McCoy, who was a visiting artist from Chicago, and then moved to Chicago where he took a job as a commercial engraver.  He attended night classes at the Art Institute where he studied under John H. Vanderpoel and Charles Boutwood. Around this time he also had an introduction to Impressionism by way of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Frank married Mahala Boxwell several years before their son Paul was born in 1898, and he supported his family with his artwork. Following the sudden death of his wife in 1904, Frank Dudley turned to plein air landscape painting.

In 1911, he visited the Indiana Dunes for the first time, and began to record the scenery there. In 1913 he married his second wife, Maida Lewis, with whom he spent the rest of his life. With Maida often seated nearby, he painted the Dunes in all seasons.

In 1921, having gained much positive attention for his regional focus, Dudley closed the small art supply business he was running in Chicago, and built a cabin for full-time painting on Lake Michigan near Chesterton, Indiana.  He was able to build the cabin with money he received from winning the Logan Prize of the Art Institute for his painting, Duneland, and from then selling the painting to the Art Institute.

Dudley’s studio and cottage became a gathering place for many painters attracted to the Indiana Dunes and to the variances of the shoreline.  The artists, including Dudley, became champions of preservation for the area, and the beauty of their canvases stirred the public pressure that led in 1923 to the establishment of two-thousand acres as the Indiana Dunes State Park.

At that time, Dudley made an arrangement to be able to keep his cabin as rental property within the park in exchange for one painting a year donated to the Indiana State Department of Conservation.  Living in the Park for over thirty years, he died in 1957.

Exhibition venues include the Hoosier Salon, Art Institute of Chicago, Cedar Rapids Art Association, Corcoran Gallery and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

This early period (1935) painting by Werner Koepf is part of the artist’s estate collection that we are in the process of restoring and creating frames for. The Junction came in with an extremely thin and dry canvas, and within the paint surface cracking and scuffs.

The painting was de-fit and carefully cleaned and then in-painted where necessary. A new custom and handmade American Slope frame was prepared with white gilding.

Werner Koepf was born in Neckarsulum, Baden-Württemberg, Germany and emigrated with his parents and brother to the United States in 1929. During the Great Depression he worked as a house painter. In 1937 his work was prominently mentioned in the New York Times’ review of The Society of Independent Artists 19th Annual Exhibition. With his talent he gained many connections in the art world: Morris Kantor, a trustee of Contemporary Arts arranged three scholarships for Koepf at the Art Students League from 1937-1939, and Daniel Catton Rich, the Director of Fine Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago paved the way for his inclusion in the Institute’s 52nd Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture in 1941.

Koepf served in the US Army during World War II. Starting as a translator, between 1942-1945, he was then transferred to the European Theater where he served with the 496th Heavy Automotive Ordnance Company. In November 1945, he returned to the United States and settled in Derby, Connecticut.

In 1952 he was accepted into Yale University where he was awarded the prize for outstanding achievement in the School of Fine Arts for 1952-1953 by Josef Albers. Maintaining his European contacts, Koepf showed numerous paintings, including one man shows in Paris, Stockholm, and Bremen.

Werner Koepf died at his home in March of 1992.