This landscape by Istvan Boldiszár (1897-1984) suffered from a mold invasion and dirt contaminates across the surface. Careful cleaning ridded the surface, and select chemistries were used to target and neutralize the mold. A new, custom frame will be prepared in Engelsen style. Stay tuned for more…

Istvan Boldiszár was a Hungarian painter and draughtsman, famous for his impressionistic plein-air motifs of Lake Balaton or the Hungarian lowlands. Boldiszár began his artistic training at the artist’s colony at Nagybánya and was taught by János Thoma, whose assistant he became later on. In 1918 he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest.

In the years 1919-1924 he lived at various artist’s colonies and had a short stay in Munich. In 1924 he settled in Budapest. From 1941-49 he taught drawing at the local Academy of Fine Arts. As representative of the third generation of artists of Nagybánya, he is regarded as preserver of the heritage of the colony’s heritage.

Boldiszár has been awarded with several prizes, such as in 1929 the bronze medal of the World Exhibition in Barcelona and in 1931 with the landscape award. His works are exhibited at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, at the Austrian Gallery in Vienna and at the Magyar Nemzeti Muzeum in Budapest.

This painting had craquelures and a major tear. Surface contaminates were severe and mainly from a wood or charcoal furnace. The tear was sutured from the reverse and in-filled on the front and then in-painted. New conservation linen was added to improve the foundational strength. Careful cleaning and consolidation to the surface was carried out. Conservation varnish supplied the finishing touch, along with an archival re-fit into the client’s period frame.

Judson Samuel Tunison (1868-1937) was active/lived in Illinois and Michigan, and was known for portrait painting, photography, teacher, and art restoration.

The frame is from the Newcomb-Macklin Company: a Chicago frame maker, nationally renown for hand-carved and gilded picture frames. They were in operation from 1883 to 1979.

This painting by Theodore Tihansky, of the school house on Monhegan Island, came in with a fungal invasion on the reverse, and dirt particulates across the paint film.

A trio of cleaning agents were used to address the fungal invasions. Further protection was given by the Dutch Method that straightened the canvas and, on the reverse, added a layer of gesso. Careful cleaning was conducted on the front.

The Monhegan Island School is a treasured landmark and is still in use today. According to their website their “integrated classroom offers students pre-kindergarten through eighth grade an amazing opportunity to learn in a supportive multi-age setting and is enhanced by a tight-knit community of educators, artists, artisans, writers, poets, photographers, lobstermen, woodworkers, gardeners, business owners and more!

“Our remote location and beautiful seascape allows us to take a holistic approach to our teaching. Our classroom learning extends beyond our one room ~ our students enjoy 12 miles of hiking trails, a skating pond, lush forests, rocky shorelines, beaches, a shipwreck, historic homes, tidal pools, community gardens, lobstering, a museum, a library and more ~ all explored on foot!

Monhegan provides a rich, hands on learning environment for the arts and sciences and plenty of active, outdoor time to supplement our classroom studies.”

Theodore Tihansky (21st Century) received his formal art training at the Art Students League in New York City, Paier College of Art, and Lyme Academy of Fine Art in Connecticut. In 1991, he was awarded the John Stobart Landscape Fellowship with the concurrent opportunity to show at the Lyme Academy Fine Art Gallery.
Four years later in November, he opened the Theodore Tihansky Fine Art and Performance Gallery on Franklin Street in Newport, Rhode Island. At that time, he received wide recognition for his “Collaboration of the Arts” production.  Returning to Maine, Tihansky spent his first winter as a stern man on a lobster boat. In his free time, he was painting the harsh and splendid scenes of the island.

In his words, “The paintings are the end products; what is important to me is the moment, the experience that I have because of my painting. The people I meet and the things I do are the reason.”

This painting came in with flood damage that had warped the canvas and caused extensive dryness. The dryness then lead to craquelures, cupping, and areas of loss. Furthermore, on top of the paint film, the flood also left behind a residue that was obscuring the natural colors.

After the painting was de-fit, new linen was lined on the reverse to provide a strong foundation, which is important when the paint film is dry. Hydration was applied to the cupped areas and then weights were used to flatten them back into plane. The craquelures were in-filled and in-painted, and then careful cleaning removed the residue and brought out the original colors.

Although the signature became more apparent after cleaning, and although we had hoped to figure it out, we were ultimately unable to identity the artist.

A new custom frame in the style of Roma Vintage was prepared with silver leaf.

These two portraits by Cora Bliss Taylor (1889-1986) are of the same sitter, and we believe they were painted around twenty years apart. The first in the pictures was originally a full portrait but was cut at some point. Cleaning revealed there were more paint losses than originally thought. In-fill and in-painting concealed these areas. The second portrait had a dry paint film, and had suffered some cupping. After de-fit, it was re-lined with new linen to give it a stronger foundation. This was done in a heat press which also helped to stabilize the paint film where it had cupped. Further stabilization was done with a small iron to target the more difficult spots. In-painting concealed the lost areas, and careful cleaning was carried out across the entire surface.

Cora Bliss Taylor was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 14, 1889. Her father was a veteran of the Civil War and passed away when she was 1 years old. During her childhood, the family traveled around the United States, and France when she was 11 years old, which is where she received her first art lessons.

Cora visited Saugatuck, Michigan, which was to become her home, on her honeymoon in 1914, with her husband, James W. Taylor, a Chicago attorney. She studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago with Leon Kroll and Leopold Seyffert; Charles W. Hawthorne, Provincetown, Massachusetts; Andre L. Hote in Paris; Morris Kantor, Art Students League, New York; and Vance Kirkland, Denver University. She was a contemporary of Georgia O’Keefe.

Mrs. Taylor won the Chicago Woman’s Aid Prize, Edward B. Butler Prize, and Fine Arts Building Prize from the Art Institute of Chicago where she exhibited a number of times. She also was accepted for a number of exhibitions at the Detroit Museum of Arts and won several prizes, including the American Association of University Women’s prize for her watercolor, “Abandoned”. In 1945, she won Honorable Mention for a painting exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. She exhibited at the Chicago Galleries Association and other private galleries. Cora was a member of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, and is listed in the original edition of “Who’s Who of American Women”.

In 1931, she founded the Taylor Art School on Holland Street in Saugatuck, a summer art school, with visiting instructors. The Taylor Art Gallery attracted 2,000 visitors who signed the guest register that first year. In 1931, as Art Director of the Saugatuck Chamber of Commerce, she was instrumental in attracting many Chicago people to the Saugatuck area. Mrs. Taylor continued to teach painting for many years, specializing in children. Quite a few of her students went on to make a career in art.

Her paintings are hanging at Hope College, Holland, Michigan; Saugatuck Masonic Lodge, Chicago Public Schools, a number of Women’s clubs, Emerson Unitarian Church, Houston, Texas; Sheridan Public Schools, Sheridan, Texas; and many private homes in Chicago, Western Michigan, and other areas of the country.

Cora Bliss Taylor passed away at the age of 97 on April 21, 1986.

Cora Bliss Taylor, center with hat, circa 1941.