Marisol was a Venezuelan-American active in the New York art scene in the 1960s. Influenced by both her contemporaries and Pre-Colombian figures, Marisol was known for assembling figurative wooden sculptures using a variety of media.
Due to the unique media in Women Leaning, these figures were treated by The Center’s Objects, Furniture, and Paintings Departments. The figures exhibited areas of loss, and assorted condition issues such as gouges and shrinkage splits.
Each of the figures that received treatment at The Center was surface cleaned using the appropriate conservation methods and materials. Areas of loss in the faces were remodeled as best as possible by our conservators using pre-loss images of the piece for reference. Cracks in the faces were then consolidated, filled, and inpainted.
The gouges were consolidated using conservation adhesives and then filled and textured using an appropriate conservation grade fill material. The cracks in the figures were also consolidated using conservation adhesives. Inpainting was then carried out in areas of cracking and loss using reversible conservation paints. To complete treatment, the shrinkage splits were filled and the pieces received a protective coating of micro-crystalline wax.
When not visiting EXPO Chicago, Women Leaning is on display at the Chicago Public Library’s Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State Street. The piece is a gift of Edward H. Weiss.
