Treatment of ‘Vacant Allotment Woolloomooloo’ by Jeffrey Smart (1947)

Iconic Australian artist Jeffrey Smart was famous for his urban landscape scenes like this one, which depicts the Sydney suburb of Woolloomooloo during the late 1940s. The painting was conserved by ICS Paintings Conservator Claire Heasman. During her initial examination of the piece, Claire discovered several cracks in the painted media with corresponding deformations.

To address these issues, Claire first unframed and cleaned the surface of the painting. She then consolidated the cracks and flattened the deformations as much as possible using a suction plate and weights. Small losses in the paint media were then carefully filled and retouched to make them less visible. The frame was then cleaned and any abrasions were retouched with gilt varnish. Finally, the piece was reframed using a corflute backing board to prevent dust from building up at the back.

To get a sense of the full treatment process from start to finish, check out this short video, which shows Claire working on the piece.