Our paintings conservator is conserving a couple of paintings for our exhibition commemorating the 125^th anniversary of the Woman’s Art Club here in Cincinnati.  This detail of “Swimming Pool” by Kate Reno Miller shows the conservation treatment in progress.  As you can see on the left, the painting is covered with very discolored varnish.  On the right side, the varnish has already been removed with solvents.  You might also notice that almost everyone at the pool is looking off to the right.  The artist applied paint to the canvas in very high relief, or impasto.  The highest area of impasto surrounds a lively group of bathers who are energetically splashing in water that is literally sculpted with paint.  The bathers have captured almost everyone’s attention in the picture.  If you’d like to see the big splash too, and the rest of the cleaned painting, you’ll have that opportunity when the Woman’s Art Club exhibit opens on October 6^th in Gallery 123. 

Image Credit: Kate Reno Miller (American, 1970-1929), Swimming Pool, circa 1914, oil on canvas, 21 5/16 x 17 3/8 in. (54.1 x 44.1 cm.), Bequest of Janet Griffin in memory of Josephine Reno Brett, 2013.198.