Inspired by the Art in Bloom arrangements throughout the galleries last week, our paper conservator shares an imaginative interpretation of a plant by the artist Maybelle Richardson Stamper.  The color lithograph, Plant and Head, was in the lab to have discolored pressure sensitive tape removed from the top edge.  The tape, probably attached by the artist soon after the print was made in 1951-52, was degraded and could not be completely removed by the various solvents commonly used in the Conservation Department.  Fortunately, the tape stains are along the edge and do not affect the abstract image of a face and an unidentified plant.  The holes in the paper were made by the artist to help keep the paper in the proper position during printing so that the colors would align properly.  Maybelle Stamper taught printmaking at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.  Charley and Edie Harper were some of her students.  She was also the wife of the museum’s first official “art restorer”, Willson Stamper.

Image Credit: 1952.157, Maybelle Stamper (American, b.1907, d.1995), Plant and Head, 1951-1952, color lithograph with scraping, gift of Marion Hendrie