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Montauk Art Undergoes Conservation
Two
notable works of art owned by the State Historical Society of Iowa and displayed
at Montauk historic site are undergoing conservation by a skilled professional
in the field.
Barry Bauman, owner of Barry Bauman Conservation in Forest River, Ill., will
be working to conserve and stabilize the two oil paintings created by artist William
Bradford (1823-1892): Afternoon Near Cape St. John, Labrador and Leaving
the Arctic Ice Fields under the Midnight Sun. The paintings were original
furnishings of Montauk, the home of Iowa’s 
12th
Governor William Larrabee, and acquired by Larrabee himself. They were included
with the home when it was acquired by the state.
Bradford was born and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In the early 1850s, he launched his professional career by selling portraits of ships for $25. In 1854, he opened a studio and attracted the interest of Albert Van Beest, a Dutch painter who had come to America in 1845.
In 1861, Bradford began a series of trips to Nova Scotia, Labrador, and Greenland.
He
published a book in London titled The Arctic Region, which he also illustrated.
In the early 1880s, he lectured on the Arctic in England and even received a commission
for painting Queen Victoria. In the 1870s, he sailed to America and established
a studio in San Francisco. He traveled extensively in the western United States
where he painted Yosemite, Mariposa Valley, and the mountains of the Sierra Nevada.
He often traveled and painted with Albert Bierstadt.
Bauman states, “these paintings are typical of his marine scenes painted with atmospheric tones, expressive cloud formations, and subtle gradations of tone. The lyric red hues of the right image are a breathtaking example of his virtuoso capabilities.”
Once conserved, Bauman will post pictures of the completed paintings on his Web site, www.baumanconservation.com. The paintings are scheduled to be returned to Montauk by Memorial Day weekend, when it re-opens for the summer tourism season.
