Restorers Use Japanese Algae And Sturgeon Glue To Treat Futurist Work By Giacomo Balla
My Japanese friend Dee Sushi has two sisters who restore paintings but I wonder if they know about this technique: “Automobile Speed + Light + Noise” (around 1913), a painting by the Italian Futurist Giacomo Balla (1871-1958), is due to go back on display at the Kunsthaus Zurich in Switzerland in November following a six-month stint in the museum’s restoration studio. The black-and-white composition had to be taken off display earlier in 2016 over concerns about its condition. According to the Kunsthaus’s restorer Viola Möckel, the paint was lifting from the canvas and “tiny areas†had fallen off. Restorers used an ultrasonic nebuliser to spray on a mixture of sturgeon glue and JunFunori—an adhesive made from algae used to restore Japanese paper.