Edwin Austin Abbey’s Apotheosis: Context and Conservation

Theresa Fairbanks Harris, Senior Conservator of Works on Paper at the Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art, and Lisa Hodermarsky, the Gallery’s Sutphin Family Curator of Prints and Drawings, lead a discussion on the conservation treatment and history of Edwin Austin Abbey’s (1852–1911, Hon. 1897) study for The Apotheosis of Pennsylvania, a mural in the House Chamber of the Pennsylvania State Capitol at Harrisburg. This magnificent, large-scale preparatory drawing is representative of Abbey’s intensely involved artistic process in developing his mural commissions. The historical background on the commission and Abbey’s choice of composition will be discussed. But the main thrust of the talk will be the conservation treatment that transformed this previously severely damaged drawing into an intact work of art. Harris and Hodermarsky will address the companion oil sketch and pastels of important figures in the mural, in addition to Abbey’s materials and techniques. Offered in conjunction with the Gallery’s exhibition The Dance of Life: Figure and Imagination in American Art, 1876–1917. 

Space is limited.  

Major support for The Dance of Life is made possible by the Henry Luce Foundation, with additional support provided by the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.