Restoring History

The art we see in museums, such as the paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago, are old and require special care to preserve the beauty behind them. This is where Julian Baumgartner comes in; he is an art conservationist based in Chicago who takes in paintings with minimal to severe damage or yellowing and restores them through a meticulous process he documents on his Youtube channel. Baumgartner Restoration uploads oddly relaxing videos on the restoration process and gives viewers insight into how much care and dedication is required in the art world.

Julian Baumgartner is the conservationist behind the 2nd-generation studio. His father, R. Agass Baumgartner, came from Switzerland to Chicago in 1978 to begin his freelance art restoration business. In 2000, while in college, Julian began an apprenticeship to work alongside his father in the business until his father passed away in 2011. After his father's passing, Julian decided to take full ownership of Baumgartner Restoration and continue his father's legacy in art conservation.

Julian Baumgartner in his studio

Art restoration is a difficult career, and that can be seen through some of Julian's Youtube videos. There are paintings that require new varnishes or the removal of years of dirt and other buildup, while others require the completion of new frames, fixed canvases, or are missing chunks of paint entirely. This is where Julian's creativity comes in; through his narrated videos, he discusses the materials he's using and why they work for this type of canvas, and he addresses the problems with each piece of art before delving in to the details. Most restorations begin with separating the painting from the stretcher and then the removal of grime with a mixture of solvents to reveal what the artist originally wanted on display. He often employs a "bridging" technique to repair surface damage, which is where he takes tiny strips of Belgian linen and aligns them perpendicular to the tear one by one with tweezers to reinforce the painting. Then he repairs the stretcher and moves on to what I believe is the most creative part about this process: the paint retouching.

Julian uses special conservation paints that aren't oil-based because oil oxidizes and he aims to paint with the intention that his retouching can be easily removed in the future. The repainting process is time-consuming and long, and he has to match the pigment perfectly with the original paint or else he will have to re-do his work. While there is a creative boundary regarding only painting the areas that need fixing, he has to be creative in mixing his colors to make the retouching just right. He also paints in cracks to follow the cracked pattern in the rest of the painting. For one piece of artwork (link below), he had to completely re-paint an entire section of the canvas and utilized a special technique to do so, but while the retouching up close is clearly different from the original work, it was one of the only options and relied on Julian's discrepancy regarding how to accurately portray the original scene.

Lastly, a varnish is applied, and the painting is restored to what may have been its original glory immediately after its conception.

I believe Julian Baumgartner is creative because of the subjectivity behind the restoration process. It is usually up to him to decide how a painting should be restored and clearly he is intrinsically motivated because of the time it takes to complete a full restoration and also his dedication to continuing the family business after his father's passing. If you ever feel bored or want some relaxation, I recommend Baumgartner Restoration videos, where  you might learn something along the way.

https://baumgartnerfineartrestoration.com/about.shtml