Oliver Brothers Fine Art Restoration

An early twentieth century Oliver Brothers brochure.

Oliver Brothers Fine Art Restoration and Conservation is the longest continuously operating art restoration establishment in the United States. The Olivers and those who followed them restored and conserved paintings, works on paper, icons, murals, sculpture, gilded objects, and antique and contemporary picture frames for private collectors, museums, art dealers, auction houses, galleries, corporations, universities, historical societies, libraries, insurance companies, architects and interior designers.

History

Origins

Oliver Brothers was the first and is the oldest fine art restoration company in United States. Its founder, James Oliver, was trained as an art restorer in his native Scotland. With his son George, he started his own restoration business in New York City in 1850. Throughout the nineteenth century, clients included The Metropolitan Museum of Art, art dealers Samuel Putnam Avery and M. Knoedler & Co., and restaurateur Lorenzo Delmonico.^[1][2] In the late 1860s, George Oliver moved to Boston, Mass., where he opened a second art restoration shop. In time, the New York location was closed.

Early 20th Century- Innovation

The First Vacuum Hot Table

Vacuum Hot Table-Engine detail

Carroll Wales, Lining Torn Paintings on Aluminum Panel (Description of the original press),Bulletin of the American Group, International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works © 1968

George’s two sons, George T. ("Taylor") and Frederick Oliver, eventually entered and took over the family business. It is these two brothers, grandsons of founder James, to whom the name "Oliver Brothers" refers. Taylor achieved considerable success creating innovative techniques for the restoration of art works. He perfected several procedures for removing surface blemishes and transferring paintings on canvasses with defective supports. In the 1920s, he transformed the field of art restoration by inventing the vacuum hot table for relining paintings, which he patented in 1937 - U.S. Patent# 2,073,802.^[3]. The vacuum hot table remains industry standard today, and is considered an essential piece of equipment for all restorers and conservators of paintings on textile supports.^[4] Taylor's prototype table, which he designed and constructed, remained in operation at Oliver Brothers until the early 2000s.

Second half of 20th Century- Current

In 1961, the Olivers sold the business to Carroll Wales (1917-2007) and Constantine Tsaousis (1924-1987), both of whom had previously restored religious art in churches in the eastern Mediterranean. Notable domestic restorations of Wales and Tsaousis include Arshile Gorky's murals in Newark Airport in 1977 and the Spanish medieval art collection of the Deering family from 1971 through 1982.^[5] Mr. Wales and Mr. Tsaousis have restored and conserved numerous artworks by the Word’s most famous artists including Annibale Caracci, John Singleton Copley, Francisco Goya, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Gilbert Stuart and Rembrandt Van Rain, to name a few. In 1986, Peter Tysver, an Oliver Brothers apprentice since 1968, bought the business; in 2004, Gregory Bishop, who had been training at Oliver Brothers since 1990, became a partner.

References

1. ^ James Oliver account books, 1865-1868, 1872-1890, New York Historical Society archives.
2. ^ James Oliver account books, 1865-1890, Smithsonian Institution archives.
3. ^ U.S. Patent# 2,073,802 :"Art of Oil Painting Restoration"- March 16, 1937
4. ^ Stoner, J.H. (1998). “Documenting Ourselves: the history of 20th-century art conservation”.IIC Bulletin, 1998, No. 2, April, pp. 1–4.
5. ^ Carroll F. Wales papers, 1972-1998, Smithsonian Institution archives.

External links

• Official site
• Smithsonian Archives of American Art,•Oral history interview with Carroll F. Wales, 1992 Nov. 10-1993 Feb. 11
• The Greek Institute of Cambridge
• International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works © 1968
• Carroll Wales-Hagia Sophia restoration, Istanbul: 1957-1959
• Apse fresco with the Anastasis, Kariye Camii, Istanbul, 1957
• New York Magazine, Sept. 1977/Arshile Gorky Murals-restoration
• Oliver Brothers Fine Art Restoration and Conservation, Boston, MA-New York, N.Y.