Cut from the Same Cloth: Comparing and Contrasting Two Pastels by Edouard Manet

Rachel Freeman

Rachel Freeman Associate Paper Conservator, Art Institute of Chicago

Abstract

Over the past few years, the Art Institute of Chicago, has focused on digital formats (online scholarly catalogues) as a methodology to systematically study and publish on its collection. The subject of one of the catalogues, Edouard Manet, offered the opportunity to complete a brief technical examination of the two artist’s pastels on canvas that belong to The Art Institute of Chicago, Man with a Dog and Portrait of Alphonse Maureau. This paper compares and contrasts these two artworks. Previously thought to be dissimilar, the artworks actually present surprising correlations in terms of materials and methods of execution. In some cases, the insights gained though study of the artist’s materials overturn historical assumptions about Manet's pastels on canvas supports and explain the peculiar condition issues that characterize these artworks.
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Author Biography

Rachel Freeman, Associate Paper Conservator, Art Institute of Chicago

Rachel Freeman has a BA from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and an MA with a certificate in advanced study in conservation from Buffalo State, SUNY. She is an Associate Paper Conservator at the Art Institute of Chicago were she mainly servers the collection of Asian Art. In addition to membership in WAAC, she is a Professional Associate in the American Institute for Conservation.