AIC 53rd Annual Meeting

Afternoon Tea (58 x 42 inches, Norfolk, Virginia, Chrysler Museum of Art, Acc. 2022.41) painted in 1902 is among the largest of known extant oil paintings by American artist Susan Watkins (1875-1913). The painting depicts a room with Le Goûter being set out on a table illuminated by a single window, a space she painted several times while working in Paris. Watkins, who trained in a Parisian atelier quickly gained notoriety for her cavernous and contemplative interiors during her brief career. The Chrysler holds the largest concentration of Watkins’s paintings and archival materials. Afternoon Tea was acquired from a private collection in 2022. Watkins’s vivid pastel palette and soft brush work were significantly obscured by a darkened coating and layers of heavy-handed restoration paint. The painting was treated in preparation for the exhibition Susan Watkins and Women Artists of the Progressive Era, planned for 2025. 

 

This paper discusses the painting's treatment and subsequent study of the artist’s materials and methods. Analysis included: imaging with a modified UV-VIS-IR DSLR camera, multispectral reflectance imaging spectrometry (MSI) and hyperspectral reflectance imaging spectrometry (HSI) with principal component analysis (PCA), x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (py-GC-MS). The treatment primarily consisted of a reduction of a darkened coating and restoration paint using a modified Keck 3C solution applied to the surface with Japanese tissue paper under Mylar. Once the coating swelled it was physically removed like a skin. In addition, a restrained cosmetic compensation was made. 

 

This study helped piece together the often-overlooked ethos and technique of a women artist working across the Atlantic at the turn of the 19th century. The transformative conservation of Afternoon Tea has brought new interest in and enjoyment of her paintings and will help the Chrysler continue to tell the story of Susan Watkin’s artistic legacy in a community where she is dearly loved.