Behind The Canvas (2024)
This new 8-part series will explore a side of the art world that often goes unseen, from art handlers to linen factories, frame guilders and paper conservators, join me as we meet the dedicated, hard-working people who rarely receive credit and explore their work that's so essential to making the world of art we love possible.
Seasons & Episode
For thousands of years the primary method of recording our history, expressing our emotions and telling our stories depended upon paper. But this enduring material is also fragile and delicate and often damaged. The master paper conservators at Graphic Conservation Company are world renowned for their expertise in the conservation and restoration of works of art on paper. In this episode we step into a paper conservator's studio to see how torn, discolored and seemingly hopeless paper can be rescued and restored.
An artist without a gallery is a chef without a restaurant or a musician without a theatre. But what exactly does a gallerist do all day and where do they find artists, and how do they find clients, and moving artwort, and writing about art, and visiting artists' studios, and phew!... it's a delicate juggling act all in the service of artwork and its power to reach us. In this episode we visit Thomas McCormick Gallery to see how a gallery operates and works with artists.
For over 150 years a small factory in the Belgium countryside has been producing the finest artists linen in the world. Claessens has innovated, modernized and honed their craft over three generations but never lost the personal touch that results in a product worthy of a masterpiece. In this episode we visit Claessens Artist Canvas to see how raw linen is meticulously prepared for the next great masterpiece of painting.