How Art Restoration Preserves Women’s History

How long before flowers wilt in a basement? In the case of the oil painting “Enchantment,” not even 40 damp years could dull them. 

How did Mumford Restoration restore “Enchantment” and two other antique oil paintings for Warren County?

And how is "Enchantment" connected to two extraordinary women of the 20th century? 

Read on and find out! 

The Experience Behind the Reputation

Mumford is a trusted name in North Carolina art restoration services.

Our art restorers have a long track record of sensitive repairs, restorations, and conservations.

Our clients aren't just limited to our home in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. Customers all over North Carolina have contacted us to repair and restore their paintings, ceramics, and other fine art!

Damaged and Dull Oil Paintings and Frames

Thanks to our expertise and enthusiasm, Warren County Arts Council entrusted us with three antique oil paintings. 

Their canvases were torn and required patching and in-painting, their varnish had darkened over the years to obscure the subjects and mute the colors, and the gilded frames had lost their luster as well as their plaster ornamentation. 

Watch the video below to learn how Mumford Restoration worked with the Warren County Arts Council to restore these paintings.

Our Art Restorer Comes to the Rescue!

We called upon our third-generation art restorer, whose versatility and depth of knowledge result in safe, thorough restorations.

She can do it all–ceramic and pottery repair, castings, gilding, frame repair, mat cutting, art mounting, and painting repair/in-painting/cleaning of oil and acrylic paintings!

She had her work cut out for her with these three lovely, but exhausted oil paintings ! Luckily, painting restorations are her favorite!

Our art restorer painstakingly removed the degraded varnish and layers of dirt and smoke from each painting. At the end of this process, she'd revealed the vibrant colors of the original painting. It’s always so exciting to see the painting as the artist created it! 

For areas of torn canvas, she patched the canvas from the back and then expertly in-painted damaged areas. Mixing the exact color is a difficult task, but our art restorer has a well-trained eye and decades of experience.

Today, you’d never be able to guess what areas were damaged! 

Finally, the frames’ gilding had dulled and their delicate areas of raised ornamentation had been knocked off and lost over the years. Our art restorer took castings of matching ornamentation from the rest of the frame, created exact replicas, and attached them to the frame. 

She then began the tedious and demanding process of regilding the three frames.  

We think the months of work paid off! Aren’t these restored paintings beautiful?

The Enchanting “Enchantment”

All three paintings are true masterpieces! Perhaps we’ll dive into the history of each of them later on.

For now, let’s explore “Enchantment” and the women that figured so prominently into its story!

“Enchantment”, the painting of a little girl marveling at a vase of bright spring flowers, is both sensitive and striking. Yet its significance goes well beyond its subject. 

The painting combines the story of two remarkable women: artist M. Jean MacLane and philanthropist Katharine Pendleton Arrington. 

M. Jean MacLane

M. Jean MacLane was an American portraitist educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a young artist, she studied under John Vanderpoel, Frank Duveneck, William M. Chase. McLane spent time studying painting in Italy, Spain, and France and later went on to run her own portrait studio in New York. 

Contemporary appraisals of her art admired both her technique and ability to evoke emotions in her artwork.

In Arts and Decoration Magazine in 1913 Florence Barlow Ruthrauff wrote that MacLane’s “frame work is laid in with the same care as an engineer uses in the building of a sky scraper. While her work has all the gaiety of the swift painter, it is put on with the certain knowledge of the expert worker who knows when and where to be deft.”

MacLane became an associate and later a full academician at the National Academy of Design. She entered several paintings in the painting competition at the 1932 Olympics (the Olympics held art competitions from 1912-1948).

Her paintings are now displayed at some of the most prestigious museums in the United States. Her 1921 portrait of Elizabeth, Queen of the Belgians is displayed in the Smithsonian. 

You can currently see “Enchantment” at Warrenton Town Hall during business hours, along with two other paintings that Katherine Pendleton Arrington originally donated to the former John Graham High School in 1926. 

Elizabeth, Queen of the Belgians

by M. Jean Maclane

Katherine Pendleton Arrington

Katherine Pendleton Arrington was a Warren county native who had an eye for design and craftsmanship. 

She and her husband lived in New York, London, and continental Europe until her husband’s death in 1916.

The grieving, newly widowed Arrington moved back to her childhood home in Warrington in 1916. She began renovating the home which involved expansions and even some historic architectural salvage: she rescued and repurposed four columns that a nearby historic property was set to dispose of.

After she settled back into her home, she devoted herself to philanthropic and civic duties. For the rest of her life, she worked to ensure that North Carolina residents had access to art and education. 

Arrington helped support art classes in public schools, assisted in establishing the North Carolina Museum of Art (she donated and helped collect dozens of pieces in the collection); was one of the first women to become a trustee of the University of North Carolina, and was the first to pledge funds that allowed Charlotte’s Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte to build a more modern facility. 

Pendleton Arrington's Warrington Home, 1938

Arrington always saw the opportunity to save art, even when it was a piece that most people might have overlooked.

In 1933, Arrington was visiting London when she noticed that two gargoyle statues were being removed from Big Ben clock tower. When she learned that then 80-year-old statues would be disposed of and replaced, as they had become too weathered, she purchased them and gifted them to UNC-Chapel Hill. They now sit outside Person Hall.

     One of the Person Hall gargoyles

Today, we cherish so many antiques and pieces of art that are only here because of past benefactors. People like Katharine Pendleton Arrington were ahead of their time–they saw the beauty and craftsmanship in weathered gargoyles and columns destined for trash piles. And they believed that the North Carolina public, no matter their income, deserved to enjoy art and to even become artists themselves. 

Without women like Arrington and MacLane, whose fearlessness and love of art shaped the world around them, who would we be?

Need Help with Your Own Art?

If you have paintings or other fine art you'd like to have repaired or restored, call Mumford today at 919.510.6310!

If you'd prefer, you can also submit photos and reach out to us via our online form!

We're happy to walk you through the evaluation process and discuss how restoration might affect the value of your pieces. When you're ready to have your art restored, you can be sure you're in good hands!