Digital Restoration Gives New Life to America’s Oldest Theater Curtain

SMITHSONIAN AFFILIATIONS

Hybrid restoration approach shows benefits of balancing restoration and integrity for other large or fragile works

Francis Frost

The Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS), a Smithsonian Affiliate, has recently completed a unique hybrid restoration of the drop scene, a prized work in its collection since 1833, and the earliest known surviving work of American theater scenery. The curtain has suffered much paint loss over the years, and some minor traditional restoration took place in the early 1980s and again in 2018, however the damaged and fragile state of the object, as well as its very large size, meant that more physical restoration would have been too invasive and costly. Working with a photographer who specializes in the digital restoration of art, and a painter trained in theater scene painting, the RIHS developed a unique plan to recreate how this work looked in the early nineteenth century. Through generous funding from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the Herman H. Rose Civic, Cultural and Media Access Fund (RI Foundation), and by Sylvia Brown through the Hope Foundation (Providence, RI), the hybrid digital restoration project was able to begin.

The RIHS plans to create an interactive website for the drop scene project and the study of this renovated work, allowing scholars and the public to investigate Providence of the Early National Period; its architecture, residents, businesses, theater and more. Also, the RIHS is eager for other institutions to learn about the possibilities of this hybrid restoration approach, for the conservation of large or fragile works, tapestries, banners, decorative hangings and murals. It provides the benefits of digital access to a significant work, while also taking a thoughtful approach to the balance between restoration and the integrity of the original object.

Francis Frost | READ MORE

Francis Frost is an independent scholar with over twenty-five years experience researching and studying American art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has been involved with the Rhode Island Historical Society's drop scene restoration project for almost two years, assisting with fundraising for the digital restoration and researching the history of the drop scene.

Digital Restoration Gives New Life to America's Oldest Theater Curtain

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