Sculpture Color and Restoration

Lassaw used different metals for their natural color and texture. Bronze is smooth golden yellow, phos-copper is dark red, and rough, silicon bronze is pink. Nickel-silver is silvery smooth, steel is black or dark brown, copper sheet is copper colored (until it oxidizes to dark brown, and then green under the right conditions). Lassaw also sometimes used acids to make the metal turn green or greeny-blue. He wanted his works to be colorful and it made him sad when they discolored. This is a natural process and nothing to worry about, but when it is possible to clean the works and restore them to the artist's intended condition, it should be done. For a more detailed description of Lassaw’s ideas on color and restoration, please ask for the PDF on color restoration.

Art restorers are trained to change as little as possible and, so far in my experience, none of them have cleaned sculptures to Lassaw’s desired state. It takes a sculptor's hand and one completely familiar with his work and his mind to do a proper job. Below are two images of a work titled Shaman, 1966. The first from a recent auction and the second after being restored to all its beauty.

If you have a Lassaw sculpture that is dark and lifeless, please send an image. Perhaps it can be restored.


Denise Lassaw