GAINESVILLE, FLA.- The Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida recently completed the conservation of seven paintings by modern Bengali artist Jamini Roy. This was made possible by a $50,000 grant award from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation in the Summer of 2015.

The Harn Museum’s Asian collection contains 45 works by Jamini Roy (1887-1972) and ranks among the largest public collections of distinguished holdings by the artist outside of India. Inspired by Indian village artisans, Roy often used paint colors made from organic matter including rock-dust, tamarind seeds, mercury powder, etc. and painted on woven palm fiber mats or canvas on board. Regardless of the ephemeral nature of these materials, conservation scientists are able to successfully preserve this important imagery by consolidating lifting and flaking paint, stabilizing the canvas supports, and cleaning using dry methods. The conservation of these paintings, carried out by Rustin Levenson and her associates at ArtCare, was completed in January 2016.

“This support will prevent further deterioration and allow the Harn to display and loan works which were previously too fragile to do so,” said Jason Steuber, Harn Cofrin Curator of Asian Art. Harn Director Rebecca Nagy said, “The Carpenter Foundation’s generosity will translate into increased usage and benefit by various disciplines in the humanities at the university since these works played vital and varied roles during India’s transformation from a colonial state to independent modern nation-state. We are thankful for being able to restore these important objects of history.”

Beginning in 2009, the museum began implementation of a treatment plan, one painting at a time, and is dedicated to raising additional funds to complete the conservation of the remaining twelve paintings which are in need of stabilization.