Automobile Speed + Light + Noise (around 1913), a painting by the Italian Futurist Giacomo Balla (1871-1958), is due to go back on display at the Kunsthaus Zurich in Switzerland in November following a six-month stint in the museum’s restoration studio.
The black-and-white composition had to be taken off display earlier in 2016 over concerns about its condition. According to the Kunsthaus’s restorer Viola Möckel, the paint was lifting from the canvas and “tiny areas” had fallen off. All of the areas with black paint were at risk because Balla used an insufficient binding agent when he applied the paint to the unprimed canvas. The aim of the treatment, which was paid for by the Swiss insurer Helvetia, was to preserve the painting in its current state and prevent further damage.
An analysis of the paint revealed that Balla did not use oil paint, as previously thought, but distemper—a type of paint that has glue or size as its base. Möckel says that the surface of the black matt paint is extremely sensitive so the challenge was to find a consolidation medium “that would not leave glossy residues or cause colour saturation”.
In the end she used an ultrasonic nebuliser to spray on a substance that contains a mix of sturgeon glue and JunFunori—an adhesive made from algae that is traditionally used to restore Japanese paper.