Framing Widgery

Thanks to the Friends of Exeter Museums & Art Gallery, paintings of Dartmoor in RAMM’s forthcoming Widgery exhibition will be displayed in beautifully gilded frames.

The frames are being conserved by a small team of conservators and conservation students in the RAMM Conservation Laboratories between 28 May and 3 June and their progress can be followed on storify, or on Twiitter #moorgold.

The exhibition Masters of the Moor: William & FJ Widgery, starts on 6 July. It will be the first exhibition at RAMM for many years to bring together a range of work by both father and son.

Both were prolific artists and greatly involved with the early development of RAMM. As a result, RAMM has a very large holding of works by both Widgerys, many of which have never been on public display, or have not been exhibited for many years.

Neither William nor FJ Widgery was particularly careful about the methods they used to prepare their canvasses, or the way they mounted and framed their watercolour and oil paintings. This, combined with many years of storage in the Artists' studio before items came into the museum collections, means that most of the items included in the exhibition need considerable conservation work before they can safely be displayed.

The Friends (FEMAG) support the Museums in many ways, both practically and financially and have very generously agreed to fund the conservation work for the this exhibition. The oil paintings and works of art on paper have been sent out to freelance conservators for treatment while the gilded frames are being conserved at RAMM by Suzanne Sacorafou, Freelance frame conservator, leading the team; Sarah Klopf, RAMM project conservator; Susann Boehm, conservation student and Julia Hanus, student.