Louis’s innovative use of pristine expanses of cotton duck is critical in understanding these paintings, and the yellowed ground of No. 11 distorted the relationship between the Magna stripes and the empty fields surrounding them. Museum conservators decided to employ aqueous sun bleaching, a specialized technique that only a few conservators have mastered for painting treatments, and one that could not be accomplished in house.
With Bank of America’s generous support, the painting was brought to Maryland, where principal conservators Holly and Jay Krueger—who have been treating Color Field paintings with wet cleaning and light-bleaching since the mid-1990s—restored the proper tonal relationships to the painting. The grant also allowed Fine Arts Museums paintings conservator Patricia O’Regan to observe the treatment and learn this unique conservation process.
No. 11 is now ready to be enjoyed by visitors, seen as the artist intended.
Learn more about conservation at the Fine Arts Museums.