Removal of three wall paintings

The St. Trinite Episcopal Cathedral collapsed after the earthquake on January 2010. The Smithsonian Institute contracted Viviana Dominguez, Mural Paintings Conservator and Rosa Lowinger Architecture Conservator to remove the three surviving murals.

The main nave after the earthquake.

Entrance Door

View from the Apse

The Conservation Team (from left to write): Viviana Dominguez, Wall Paintings Conservator, Rosa Lowinger, Arquitecture Conservator. Assistants: Shnyder Clerge, Franky Fontain, Jean Marie Darzin, Junior Racine, Michel Wanglish, Junior Norelus.

Three murals survived

"The Last Supper" after the January 12 2010 earquake

"Baptism of Christ" with temporary shoring

"Native Procession" by P. Duffaut under the tarp

Surface cleaning the painting with soft brushes

Doing small scale drawings

Fragment to be cut with a label

Spraying a fixative to the painted surface

Getting ready to protect the walls

Protecting the surface of Native Procession with gauze

Applying wood lattice to protect the surface

Cutting the edge of the mural fragment

Viviana chiseling from the side

Chiseling along the cracks

Junior R and Junior N consolidation of fragments
Removing one fragment (Viviana and Andris)

Viviana and Rosa bringing one fragment down

Junior Norelus applying M-90

Junior Racine and Michel removing gauze

Michel doing small repairs on the "Baptism of Christ"

Frankie removing gauze from one fragment

Fragment in stackable wood box

Fragments on trays inside container

2011 May Press Conference: Viviana with Frankie and Junior Racine

The three murals painted in 5 walls were safetly removed in 142 fragments

The last fragment to be removed was Jesus head from the "Last Supper" North Wall

In May 19th we celebrated the removal of the "Last Supper " fragments from the walls of St. Trinite Episcopal Cathedral. The process took conservators Viviana Dominguez and Rosa Lowinger with the "Hatian Dream Team" almost 6 months of work.

"Last Supper" North wall . Faced and cut before removal


Fragment from "Native Procession" after removal of facing

Chiseling "Batism of Christ"
Cutting "Last Supper" East wall
Junior with the grinder cutting "Baptsim of Christ"

Frankie removing a fragment from the "Last Supper" North wall

Removal of Wall Paintings. Ste. Trinite Cathedral Port au Prince Haiti. inquiries: art.conservation.services@gmail.com

The project on the Today Show and the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/world/.../23haiti.html
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/historians-work-to-restore-haitian-murals/6wolcrd

The stabilization and removal of the celebrated murals at Ste. Trinité Cathedral in Port-au- Prince damaged during January 12 earthquake, 2010 in Haiti

Three murals survived the tremors: “The Last Supper” by Philomé Obin, “Native Procession” by Préfète Duffaut, and “the Baptism of Christ” by Castera Bazile, renouned artists from the Centre d’Art that painted the mural cycle depicting New Testament Scenes in 1950-51.

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The Haitian Cutlural Recovery Center (HCRC), with permission from the Episcopal, and funded by the Smithsonian Institute, contracted wall painting conservators Viviana Dominguez from ArtConservationLA and Rosa Lowinger of the Miami and Los Angeles architectural conservation firm Rosa Lowinger and Associates

Samples of each mural were sent for binder analysis to the Getty Conservation Institute and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute.

The conservation team had to innovate processes for the removal of the wall paintings

Conservators concluded that the best method for removing the wall paintings was through the stacco technique, involving detachment of the painting and the layers of rendering/mortar immediately beneath it.

Local artists are being trained to work on the conservation treatment under the professional art conservators guidelines.