THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610040051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: 95 lines
WILLIS POTTER will tell you that being a chief preparator in a museum isn't the most exciting job in the world. But it has its moments.
One of them came last month when he was riding a lot higher than usual.
Potter is chief preparator at the Chrysler Museum of Art. He's a soft-spoken quiet gentleman with an easy but methodical way about him. He presides over a small, windowed office in a workshop which smells of wood and glue.
On a routine day Willis Potter might be constructing walls for displaying paintings in an exhibition, framing a painting, or dusting Tiffany pieces in a glass case with the help of his assistants.
``In my shop we are handling experts,'' he said. ``If a painting comes in for an exhibition we uncrate it and prepare it for display. Then we hang it on the wall where it's supposed to go.''
It's mostly routine stuff, he said. But it's a lot better than being a general handyman as Potter was when he began working at the museum while a student at Norfolk State College. An amateur artist who majored in graphics while at Norfolk State, he was hired after graduation and has been with the museum for about 20 years.
Packaging the art objects for shipment is part of his job. And he sometimes accompanies the art treasures personally, making sure they arrive safely and in good condition.
But until recently he had never accompanied an important work of art outside the United States.
But that changed, beginning in the spring of last year, when he was told to prepare one of the museum's most valuable treasures - Degas' ``Dancer With Bouquets'' - for shipment to England.
The large painting - 71 by 60 inches - was to be shipped to London's National Gallery for inclusion in an exhibition focusing on the latter third of Degas' life, titled ``Degas: Beyond Impressionism.''
Potter was confronted with a problem from the beginning. ``The French frame which was acquired with the painting is as handsome in its own way as the painting itself,'' he said. The frame is made of wood with ornately carved flowers and plants covered by gold leaf.
``But it was far too heavy and cumbersome for air shipment overseas,'' he said. ``It weighs about 350 pounds.''
Potter said it took about a half-year's time to prepare the priceless work for the exhibition.
Constructing a temporary frame took two and a half months of steady work on his part, he said.
``We have frames in the museum of various sizes,'' he said. ``I used various antique pieces to construct a lighter frame - about 65 pounds - which is less ornate but essentially French and coated with gold leaf.''
Construction of the crate and the foam fabrication inside it which would contain the painting took about two weeks, he said.
In May he stood on a loading dock, watching as the crated masterpiece was loaded aboard a truck, the first step on its journey by air to the London museum.
He thought at the time it would be his last look at the Degas painting until it returned to his care in Norfolk.
But in September he was given an enviable assignment. He was asked to be the caretaker and courier for the painting, escorting it from the National Gallery in London to the Art Institute of Chicago where it would again be part of the Degas exhibition. (An exhibition which The New York Times has called ``The most dazzling art show of the fall season.'')
``I had never been to London before,'' he said. ``And to go there and be associated with the direct care of such a masterpiece was, well, an honor.''
He said the chief preparator of the distinguished London museum treated him as an honored colleague and complimented him on his temporary frame for ``Dancer With Bouquets.'' Potter watched the removal of the painting from the museum wall and its return to the crate. It was loaded on a special van - containing other Degas paintings - for a trip to an Amsterdam airport.
``One of the interesting parts of the trip was traveling in that large van with ten wheels which was especially made for transporting art works,'' he said. ``I sat with the registrar from the National Gallery in a seating compartment above the driver's cab. Very unusual. We were riding so high I ducked when we went through the tunnel beneath the English Channel.''
He watched as the painting was loaded aboard a 757 in Amsterdam, then boarded the plane for the flight to Chicago, overseeing the unloading at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
Then he followed the truck carrying the large Degas to the Chicago museum.
``I watched them hang the painting before returning to Norfolk,'' he said. ``It is on a wall by itself and is really an introduction to the exhibition. .
He said it had been a unique experience for him. ``Something I'll always remember,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Willis Potter, right, chief preparator at the Chrysler Museum of
Art, stands inside the 350-pound frame that normally houses the
Degas painting ``Dances With Bouquets,'' above.
BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Willis Potter, right, chief preparator at the Chrysler Museum of
Art, stands inside the 350-pound frame that normally houses the
Degas painting, ``Dancer With Bouquets,'' above. by CNB