Cleveland Public Library

The People's University

Fulton Branch outdoor sculpture is restored

Mark Erdman, ICA objects conservator, examines the Reader’s Column with Bernice Davis. (Photographs by Intermuseum Conservation Association.)

“Reader’s Column” has welcomed visitors to the Fulton Branch for twenty-five years. The outdoor sculpture by Cleveland artist David E. Davis (1920-2002) is formed by a stainless steel base supporting a construction of painted red, black and white aluminum geometric forms at the top. Bernice Davis, wife of the late sculptor, explained that this work belongs to the artist’s Harmonic Grid series. From the early 1970s to1980s, Davis’ sculptures utilized a set of 52 different shapes derived from the rectangle form. Davis believed that self-imposed restrictions help an artist to stretch the creative imagination . He drew on this personal vocabulary of shapes like a language, pulling out elements for his sculpture designs. After 1983 his works include organic shapes along with the harmonic grid elements.

Staff from the Intermuseum Conservation Association of Cleveland performed the restoration. Paint on the top area was peeling and faded; the stainless steel section had stains, fingerprints, and graffiti. The project was first scheduled for October of 2008, but temperatures never reached the warmth needed for paints to cure. The work was tentatively rescheduled for June 2009, but the conservators needed to wait for warm, dry weather, as wind and rain could interfere with the treatment. In early July two scaffolding towers were set up at the branch. Each of the three paint colors was sprayed on separately, and left to dry for three to four days. A week of torrential rain followed the application of the red paint, further delaying the project, but the red paint dried perfectly. Repainting was completed July 10, 2009.

Conservator Mark Erdman explained that paints for metal available today are greatly superior to those available to Davis in 1983, especially the red paint. Mrs. Davis feels that the new gray-green exterior tile on the Library represents an aesthetic improvement, harmonizing beautifully with the Reader’s Column.