TLC Is Conserving WPA Mural : Art: Crew of experts save a ravaged 1938 work by Helen Lundeberg. ‘The Sistine Chapel would be an easy task in comparison,’ one says.

What happened to Helen Lundeberg’s mural 30 years ago was a crime, and it took place right there in the police station.

Commissioned by the Works Progress Administration in 1938 to chronicle the history of Southern California, Lundeberg told the epic tale of Spanish conquistadors, American Indians, Gold Rush prospectors and filmmakers over three walls of the City Council chamber.

But when the Police Department took over the old City Hall in 1963, it installed a false ceiling that cut off the top half of the mural. Officials also divided the room into several smaller offices and, over the years, smothered what remained of the mural under layers of paint.

Since mid-November, a small crew of art conservators has been working assiduously to restore the ravaged work. They have invented ingenious tools and methods to solve stubborn problems that have made this effort the company’s most challenging project.

“The Sistine Chapel would be an easy task in comparison,” said Duane Chartier, co-owner of ConservArt Associates, a fine-art conservation studio that is managing the project.

The city decided in 1986 to save the mural and make it the centerpiece of the city’s 1987 centennial celebration. But plans grew more ambitious, and the city decided to renovate the building, itself a WPA project, which pushed the mural’s restoration to November, 1991.

When the city was faced in September with the choice of repainting lost parts of the mural from photographs or stripping the layers to recover the original surface, the city decided to take the longer, more expensive and authentic route.

“We felt it was the right thing to do, to bring back the original,” said Terry Galvin, the city’s redevelopment manager. “We had never really heard about Helen Lundeberg, but it became apparent that we had something very special. It was an educational process.”

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to accept ConservArt’s $47,000 bid to complete the second phase of the conservation, in which damaged surfaces will be repaired and repainted. Municipal bond proceeds have paid for most of the project.

“The WPA was a period in our history which needs to be preserved,” said Suzanne Friend, Chartier’s partner. “Art was federally funded and encouraged, and it really brought about a flourishing of styles and technique.”

The New Deal WPA employed many women and minorities who had been traditionally excluded from fine arts. Lundeberg, now 85, was among the first women to be hired.

Born in Chicago, she moved to Los Angeles in 1933 and co-founded the California Post-Surrealism movement with her husband, Lorser Feitelson.

“Her work was daring and original,” said Ilene Ford, associate curator of American art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, “quite unheard of in L.A., where many artists were painting pretty, Impressionist landscapes. No matter how long you look at a Lundeberg, there’s always something new to see. A refined, mysterious and quiet elegance marks her entire work.”

Before starting the project, Chartier analyzed a tiny chip of the mural, one to two millimeters thick, through infrared analysis. The examination revealed up to seven layers of oil-based and latex paints. About one-third of the mural, more than 300 square feet, had been painted over.

“It took two weeks of solid work to understand what we were seeing,” Chartier said. “We were confused by what we were seeing.”

The conservators tested countless solvents to see whether they could remove the paint but discovered that most chemicals altered colors and destroyed the original pigment. The only solution was to pick off the layers.

So, perched on shaky scaffolding, the conservators patiently conduct their task with dental picks, strapping tape and liquid nitrogen, sometimes clearing no more than a couple of square feet with six hours of work.

The project is complicated by several factors, Chartier said. The underlying plaster, which contains a small amount of asbestos, is especially porous, so the wall absorbed much of the medium, which binds the pigment, and left the pigment skimming the surface like fine chalk. Parts of the mural are so fragile that a finger can rub away dried paint.

Also, Lundeberg combined the powdery pigment with a small amount of oil to create a matte, pastel-like finish. Areas of the painting were colored so delicately that the paint did not even seep into the tiny wall crevices.

Other sections were destroyed when electricians drove in nails to install lights. And parts of the mural were sprayed with a sealant to contain the asbestos, Chartier said.

In certain areas, workers warm the surface with a heat gun until it blisters, then quickly cool it with liquid nitrogen. For other sections, they have updated a 17th-Century technique for restoring frescoes called strappo, whereby the workers apply heavy-duty tape to the surface, then jerk it off, stripping away paint flecks.

“It seems monotonous, but it’s not,” said Viviana Dominguez, who has been trying to hatch a chicken’s head from layers of paint. “It’s more than a job or a business. It’s an attitude. You’re dedicated to saving a part of the culture.”

The conservators’ mission to preserve art in its original state is a relatively recent phenomenon. The idea emerged in the 1930s and gained momentum after World War II, when much historical and public property was devastated in Europe.

Chartier stressed the difference between the conservation work he does and restoration, which enhances the appearance of an artwork without regard to authenticity.

Conservators are bound by a fidelity to history. They are required to document all their work. They photograph and describe in writing every technique and substance they apply to a work, Friend said.

The arduous task of retrieving the original mural makes Chartier consider how much more he would prefer to spend his time teaching others to value their cultural artifacts.

“Developing and redeveloping, it’s a very North American trend,” said Chartier, a Canadian. “Because everything is so reasonably new, there is an idea that it is disposable.”

Other Lundeberg murals can be found in Los Angeles, at the County Hall of Records, the Patriotic Hall, Venice High School Library, George Washington High School, Canoga Park High School and Centinela Park. In 1942, she abandoned murals and began painting postcard-size paintings.

Other WPA projects in Fullerton include the original city library, now the Fullerton Museum Center, a post office and three buildings at Fullerton College. Two other murals are in the post office and in Fullerton High School’s auditorium.

“An artist doesn’t create art so it can be falsified in the future,” Chartier said. “We are all temporary custodians of art. We have a responsibility to preserve as much (as possible) of the original, because we are handing it to the future.”

Depression Landmarks: WPA Buildings in Orange County

The Works Progress Administration, a New Deal creation of Franklin Roosevelt’s first administration, provided work for thousands during the Great Depression. In Orange County as in other places, some of the work was constructing beautiful, functional buildings. Although some have been razed, several have become local landmarks and are still in use today. Fullerton has the highest concentration of WPA-constructed buildings in the county, all in the ornate Spanish Colonial style.

Whether there is a complete list of WPA buildings in Orange County is subject to question, since documentation on others may have disappeared through the years. However, these structures are known WPA projects:

1. Fullerton Police Station, 237 Commonwealth St.

2. Fullerton Museum Center, 301 N. Pomona Ave.

3. Fullerton College Administration, Business Education and North Science buildings, 321 E. Chapman Ave.

4. Plummer Auditorium, Fullerton High School, 201 E. Chapman Ave.

5. Former 17th Street School Auditorium, 7571 Westminster Blvd., Westminster

6. Former Santa Ana City Hall, 217 W. Main St.

7. Santa Ana High School, 520 W. Walnut St.

8. Anaheim High School Gymnasium, 811 W. Lincoln Ave.

9. W.O. Hart Park, 701 S. Glassell St., Orange

Sources: Library of Congress, Santa Ana Public Library History Room; city and county agencies.

Researched by Janice L. Jones / Los Angeles Times