Students suffering through midterms this week and needing a little luck will be happy to hear today's good news.
The Warner Bentley statue will be put back today, about one month after it was vandalized in an apparent April Fool's Day prank, said Adrienne Hand, public relations coordinator for the Hood Museum of Art.
Timothy Rub, director of the Hood Museum of Art, told The Dartmouth last month that "Someone put tarnish remover or some kind of metal remover over the greater portion of the [bust's] head." Originally it would have cost upwards of $1,500 to restore the statue, Rub said.
Instead, Kellen Haak '79, Hood Museum of Art registrar, took it upon himself to restore the bust.
Conserving the statue was "a labor of love, having rubbed Warner's nose on more than one occasion as an undergraduate," Haak said.
Hand said Haak "oversees the care, restoration and shipment of all the works of art owned by the College. He has a special interest in conservation and asked the Hood's director if he could try to restore the bust," Hand said.
According to Haak, the bust's conservation was a multistep process. The first step was to clean the polish residue off the bust.
Bentley "looked like he had been slimed, his face was all green which was really a copper oxide," Haak said.
It appeared that the bust had been damaged by Noxon, a metal polish, and applied with paper towels.
"I found a lot of paper fibers in with the chemical that was used to polish him in the crevices of his head," Haak said.
The next step in the conservation was to repatinate the statue. This is done by applying liver of sulfur to the heated surface of the bust. Over time, the bronze will oxidize a certain color depending on the mineral used.
Studio Art Professor Brenda Garand "suggested liver of sulfur in order to create the original chocolate-brown color," Haak said.
Hand said there has been quite a large reaction from the community in response to the bust's vandalization.
"We've had blitzes from students, phone calls from alumni and offers for fundraising," Hand said. "I am glad that he is back in time for finals."
Hand said she expects students will be happy the statue is back in place.
"Every time we go into the Hop, my good friend sniffles and sadly rubs the nose on the picture that they put in the statue's place," Alexandra Lavin '99 said. "A lot of people will be thrilled to get the statue back."
