ALICE BOCCIA: CONSERVATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

**Information for this article was taken from Alice Boccia’s and Gary Kodner’s recent program on Alice’s father, Edward Boccia, at Kol Rinah.

Alice Boccia conserving a painting at The Brand Stand STL

Art Gallery. Photo by Ellen Kenzora

The Brand Stand STL Art Gallery recently had the opportunity to work with a world-renowned conservator to clean the paintings in one of our recent exhibitions.  Alice Boccia, currently Head of Conservation of the Missouri Historical Society, which encompasses the Missouri History Museum, Soldier’s Memorial Military Museum and the Library and Research Center, collaborated with us to conserve artwork to be put in our gallery.  Her incredible background is worth discussing.

Alice lived and worked in Italy and Greece for around twenty years.  She was Head Conservator of the artifacts excavated at the ancient Agora next to the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, including ones associated with the world’s first democracy.  Before coming to St. Louis, she lived in California, where she worked as an independent conservator for major museums on the West Coast.  She also published a book on volatile organic compounds and the conservation of inorganic materials.  

Alice’s father, Edward Boccia, was a member of the famous Ghost Army, which played a major role in the European Theater during World War II, and was also a world-renowned artist.  From 1942-1945, he served in the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion (23rd Headquarters Special Troops) of the Ghost Army.  He was stationed in England, France, Luxembourg and Germany.  In 1945, he and his Ghost Army comrades participated in the Vierson Operation in Germany.  Mr. Boccia sketched displaced people from Poland and Russia, who were under the care of the United States army, along with the villagers of France.  Bill Blass, the iconic fashion designer, served in the Ghost Army with Mr. Boccia. Over many decades, Mr. Boccia did sketchbooks in Spain, Italy, and Greece from which sprouted ideas for future paintings.   Alice describes her father’s work as “figurative expressionism.”

Mr. Boccia is famous for his mural work in local edifices.  In 1964, he painted a mural for the Catholic Student Center at Washington University.  He did numerous preliminary pastel studies in preparation for painting the large-scale works.  In 1970, Brith Shalom Kneseth Israel commissioned him to do a series of 10 wall panels in oil paint.  They originally hung in the sanctuary of the synagogue. Again, Mr. Boccia did pastel studies, which are now in Guller Chapel at Kol Rinah.  Each panel is 16’ tall and was painted in his studio in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis.  When Brith Shalom Kneseth Israel closed, the panels were crated and stored for five years, and then moved to Kol Rinah, where Gary Kodner cleaned them.  New frames were built for the paintings and the backs of them were reinforced.  The restoration artist, Irek Szelag, repaired a couple of tears in two of the paintings, which occurred during delivery of the paintings to their new location.  

Kol Rina panels by Edward Boccia. Photo by Julie Nicolai

To conserve our artist’s paintings, Alice needed to remove mold from the backs and clean the fronts.  To remove the mold, she vacuumed the canvas and then sprayed the back with a special solution.  This functioned as a fungicide.  On the front of each work, Alice used light strokes with special sponges to remove the dust and dirt and other tools to clean blemishes.  

The amazing conservation work done by Alice is evident as the paintings look like new, with more vibrant colors and subtleties visible.  We are so excited to exhibit these revamped paintings to show their true colors.