Category: Arts

Restorers of modern artworks have to deal with the strangest materials. Christian Scheidemann has worked on everything from sculptures made from eggshells to a work made from elephant excrement at his studio in Los Angeles.

Scheidemann is a master when it comes to saving the works of iconic modern artists such as Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Paul McCarthy and Robert Gober. The restorer approaches their aging creations like a doctor does patients. Artists, collectors and museums all go to him for help. This documentary takes a close look at how Scheidemann works and the materials he uses to do his magic, including resurrecting an image that had already been deemed a total loss. The film also follows him as he examines the work of a young artist in Brooklyn, advises performance artist Carolee Schneemann, and receives a Golden Lion at the Biennale in Venice.

Leonardo’s famous painting “The Last Supper” hides a secret: only 20 percent of the original work is still visible.

In the style of a thriller, the documentary attempts to reconstruct what it originally looked like. Leonardo da Vinci was the epitome of the Renaissance Man. May 2019 marks the 500th anniversary of his death. The artist created world-famous works such as the fresco “The Last Supper” – perhaps the most famous. It is still in its original setting, on the wall of the dining room of the former Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The painting, which is 4.60 meters high and 8.80 meters wide, has been undergoing restoration for the last 19 years. But the restorers now know that only 20 percent of the original is visible today. So what did something that is the focus of so many legends originally look like? Our investigation also takes us to the small Belgian abbey of Tongerlo, where a mysterious copy of da Vinci’s work has been discovered. It is a painting on canvas that could have been commissioned from da Vinci’s workshop by the French King Louis XII. It has perhaps brought the researchers a step closer to the truth.

A major exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s work at the Louvre museum in Paris marked his 500th anniversary year. NBC News’ Keir Simmons took a look at the scientist, inventor and artist.