The MACA presents the restoration and research of a set of 3 decorative panels created by painter Manuel Baeza for the changing room pavilion at Playa del Postiguet in Alicante.
In 1956 the Alicante City Council built bathing pavilions on Postiguet beach, and commissioned the already nationally recognized Alicante artist Manuel Baeza (1911-1986) to create five large-scale pictorial panels. Only these three have been preserved.
The works remained on display in the restaurant from 1956 until these structures were demolished. After this, the panels were forgotten for several decades until the Culture department stored them in its warehouses. They had serious deterioration affecting all their layers: supports disintegrated and weakened by the high relative humidity to which they had been exposed due to their proximity to the sea, and dirt of various kinds, as well as dense and oxidized varnishes that covered the paint layers.
Recently they were transferred to the Conservation and Restoration Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at IVCR+i in Valencia. After being researched and analyzed, they were restored, consolidating and stabilizing the agglomerated wood supports, and removing each of the added layers that covered them. The cleaning was carried out in three consecutive differentiated phases. As a conservation measure for the works, a wooden frame-box made of linden wood was designed and created, which without any anchoring system to the support reinforces the entire structure of the panels and gives them stability.
These recovered works, which are part of the collective memory of Alicante's citizens, return to their city and can be visited at the MACA until January 9th.
