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Ilias Papageorgiou, artist-restorer of antiques and artwork, was interviewed by Anastasia Balezdrova

- When did you start painting?
 
- I believed that I have talent in painting when I was at high school. And the teachers told me: “you have to become an artist, to study at the Art Academy.” And I believed that I was a “great” artist. I painted all the walls of the class room. But as I grew up in a small village in the Fthiotida district, I had never seen a real painting. All paintings I had seen were from newspapers and magazines, so they were very small in sizes. When I finished high school I had to choose a profession and I really thought I should study at the Art Academy. At the same time I had the chance to travel across Europe. I had the Interrail railways card and trips didn’t cost a lot. So I had the opportunity to visit and see many museums. And when I went and stood in front of these huge paintings that I had seen only in the size of a postal stamp, I told myself: “What can I paint?” I thought that others had achieved everything in art long ago and that if I ever do something, it will be very mediocre.

- How did you decide to deal with restoration of artwork?

- My uncle is an artist and then taught art in Madrid. We talked and I had even decided to stay in Spain to specialize. He was the first person who told me about the restoration of artworks. He proposed me to deal with this and this idea excited me. The chance to have in my hands the artworks that I admired without being able to get close to and to touch them for a few days inspired me. And my quest in restoration began.

- You have studied abroad. When did you return to Greece and how did you start your professional career here?

- I did not know nobody and nobody knew me when I returned to Greece. I met some priests who helped me in the beginning as I asked some work. So I found the icons, because I had previously worked only with paintings. I went to Italy with the Erasmus exchange of students program and in Venice we restored ancient ceilings of houses. Otherwise, I worked only with paintings.
 
- What was your first job with the icons?

- My first job - and I want to stress on it - was commissioned in 1995 by the Metropolitan of Veria, who invited me there to renovate several icons. Besides, I had no job since I returned from Switzerland in 1992. The Metropolitan wanted to restore the icons, which he intended to exhibit in a small museum. He trusted me and it was a tremendous opportunity, because I worked with many old and valuable icons – there are precious things in Veria. So, I gained experience with icons. Distinction with paintings, of course, is insignificant. I perceived  icons as objects of worship and I had never thought that they could be damaged because I believed that God protects them. I believed that we should not touch them, and that the more dark is an icon, the more valuable it is. Before I got involved into restoration I could not imagine that there are bright colors behind this dark layer and that icons need restoration. I started to be interested in Byzantine art, which I previously did not know in depth and 90% of my work was related to icons. You have to know how to restore them, to know the history of icons art. It may seem like something different, but it’s not. I'll tell you a very typical example.  Someone restored the icon of Pentecost. It represents the appearance of to the Apostles. In Byzantine icons the Holy Spirit is depicted as one red drop over their heads. The restorer has thought that the drop had fallen accidentally and removed it. Thus he seriously damaged the icon because he was not aware that this is the Holy Spirit’s depiction.

- How old is the oldest icon you restored?

- It was an icon of St. Demetrius  - it was 1400 years old. A very valuable icon, part of my first work with icons.

- What is the artwork that you restored the hardest?  

- An iconostasis in the Holy Monastery of the Transfiguration of Our Lord on the island of Skopelos. The iconostasis was made in 1750. They decided to put a new floor 80-90 years ago, because the old was made of small coastal stones and was worn-out. They covered the old floor with soil, put tile on top and the iconostasis sunk about 20 cm in the floor. As a result, moisture and fungus destroyed its foundations and the entire bottom. The iconostasis, which in fact hung in the air, by sheer luck, did not collapse on people who visited the temple. The scale of the damage became clear in the preparation of the recovery plan. The iconostasis was 3 m high and 6 m wide. We lifted it with the help of pipes and thus managed to strengthen the foundation and restore its damaged bottom. The old floor of small pebbles was then rebuilt. The iconostasis is a very valuable, its carvings were very skillfully made. I am particularly proud of this significant work. But I do not know whether I would try to do something similar again. I arranged and a small museum at the St. Cosmas and Damian chapel on the island of Amorgos and the result was very good.

- Have you restored an almost broken icon?

- Everything can be restored. Of course, no object can be returned to its original form. But restoration is even to save an object in the state you find it.

- How an icon is being restored?

- When you get an icon in your hands, you treat it as a doctor treats a sick man. We first examine it to put the diagnosis. Restoration has two phases: the first is to show it in the best possible way, ie to distinguish the work of the painter. The second is to save the materials of which it is made, which means proper cleaning and restoration. An icon consists of a wooden part and usually has a coating cloth on which is the painted layer. Wood, as a material, is attacked by wood worms, fungi and moisture, and when not of good quality it can be bent, broken or clave. There may be mechanical damages. It might have fallen, for example, treaded on or have rusted nails, which made it cracked, etc. The next step is the primer. It was formerly made from powdered chalk mixed with glue of animal origin (glue made from boiled bones of fish or other animal) to stuck on the tree. Over time, however, it can be peeled off mostly due to the fact that in moisture conditions fungi appear to fret glue. As for the paint layer, paints were also powdered, made of stone layers – the so-called ohri - or the rust of various metals (copper, bronze, etc.). The paints were mixed with dilution of egg yolk to be able to stick on the ground. The problem here is the same as the aforementioned fungi. Furthermore, varnish of plant origin was used to preserve the icon. They used resin from coniferous trees, ink, etc. for the varnish. In the beginning, it was transparent but it oxidates over the time and gradually becomes yellow. Sometimes when the varnish is of poor quality and the applied layer is very thick it gets much darker, because smoke of candles, incense, and others glue on it. All this, along with dust and miscellaneous construction materials falling on the icons when temples are repaired, can contaminate the icon so much that the paint layer under the varnish can not be seen. Colours fade rarely. This happens only if the icon is exposed to direct light. Usually they are in good condition. To summarize, the restoration processes occur in the following order: we always start with the timber. We remove wooden nails if necessary, use chemicals to remove tree worms, and if the tree is split, attach it. If the wood is rotten we fill with acrylic resin using syringe, thus making the tree much more stable. Then turn the icon and attach primer to the wood. We use syringe with an acrylic adhesive again and place weights on it to press it. Then we clean with a scalpel all unnecessary objects (candles, plaster, paint, etc..). We make samples until we find a suitable solvent to remove the old varnish. This is done very carefully with a scalpel and small pads. We always leave a very thin layer of varnish on the painting as we do not want to lose even the smallest details, which the painter of the icon drew. Then we see the real painting which we review to see if there's anything lost. If necessary, we supplement the paint layer, but only in places where this is absolutely necessary to be able to distinguish the original icon. The colours we use are always more pale in comparison with the initial ones. In this way everyone can see the old and the new painting on the icon. This process is called aesthetic recovery and it is applied only where strictly necessary.

- What do you usually do when major details of the paint layer are missing?

- When a head or arm is missing, we do not paint them again. We only intervene to show the original icon. And here is a moral dilemma. Worship icons sometimes need a little more work, because these icons are not museum exhibits as they are placed in temples and people worship them. Of course, we prefer not to do it. You should not intervene, but this depends on how we look at a work of art. This issue have been discussed at many conferences and we are still not sure what is most appropriate. And this is because the icons follow their path in time. There are icons that were renovated 3-4 times. Then we face the dilemma to decide what to remove, what to leave, in what state to restore the icon. For example, if an icon painted in 1500 has a hole made by a firearm in 1600, should we close this hole? Because it is part of the history of the icon too. My personal opinion is that we should not stop time, we should show the way of the artwork. My philosophy is to intervene aesthetics at the least possible, to honour the icon and the time which has passed over it. I care much more to remove the factors that threaten it. However, when clients insist, we intervene, but the materials we use can easily be removed even after several years so that we can always return to the original icon.

- What is restoration to you?

- My feelings to save things. At first I woke up with the idea to renovate an icon and I thought I was doing something very significant, that I was saving it. I have never considered my work as a way of earning lots of money. I have never wanted to get rich from the restoration of icons. In the beginning, I went on vacation to an island. There I found a chapel in which the icons were swollen from moisture and ready to collapse. I went to the same island the following year. I brought the necessary materials and attached the paint layer to the wooden part of the icons without asking anyone. I didn’t care if anyone will know what I have done, nor I wanted to get paid. I believe - this is an old saying – we do not inherit things from our ancestors, rather we take them as a loan from our children. I have been workin for 16 years now and, thankfully, that feeling is still with me. Sometimes the tasks are difficult, or I need to travel a lot, or the conditions are very hard, or I’m not paid well. I do my job in the same way when I am not well paid, and when I get a good fee. My goal is always to restore as thoroughly as possible.