Old World Restorations recently restored and preserved a small remnant of WWII Aircraft Nose Art.

The tightly rolled and hardened painting on canvas was first softened, relaxed and carefully flattened. The paint and ground layers were consolidated and stabilized, before the canvas was lined and attached to a thin acrylic support panel. The painted surface was cleaned, losses were infilled and inpainted. After the application of a protective varnish, the restored painting was framed.

Nose art is a decorative painting or design on the fuselage of an aircraft, usually on the front fuselage.

What begun for practical reasons of identifying friendly units, the practice evolved to express the individuality often constrained by the uniformity of the military, to evoke memories of home and peacetime life, and as a kind of psychological protection against the stresses of war and the probability of death. The appeal, in part, came from nose art not being officially approved, even when the regulations against it were not enforced.

Because of its individual and unofficial nature, it is considered folk art, inseparable from work as well as representative of a group. It can also be compared to sophisticated graffiti. In both cases, the artist is often anonymous, and the art itself is ephemeral. In addition, it relied on materials that were immediately available.

oldworldrestorations.com
(513) 271-5459