"Struck by the dynamic character of a nineteenth-century Northwest Coast painted chest that he had walked past many times at the museum where he worked, Bill McLennan decided to photograph it for closer study. Infrared film produced surprising results. Painted areas that had been obscured with a patina of oils and soot could now be seen clearly, as the complete painting emerged from beneath the weathered surface.

With this find, the Image Recovery Project was born, whose object was to develop a database of infrared photographs of historical Northwest Coast paintings." "The Transforming Image brings together some of the most intriguing images, many revealed for the first time in over a hundred years. Karen Duffek's text adds new insights derived from the project's detective work, linking painted images to communities, histories, and the hands of individual painters."--BOOK JACKET.