It’s Been a Busy Time

The end of summer/beginning of fall is always a busy time with the start of the new school year and the beginning of the new season of museum and gallery exhibits. This year, it was also a busy time for journalists writing about conservation and related matters. Each of the many articles that were published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere between mid-September and mid-October can be placed in one of three categories which I shall title “The Good”— articles about conservation projects successfully completed or works of art saved from destruction, “The Bad”— articles about works of art that could not be saved or which were intentionally destroyed, and “The Instructive”—articles about technical research projects or complicated installations. Here is a roundup:
The Good
“Calls to Repair Buddhas In Afghanistan Find Legs”, by Margherita Stancati, The Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2014: the Afghan government, UNESCO, and heritage experts are giving serious consideration to reassembling one of the two Buddhas of Bamiyan which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001
“Restored, a ‘Crown Jewel’ Returns”, by Lindsay Gellman, The Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2014: after more than three years of restoration work, the sculpture “Night Presence IV” by Louise Nevelson has been reinstalled on the median at Park Avenue and 92nd Street (New York City)
“The Sistine Chapel Lightens Up”, by Liam Moloney, The Wall Street Journal, September 26, 2014: newly installed LED lights will vastly improve the visibility of the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel
“Even Scraps Can Reveal, Given Professional Care”, by Eve M. Kahn, The New York Times, Arts Section, Antiques column, September 26, 2014: experts at the Jewish Theological Seminary (New York City),funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, are working to reconstruct texts out of 43,000 scraps from the Cairo Geniza
“Trying to Turn Back Time. Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs”, by Lee Rosenbaum, The Wall Street Journal, October 9, 2014: after five years of conservation work, Henri Matisse’s “The Swimming Pool” is on exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art
“Tapestries From the ‘60s. Woven Anew”, by Robin Pogrebin, the New York Times, October 6, 2014: because conservation was not a viable option, Sheila Hicks rewove the rotted and damaged tapestries which she created for the Ford Foundation building in 1967
“Church Window Restored”, by Eve M. Kahn, The New York Times, Arts Section, Antiques column, October 17, 2014: the Metropolitan Museum has completed the restoration of a 1530s French church window by Valentin Bousch
The Bad
“A Promise Is Made for a Watchtower’s Restoration, but Not in Ink”, by David W. Dunlap, The New York Times, September 18, 2014: the badly deteriorated 19th century watchtower in Mount Morris Park will be dismantled and stored—- but there are no definite plans for its restoration and reinstallation
“Banksy Mural Satirizing Racism Is Erased After Complaint”, by Steven Erlanger, The New York Times, October 3, 2014: after complaints that it was offensive and racist, a satirical mural painted by the artist Banksy in the town of Clacton-on-Sea was removed by the governing council
“Antiquities Lost, Casualties of War”, by Graham Bowley, The New York Times, October 5, 2014: many of the cultural treasures of Syria and Iraq have been destroyed by extremists in recent months
“An Obituary for Color: Yellow, Orange and Red”, by James Hall, The Wall Street Journal, October 8, 2014: if legislation is approved in December, the European Union will ban the use of cadmium paints by artists—- although it may still allow conservators to use them in their work
“Remembrance of Things Trashed” (an excerpt from the book The Missing Pieces), by Henri Lefebvre, Harper’s Magazine, October 2014: works of art that have been lost, forgotten, destroyed, left unfinished, or never made
The Inquisitive
“This Art Is Indeed Long (66 Feet), And Very Heavy (About 12 Tons)”, by James Barron, The New York Times, September 13, 2014: the transport and installation in Madison Square Park (New York City) of the extremely large sculpture, “Points of View”
“A Run of Rembrandt Reattributions”, by J.S. Marcus, The Wall Street Journal, October 10, 2014: the Rembrandt Research Project led by Ernst van de Wetering has reattributed seventy paintings to Rembrandt
“Anatomy of the Flute”, Library of Congress Magazine, September/October 2014: 40 glass flutes in the collection of The Library of Congress are the subject of a collaborative research project between the Music Division and the Preservation Directorate