Painting & Painted Surfaces Conservator
Winterthur Museum
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library seeks a Painting and Painted Surfaces Conservator to care for its easel paintings, frames, and painted finishes on furniture, objects and historic interiors and to teach in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. Responsibilities include conservation of an important collection of American paintings and objects of varying substrate with painted surfaces, loan and exhibit preparation, collaboration with the Curator of Fine Arts to achieve institutional preservation goals, and supervision of students and volunteers as needed. The Painting and Painted Surfaces Conservator also holds an appointment as affiliated faculty in the Department of Art Conservation at the University of Delaware, providing instruction and mentoring of students in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. The hours devoted to teaching for this position may vary from year to year, but the educational setting builds vital links to other conservation faculty, and links to graduate students from all the specialties.
The Conservation Department at Winterthur provides unique opportunities for a Painting and Painted Surfaces Conservator to design treatments and complete research in collaboration with conservators from many different specialties as well as with conservation scientists on site. Winterthur hosts a Scientific and Analytical Research Laboratory with extensive analytical capabilities, including XRF, FTIR, Raman, GC-MS, LC-MS, SEM/EDS and XRD. The Winterthur Museum collections includes 90,000 objects in 35,000 square feet of exhibit galleries and 175 furnished museum rooms as well as an extensive independent research library that hosts both funded and independent researchers in addition to students, staff and the public. The American paintings in the collection represent a carefully selected survey of early American portraiture and genre painting exhibited in both the Museum rooms and the Galleries. Works by artists such as John Singleton Copley, Robert Feke, John Smibert, John Breckenridge and James Earl represent the development of the artistic tradition in early America. The object and furniture collections include many important examples of painted and lacquered furniture, metal ware, and other painted substrates that present challenging conservation problems.
In addition to a thorough knowledge of the history and technology of paintings and painted finishes, the candidate should demonstrate superior hand skills, familiarity with a wide variety of treatment options, an understanding of conservation science and analytical techniques as they relate to paintings and painted surfaces, the ability to use and teach basic and advanced examination and documentation techniques, and knowledge of conservation standards and practices. Applicants should also have superior organizational, written and oral communication skills and be able to work in a creative, energetic and collaborative environment. Teaching experience, a research/publication record, evidence of professional engagement, and familiarity with paint on a variety of substrates is desirable.
Qualifications: The applicant must hold a Master’s degree in conservation or a Bachelor’s degree and equivalent experience. Applicants should have 7 years of conservation experience with at least 5 of those years post degree or training and be a member of the American Institute for Conservation, preferably at the PA or Fellow level. Experience working in a museum setting is desirable.
Interested candidates should forward a cover letter and resume to Human Resources, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, 5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, DE 19735 or email jobs@winterthur.org. EOE