A wonderful article containing an unfortunate insult to the profession

In the arts section of the November 15, 2015 issue of The New York Times, Roberta Smith wrote about her visit with Museum of Modern Art sculpture conservator  Lynda Zycherman and what she learned from Lynda about the conservation research that preceded the opening of MoMA’s Picasso sculpture show (“Art ‘CSI’: Of Beauty Beneath Picasso”). Smith wrote about seeing “how a professional thinks through a work’s being, tracks physical clues and subjects them to forensic scrutiny and scientific testing, with results that potentially yield new art historical knowledge”.  All in all, Smith presented conservation in a wonderful light. However, while discussing how MoMA’s conservators try to recreate artists’ works to better understand them, she wrote, “chief conservator Jim Coddingham had also tried to recreate Pollock drip paintings—which made newly clear why many forgers start out as conservators”—a statement I find false (at least for American conservators) and insulting to the profession.