How we restored Harvard’s Rothko murals – without touching them

Senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar demonstrates how a perfectly aligned compensation image is projected onto Rothko’s faded murals to restore them to their original colors. Artwork: © 2014 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Peter Vanderwarker, © President and Fellows of Harvard College

This headline certainly grabbed my attention. Read the account of Narayan Khandekar, Senior Conservation Scientist at Harvard University, who worked on the restoration of Harvard’s Rothko murals using lighting to recreate the original appearance. His description of the project in The Conversation, December 16, 2014 seems like it could be part of a future wave of non-invasive “treatment”. But does it count as treatment?
Learn more from the WGBH TV segment that covered the project:
http://www.wgbh.org/programs/Open-Studio-With-Jared-Bowen-2162/episodes/A-Conversation-with-Keith-Lockhart-57976

One thought on “How we restored Harvard’s Rothko murals – without touching them”

Narayan Khandekar says:

December 22, 2014 at 5:14 pm

Thanks for posting this article Rachael.
Here is a link to a TV segment by Jared Bowen on WGBH that also covers the project:
http://www.wgbh.org/programs/Open-Studio-With-Jared-Bowen-2162/episodes/A-Conversation-with-Keith-Lockhart-57976
Narayan

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