AIC Blog Archives: Conservators Converse
Former Blog of the American Institute for Conservation
The Harry Ransom Center – The University of Texas at Austin seeks skilled, collaborative candidates for the position of Photograph Conservator. The Ransom Center is an internationally renowned humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin. Its holdings include 42 million manuscripts, one million books, five million photographs, and over 100,000 … Continue reading “Photograph Conservator (Austin, TX, USA)”
Ms. Fischer’s talk focused on megalethoscope slides, an uncommon 19th century photographic process. When a group of these slides were brought to the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) their conservation presented some challenges. Particularly, the lack of primary sources on the construction of the slides themselves. Further, the slides bridge conservation specialties, since they are … Continue reading “45th Annual Meeting – Photographic Materials Session, May 30, “The Re-creation and Conservation of Megalethoscope Slides” by Monique C. Fischer”
Ms. Lough’s talk focused on Hans Bellmer’s Doll series of photographs. She gave some interesting background on Bellmer and her professed lifelong love of the artist was evident. As a fellow in photograph conservation at the Art Institute of Chicago, Lough’s work focused on the Art Institute’s newly-acquired doll print, which is a large print. … Continue reading “45th Annual Meeting – Photographic Materials Session, May 30, “Bellmer: Complexities of the Doll” by Krista Lough”
Photograph conservator Diana Diaz introduced her presentation as a study case which deals with “overwhelming protection” of photographic materials. The project started in 2006 when the Harry Ransom Center acquired the photographer Arnold Newman’s archives, including various photographic and other materials, such as photographic albums, sketch books, documentation of many projects… and color transparencies. More … Continue reading “45th Annual Meeting – Photographic Material Session, May 31st, “Providing Access to “Overprotected” Color Slides” by Diana L. Diaz-Cañas”
APOYOnline (Association for Heritage Preservation of the Americas) is a non-profit organization that facilitates communication and exchange among heritage preservation professionals throughout Latin America and the Caribbean region. Beginning August 30 and extending until September 2, 2016, APOYOnline hosted its first regional conference and workshop in Medellin, Colombia. Attended by 73 participants from 15 countries, … Continue reading “45th Annual Meeting – Photographic Materials Session, May 31, “Current Trends and Collaborations among Heritage Institutions in Latin America: Results of the APOYOnline 1st Heritage Preservation Regional Conference and Workshop on Photographic Conservation, Fundraising & Advocacy” by Beatriz Haspo, Amparo Rueda, and Debbie Hess Norris”
This talk was a good example of collaborative art historical and material science research. Two of the three authors, Kaslyne O’Connor and Ariel Pate, discussed a study that revolved around two gum-platinum prints by Edward Steichen from his 1904 “Moonrise” series in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago that had titles and dates under question. … Continue reading “45th Annual Meeting – Photographic Materials Session, May 30, “Moonlight and Midnight: The evolution of Edward Steichen’s ‘Moonrise’ prints” by Kaslyne O’Connor, Ariel Pate, and Sylvie Pénichon”
Nathália Vieira Serrano’s talk focussed on the “incorporation” and “disincorporation” (accessioning/deaccessioning) of archival documents in the Department of Archives and Documentation at Casa de Oswaldo Cruz, in Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, in Rio de Janeiro. She discussed the overarching framework that was developed to help guide decisions of accessioning and deaccessioning collection materials, and then as a … Continue reading “45th Annual Meeting – Photographic Materials Session, May 30, “The Fiocruz Collections: Discussing the Preservation of its Photographic Archives” by Nathália Vieira Serrano”
In this talk, Laura Panadero detailed the research she conducted in order to learn more about the chemical treatments performed on Irving Penn’s Nudes series. Shot and printed by Penn between 1949-50, the Nudes series depicts over one hundred images of female nudes that more recently, have garnered increased visibility. For example, they were exhibited in a solo show, … Continue reading “45th Annual Meeting – Photographic Materials Session, May 31, “Uncovering Irving Penn’s Chemical Treatment Techniques” by Laura Panadero”
The Williamstown Art Conservation Center is seeking a full time conservator to manage the paper/photograph conservation department. The department head will participate in all departmental activities including examination, documentation, analysis, and treatment. The successful applicant will also carry out consultations with museum curators and other WACC staff, assess member collections as well as supervise interns. … Continue reading “Job Posting: Conservator of Paper and Photographs/Department Head – Williamstown Art Conservation Center (Williamstown, MA)”
In a presentation related to the Disaster theme of the conference, speakers Colford and Christie spoke of the recovery of flood damaged photographic collections of the Peterboro Municipal Archives, in Ontario in 2004. The area wide disaster created such demands on affected infrastructure that the response began two weeks after the peak flood, which led … Continue reading “44th Annual Meeting, Photographic Materials, Tuesday, May 17, Separation Anxiety: Kiss Your Acetate Goodbye! – by Nicole Christie and Cindy Colford.”