In an article in the September 22, 2016 issue of The Wall Street Journal about the exhibit “Jerusalem 1000- 1400: Every People Under Heaven” that recently opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (“Medieval Art from Jerusalem Opens Window on Past, by David Masello), it is noted that five 12th century capitals carved with scenes from the lives of the saints were acquired for the show due to the diplomatic bargaining skills of conservator Jack Soultanian who made a deal with the Franciscans of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth where the sculptures were housed. We all know that conservators have many varied skills and play many roles, but negotiator is not necessarily the one that first comes to mind.
Category: Conservation in the News
Conservation affects many aspects of the world. This category tracks stories about conservation in the media.
One is never too young to learn about conservation
In the October calendar of programs and events sent out by the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery there is a listing for an “Art and Me” program for children ages 3-5. During the one and a half hour program, “Silver Tells a Story”, the children will join conservator Ellen Chase to explore what goes into preserving precious art objects made of silver and experiment with “newly acquired skills”. Perhaps this program will spark an interest in one or more of the children who attend it that will lead them to a career in conservation decades from now. One is never too young to learn about conservation.
Two good hobbies to share with friends
Each month, Hyperallergic, a daily newsletter on art and culture publishes horoscopes that “offer astrological advice for artists and art types, in art terms”. They aim to be witty and clever and usually are. Occasionally, they miss the mark. September’s horoscope for Libras is one time. It reads: “ Your close friendships are in need of some maintenance work, Libra, and a shared hobby or workshop is just the sort of bonding experience you and your besties need. No, we’re not recommending a night of drunken landscape painting at Pinot’s Palette — which is to artistic development as karaoke is to voice training. We’re talking about picking up some serious skills with a good friend or two, whether it’s trying out glass blowing, learning how to restore historic oil paintings, or getting real good at crochet. Nothing rebuilds bonds better than mutual embarrassment — as karaoke teaches us time and time again.” Art restoration and crochet. Just two good hobbies to share with friends.
I shouldn’t be annoyed by it, but I am
Every other week, the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal contains a column by Amanda Foreman titled “Historically Speaking” in which she writes on history, culture, and world affairs. This past weekend (August 27-28, 2016), the column, “When Works of Art Come Apart”, focused on the vulnerability of works of art to a number of things, primarily inherent vice. Foreman details the problems of specific works from Leonardo’s Last Supper to Damien Hirst’s “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” (his preserved shark). This is good and informative. The last line of the piece, “There’s a moral in all this, somewhere”–almost a throwaway— seems to belittle all that came before it. I shouldn’t be annoyed by it, but I am.
It's a serious philosophical issue. Why undercut the seriousness with snarkiness?
In the August 16, 2016 issue of The New York Times, Doreen Carvajal writes about the trend in French (and other) museums to have their conservators work in public (“Museum Showtime: Watching Varnish Dry”). She notes the reasons why museums like this trend (increased publicity and funding, more transparency about what goes on in conservation studios) and the reasons why some conservators do not like it (lack of concentration and quiet , being watched all the time). However, this well balanced discussion of the topic is marred by opening paragraphs containing lines like : “it’s show time” , “all to watch varnish dry”, and “they swipe away”. This is a serious philosophical issue. Why undercut the seriousness with snarkiness?
The Conservator as Performance Artist
According to Claire Voon posting in Hyperallergic on August 19th, for a five month period beginning on August 20, 2016 the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston will allow visitors to see the conservation process in action as experts from the Museum’s Asian Conservation Studio and the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art will work on an ancient Japanese hanging scroll, “The Death of the Historical Buddha” by Hanabusa Itchō (1713) in the MFA’s Asian Paintings gallery. Accompanied by other hanging scrolls and woodblock prints from the 19th and early 20th centuries that portray scenes executed in the same memorial portrait tradition, the conservation work is part of an exhibit, “Conservation in Action: Preserving Nirvana”. Jacki Elgar, Head of Asian Conservation at the MFA is quoted as saying that, “It’s an exhibition, but it’s a changing exhibition. Every week will be different because we’ll be progressing in the treatment. To me, it’s more like a performance piece.” The conservator as performance artist! Imagine if this show brings these conservators the renown that Marina Abramović got for her two month performance piece, “The Artist is Present”.
"If you conserve everything, there is no room for life"
Sometimes the most thought provoking quotes about conservation are found in articles that are not directly about conservation. The article, “Body of Work”, by Alice Gregory in the August 1, 2016 issue of The New Yorker ends with such a quote. Gregory is profiling the efforts of the conceptual artist Jill Magid to get Federica Zanco, the owner of the archive of the Mexican architect Luis Barragan to open the archive to scholars and others. At the end of the article Magid and Zanco are in the underground shelter in Switzerland that houses the archive, looking at Barragan’s drawings. Zanco complains to Magid that the hectic development of Mexico City means that many of Barragan’s buildings are being torn down. ” ‘I see the silent, rapid destruction of his actual legacy, all while his biography and his colorful houses get more popular.’ As she motioned toward the exit, she added, ‘I understand, though. If you conserve everything, there is no room for life.’” Agree or disagree, it is something to think about.
Would a conservator really describe the work as "toil"?
The Photo of the Week feature of the August 13- 14, 2016 issue of The Wall Street Journal is a picture of three conservators standing on some kind of platform or scaffold and inpainting a ceiling. The caption notes that “restorers toil away on an 18th century fresco at the Sanssouci palace in Potsdam,Germany on Thursday.” The definition of the verb form of “toil” is “to work very hard and/or for a long time, usually doing hard physical work”. Conservators enjoy doing conservation or they leave the field. Would a practicing conservator really describe the work as “toil”?
The conservator (okay, the technical art historian) is a movie star
“The Arts” section of the July 27, 2016 issue of The New York Times contains a review of the film, “Hieronymus Bosch: Touched by the Devil”, a documentary about the preparations for the Bosch exhibit at the Noordbrabants Museum in ‘s-Hertogenbosch mounted in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of his death. While the reviewer, Stephen Holden is unhappy with the amount of time that is devoted to the work of the team who traveled around the world studying and authenticating Bosch’s paintings, the Times chose to illustrate the review with a still of team member Ron Spronk, Queens University (Kingston, Ontario) and Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) professor. Wow. The conservator (okay, the technical art historian) is a movie star.
92-year resident of Georgia barrier island leaves home treated by FAIC
Sandy West’s family bought Ossabaw Island, a barrier island off the coast of Georgia, in 1924. For almost a century, she inhabited the “Main House,” one of the few buildings on the island, and worked to protect the island and share its beauty with others. In 2010, FAIC joined furniture conservator David Bayne in a program to bring emerging conservation students to the island to gain hands-on training in historic home housekeeping and preventive conservation. The culmination of four summer workshops on the island resulted in a 40-page guide to caring for West’s home, prepared in 2015 for the State of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources, which will gain control of the house after West’s death.
As a result of West’s eventual financial instability, the 25,000-acre island was sold in 1978 to the State of Georgia for a discounted price in hopes of preserving the sacred place. As a result, Ossabaw became Georgia’s first Heritage Preserve. The deal with the state allowed for West to remain in the colonial revival mansion on the island until her death (at the time, a state-hired actuary predicted she’d live to be 78). Now at the age of 103, West recently relocated to Savannah to access more affordable full-time care.
The FAIC workshops (see the plan for the 2015 course) taught the basics of preventive conservation in the pink 1920’s Main House. Ossabaw’s remoteness and climate presented a unique medley of housekeeping problems for the groups to consider. These workshops explored the relationship between objects, their history of use, and their long-term preservation in a historic house setting.
During each day of the two-week program, participants learned about different materials and how to care for them. The activities ranged from pest management to furniture handling; textile cleaning to taxidermy examination; and maintenance of book and paper collections. Participants gained experience in assessing and prioritizing issues with limited time and resources. The site contextualized objects in poor condition with their environment and acted as a counterpoint to the experience of working in a museum lab.
FAIC’s Ossabaw Housekeeping Guide provides yearly, quarterly, monthly, and weekly care recommendations specific to the main rooms of the house based on the objects and materials in the room. Pests, light levels, temperature, and relative humidity were monitored, with recordings included in the guide. Suggestions for crisis housekeeping are also included, and may be incorporated in a full disaster plan in the future.
For several reasons, including difficulty in getting to the island, FAIC had to find a new location for the historic house training workshop. The 2016 workshop is currently taking place with eight participants and five instructors at Staatsburgh State Historic Site, a property owned by the New York State Bureau of Historic Preservation. Keep an eye out for blog posts by the participants coming soon.
As West’s time on Ossabaw Island ends and the state prepares to take over the Main House, they are equipped with a solid resource for implementing a standard of practice and recommendations to be considered for the future care of the historic home.
You can find a review of the program from a 2012 participant on the blog: http://www.conservators-converse.org/2012/10/review-of-faic-preventive-conservation-workshop-ossabaw-island-ga-january-7-20-2012/ and an article on a workshop presented as a talk at our annual meeting in San Francisco (from which the above photographs have been reposted): http://www.conservators-converse.org/2014/06/42nd-annual-meeting-collection-care-session-may-29-the-ossabaw-island-workshops-preventive-conservation-training-in-a-real-life-setting-by-david-bayne/
–Article by Sarah Saetren (FAIC Education Coordinator) with Bonnie Naugle