Exhibiting Conservation 2000-2009
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Entries are listed in reverse chronological order by exhibition opening date. Expanded entries are given when additional information is submitted or available. For information on how to contribute new content or edits to this page please visit the How To Help section of the PR and Outreach-Exhibiting Conservation page.
2009[edit | edit source]
Institution: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY)
Title: Velazquez Rediscovered
Topic/Brief Description: How conservators, curators and historians working together are learning about Velazquez’s working method
Dates: November 17, 2009 - February 7, 2010
Institution: Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, England)
Title: Conservation Galleries: Restoring the Past and Conserving the Past
Topic/Brief Description:
Dates: November 2009 - ongoing
Institution: National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC)
Title: In the Darkroom: Photographic Processes before the Digital Age
Topic/Brief Description:
Dates: October 25, 2009 - March 14, 2010
Institution: Northwestern University Library (Evanston, IL)
Title: Preservation Awareness
Topic/Brief Description: Small exhibit in the circulation, aimed at students, with the intention of increasing awareness of proper book care and handling.
Dates: August 2009
Institution: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY)
Title: Michelangelo’s First Painting
Topic/Brief Description: Technical examination and conservation and scholarly analysis
Dates: June 16 - September 7, 2009
Institution: Yale University Art gallery (New Haven, CT)
Title: Time Will Tell: Ethics and Choices in Conservation
Topic/Brief Description: This exhibition explores the process of fine arts conservation, uncovering the relationship between curators and conservators and the objects entrusted to their care. Each of the works in the exhibition, which includes Asian ceramics, African ritual objects, ancient statues and mosaics, and American and European paintings and decorative arts from the Yale University Art Gallery’s collection, illustrates a different conservation dilemma.
Dates: May 22 - September 6, 2009
Institution: Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, VT)
Title/Exhibit name:Conservation at Shelburne Museum
Topic/Brief Description:A review of the kinds of work the conservators do at the museum, covering examination, preventive conservation, and treatment. Included in the exhibition are push-button interactive displays that allow the visitor to view a painting under different lighting conditions and a repaired ceramic under visible and UV light. A news story about the treatment of a chariot from the museum's 1902 Dentzel carousel runs on a loop. A reading area includes books on caring for collections.
Dates: May 15, 2009 - ongoing
City, State, Country (if not U.S.): Shelburne, VT
Conservator(s)/Point of contact(s): Richard L. Kerschner, Nancie Ravenel
Topics covered: examination, environmental control, light control, treatment
Analytical equipment or techniques used: x-radiography, paint cross-sections, microscopy
Publications: a bookmark with the URLs for AIC's and CCI's sites regarding caring for your heirlooms is available as a take-away in the reading area.
Online Resources: set of images of the exhibition on Flickr
Submitted by: Nancie Ravenel
Institution: Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles, CA)
Title: La Roldana’s Saint Gines: The Making of a Polychrome Sculpture
Topic/Brief Description:
Dates: February 17, 2009- ongoing
Institution: Digital Lab, University of Warwick (Warwick, England)
Title: Tensioned Fabrics in Art and Architecture
Topic/Brief Description: A multi-disciplinary study of fabric behavior (also at Embankment Galleries, Somerset House, Courtauld Institute, London, England, March 4- 18, 2009)
Dates: February 17- 26, 2009
Institution: Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, NY)
Title: Unearthing the Truth: Egypt’s Pagan and Coptic Sculpture
Topic/Brief Description: Real, fake and reworked/repainted works
Dates: February 13- May 10, 2009
Institution: Indianapolis Museum of Art (Indianapolis,IN)
Title: Preserving a Legacy: Wishard Hospital Murals
Topic/Brief Description:
Dates: January 17 - March 29, 2009
2008[edit | edit source]
Institution: Freer Galley (Washington, DC)
Title: Golden Seams: The Japanese Art of Mending
Topic/Brief Description:
Dates: November 8, 2008 - 29, 2009
Institution: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Title/Exhibit name: Imageless: The Scientific Study and Experimental Treatment of an Ad Reinhardt Black Painting
Topic/Brief Description: This exhibit grew out of a donation by AXA ART Insurance Corporation of a severely damaged Black Painting by Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967) to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and MoMA in New York. A collaborative team of conservators, scientists, curators, and artists carried out a complete physical examination and scientific analysis of the work. What started as the donation of an unsalvageable painting to a museum for research purposes turned into an unprecedented exploration of experimental treatment using laser technology on a damaged, historically significant Ad Reinhardt Black Painting.
Dates: July 11 to September 14, 2008
City, State, Country (if not U.S.): New York, NY
Conservator(s)/Point of contact(s): Carol Stringari (Guggenheim) and Chris McGlinchey (MoMA)
Topics covered: technical study and analysis, conservation treatment
Analytical equipment or techniques used: X-radiography, laser cleaning
Publications:
Online Resources:
- The AXA Reinhardt Project page has a detailed summary of the project's analysis and findings.
- Tall, Dark and Fragile New York Times art review, August 1, 2008.
Institution: The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa,
Title/Exhibit name: The Hope Hygieia: Restoring a Statue's History
Topic/Brief Description: The Hope Hygieia, a seven-foot-tall, nearly one-ton marble statue of Hygieia, the goddess of health, is on loan to the J. Paul Getty Museum from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). It was found in 1797 at Ostia, the ancient port of Rome. Since its discovery, the statue has been restored, de-restored, and now re-restored, to bring it full circle.
Dates: April 10-September 8, 2008
City, State, Country (if not U.S.): Malibu, CA
Conservator(s)/Point of contact(s): Erik Risser
Topics covered: conservation treatment
Analytical equipment or techniques used:
Publications
- Marvin, Miranda. 2007. [Language of the Muses: The Dialogue between Roman and Greek Sculpture Language of the Muses: The Dialogue between Roman and Greek Sculpture] Getty Publications.
- Grossman, Janet Burnett, Podany, Janet Burnett and Marion True, eds. 2003. History of Restoration of Ancient Stone Sculptures Getty Publications.
Online Resources:
- The Hope Hygieia project website provides a synopsis of the conservation treatments that this sculpture underwent.
- Getty Museum Exhibition Spotlights Changing Practices In Antiquities Conservation Getty Trust Press Release
Institution: Florence Griswold Museum
Title/Exhibit name: The Finishing Touch: Understanding the Techniques of American Impressionist and Tonalist Painters
Topic/Brief Description: Curated by two conservators, The Finishing Touch explores the controversy surrounding the varnishing practices of early 20th century artists.
Dates: February 2 through April 27, 2008
City, State, Country (if not U.S.): Old Lyme, CT
Conservator(s)/Point of contact(s): Lance Mayer and Gay Myers, independent painting conservators affiliated with the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, CT
Topics covered: conservation treatment
Analytical equipment or techniques used:
Publications:
Online Resources:
2007[edit | edit source]
Institution: Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD)
Title: Matisse: Painter as Sculptor
Topic/Brief Description: Wall texts and a video describe results of recent x-rays and scans of some pieces
Dates: December 2007 - February 3, 2008
Institution: California Science Center
Title/Exhibit name: FADE: The Dark Side of Light
Topic/Brief Description: This is a 1200 sq. foot traveling exhibit created in collaboration with the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) that blends science and art by exploring the destructive effects of light exposure on priceless museum treasures and family photos. It also offers suggestions for mitigating the damage. FADE's interactive exhibits explain the nature of light and why it permanently changes the appearance of many objects.
Dates: October 10, 2007 - May 31, 2008
City, State, Country (if not U.S.): Los Angeles, CA
Conservator(s)/Point of contact(s): Jim Druzik, GCI Senior Scientist; Ken Phillips, Curator, California Science Center. Bios and media contacts can be found here.
Topics covered: preventive conservation
Analytical equipment or techniques used:
Publications:
Online Resources:
- The FADE exhibit website provides a synopsis of the exhibit and information about different interactive elements.
- Getty Conservation Institute Research to Help Museum Visitors See Artwork in a Whole New Light Getty Trust Press Release
Institution: Museum Palace at Wilanow (Warsaw, Poland)
Title: Cesare Brandi (1906-1988): His Thought and the Heritage Debate
Topic/Brief Description: Art and science, conservation, restoration in Poland
Dates: October 5, 2007 -
Institution: Grace Museum (Greenwich, CT)
Title: Fakes and Forgeries: The Art of Deception
Topic/Brief Description: Includes technical procedures used to fabricate historical works
Dates: May 12 - September 9, 2007
Institution: Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, Washington)
Title: Five Masterpieces of Asian Art: The Story of their Conservation
Topic/Brief Description:
Dates: May 5 - September 9, 2007
Institution: Tate Britain (London, England)
Title: Colour & Line: Turner's Experiments
Topic/Brief Description: Works on paper and interactive displays exploring Turner's working methods and techniques
Dates: May 2, 2007 - April 20, 2012
Institution: Museu de l'Emporda (Figueres, Spain)
Title: Recto/Verson: la cara oculte de les obres dela Museus
Topic/Brief Description: Paintings displayed so that their backs (and all of the information contained therein) are visible
Dates: April 29 - September 2, 2007
Institution: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, New York)
Title: Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim: Restoring a Masterpiece
Topic/Brief Description:
Dates: April 17 - July 8, 2007
Institution: Allen Memorial Art Museum (Oberlin, Ohio)
Title: Sol Lewitt
Topic/Brief Description: Contains a description of the conservation treatment performed by the ICA on one of the sculptures
Dates: March 9 - June 17, 2007
Institution: Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA)
Title: Conserving a Tibetan Altar
Topic/Brief Description:
Dates: January - May 2007
Institution: Trinity College Library (Dublin, Ireland)
Title: Turning Darkness into Light
Topic/Brief Description: The technical elements of the Book of Kells
Dates: ongoing
2006[edit | edit source]
2005[edit | edit source]
2004[edit | edit source]
Institution: Guggenheim Museum (New York City)
Title/Exhibit name: Seeing Double. Emulation in Theory and Practice
Topic/Brief Description: As part of a larger program called the Variable Media Network, the Guggenheim has investigated a series of case studies to formulate creative preservation strategies for endangered works. One work chosen to test emulation is Grahame Weinbren and Roberta Friedman’s video piece The Erl King (1982–85), a combination of obsolete hardware, artist-written software, and custom-made components. Heralded as one of the first works of interactive video art,The Erl King invites the viewer to control the work’s narrative structure through the use of a touch-screen monitor. Still functioning in its original form, The Erl King is presented side-by-side with its emulated version and other variable media works, allowing both preservation experts and the public to compare directly the different versions and put emulation to the test.
Dates: March 19- May 16, 2004
City, State, Country (if not U.S.):
Conservator(s)/Point of contact(s):
Online Resources: https://variablemedia.net/e/seeingdouble/#:~:text=Seeing%20Double%3A%20Emulation%20in%20Theory%20and%20Practice%20pairs%20artworks%20in,the%20spirit%20of%20the%20originals.
Submitted by: Rebecca Rushfield
2003[edit | edit source]
2002[edit | edit source]
2001[edit | edit source]
