Student Voices: Conservation

Natasha Kung, MA/MS 2022

IFA Conservation Center Fellow in Photograph Conservation

A Capstone Internship Experience in Photograph Conservation

Over the course of three years, conservation graduate students at the Institute of Fine Arts are rigorously schooled in the identification and history of a range of materials, the science behind their deterioration, interventive restorative treatments, technical analyses and imaging, as well as conservation ethics, preventive conservation methods, and art historical methodology. Our fourth, and final, year of study is completed at a host institution that best compliments our area of specialization, experience, and career goals. This year, my cohort was placed in various cultural institutions in New York City, Washington, DC, Cleveland, and Cambridge. During our capstone internships, we are fully immersed in departmental activities, carry out in-depth research projects, gain more treatment experience, and practice what we’ve learned at the Institute before emerging as fledgling conservators with dual MA and MS degrees.

Because I specialize in photographic materials, I chose to split my final-year Internship between the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) in Philadelphia and the George Eastman Museum in Rochester. These host institutions provided a combination of intensive treatment, rich and varied collections, busy exhibition and loan programs, and highly skilled conservators to act as supervisors and mentors.

My final project at CCAHA, accomplished before the end of 2021 and my subsequent migration to snowy Rochester, was the treatment of a damaged relievo ambrotype (1a-b). The relievo ambrotype is a rather uncommon adaptation of the traditional ambrotype process that gets its name from the sense of relief or threedimensionality created in the portrait. More simply, it is a wet collodion negative on glass (an ambrotype) that has dark varnish applied to the back of the plate only where the sitter is in the image, thus creating a sense of dimensionality. Because it is a one-of-a-kind image on glass, it is usually placed in a protective housing, much like a daguerreotype would be.

This particular relievo ambrotype was broken into numerous pieces and needed to be mended and stabilized for its long-term preservation. Photographs can comprise a range of materials such as metal, glass, paper, plastic, etc. While it’s impossible to specialize in all of these materials and processes, it’s always humbling to learn from other specialties in the conservation field. My treatment was heavily influenced by methods that were developed in glass conservation for the mending of glass shards (2). I considered adhesives and solvents that were appropriate for the various materials that make up the photograph, i.e., that would not negatively affect the silver image, the collodion binder, the glass support, or the black varnish.

Understanding the materiality and art historical contexts of the objects under our care is crucial for conservators. Jointly, these affect the appearance and interpretation of an object and how those features change over time. My research into the process of relievo ambrotypes revealed a lack of consensus among historic sources as to how they were made and what materials were used. As a conservation and art history student, I was intrigued by the implications of the discrepancies found in the literature and how the objects varied. I had the opportunity to perform an item-level survey of the relievo ambrotypes at the George Eastman Museum. I began with the photographs that were classified as such in the collections database, but then began looking at the larger ambrotype collection after suspecting that some may have been misidentified. In my search through roughly fifteen-hundred objects, I identified over thirty more relievo ambrotypes. While labeling the photograph as simply an “ambrotype” is, of course, still accurate, classifying it as “relievo” highlights the specific at the Eastman Museum is so vast yet not studied very frequently as a whole, I made condition notes throughout my survey that can be used to inform future treatment and/or housing improvements. This research will increase the broader understanding of relievo ambrotypes and contribute to the preservation and art historical conversations going forward.

I would like to extend thanks to my supervisors at CCAHA and the George Eastman Museum for welcoming me into their labs and encouraging this work. I would also like to acknowledge everyone at the Institute for their support and mentorship during these fundamental educational years.