A P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E W I L L I A M S T O W N A R T C O N S E R V A T I O N C E N T E R
VO LU M E 10 , N U M B E R 2 • W I N T E R 2 015
Restoring Old Abe Williamstown Art Conservation Center | 1
Contents, Winter 2015
Art Conservator Volume 10, Number 2 • Winter 15 Director Thomas J. Branchick Editor Timothy Cahill Art Direction and Production Ed Atkeson/Berg Design Photographer Matthew Hamilton Contributors Gretchen Guidess, Luisa Hammond, Christine Puza, Larry Shutts Office Manager Rob Conzett Accounts Manager Terry Haskins Printing Snyder Printer, Troy, NY
3 Director’s Letter 4 Old Abe Rides Again
A long-unseen Lincoln campaign banner is restored for exhibition Gretchen Guidess and Christine Puza 8 Helping Art Herstory Age Gracefully
Preparing Hermine Freed’s feminist collage for a new century
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Ferdinand Bol’s Tender Mercies
14 WACC News & Notes
Williamstown Art Conservation Center 227 South Street Williamstown, MA 01267 www.williamstownart.org T: 413-458-5741 F: 413-458-2314
Williamstown conservators revive historic Albany murals; reframing Wifredo Lam in Paris; a redware bird figurine
Atlanta Art Conservation Center 6000 Peachtree Road Atlanta, GA 30341 T: 404-733-4589 F: 678-547-1453
Larry Shutts
All rights reserved. Text and photographs copyright © Williamstown Art Conservation Center (WACC), unless otherwise noted. Art Conservator is published twice yearly by WACC, Thomas J. Branchick, director. Material may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of Williamstown Art Conservation Center. WACC is a nonprofit, multi-service conservation center serving the needs of member museums, nonprofit institutions and laboratories, and the general public.
Luisa Hammond
16 Report from Atlanta
Ravaged by thieves, a Rockwell gem shines again
19
An overview of scientific techniques in the technical analysis of paintings
On the cover After-treatment detail of Abraham Lincoln presidential campaign banner, 1860, by Edward L. Custer.
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Tech Notes
From the Director
As I write this in early February, the Berkshires are still waiting for the first significant snow of the season. The long, lingering late autumn look of the Stone Hill woods has made it seem a bit like time is standing still, but of course it’s moving along as steadily as ever, and so we move securely with it into a new year. The most dramatic event shaping the Center is the election of new Board of Trustees officers and members. Many thanks to John Skavlem for his leadership and support as chairman the past four years. He has stepped down from that position but, we are glad to say, remains on the board. Taking the helm is Sheila Stone, a Williamstown resident and a definite DOER. Joining her on the board is Tammis Groft, director of the Albany Institute of History and Art, as Vice President; Russ Howard, also a Williamstown resident, as Treasurer; and attorney Bruce Grinnell as Secretary/ Clerk. New trustees include Stephen Hannock, artist; Paul Neely, who also serves on the board of the Clark Art Institute; Heather Nolan, research associate in the history of art at Yale University; and Diane Taylor, co-owner of Berkshire Innovations. With Sheila heading the board, the trustees, both new and returning, will definitely be pressed to be proactive in advancing the Center’s interests, including expanding our client base. The FRIENDS of the Williamstown Art Conservation Center group also has new leadership, with Sara Foehl and Mary Kontarasis taking over as co-chairs. Look for more presentations and events and a bimonthly e-newsletter from the FRIENDS. With great anticipation, everyone on the Clark campus awaits the announcement of the new Clark director, expected later this year. Retired director Michael Conforti transformed the Clark into the world-class institution it is, including building the incredible home we inhabit on Stone Hill. Summer will be upon us soon enough, and with it this year’s exciting blockbuster exhibition, Splendor, Myth, and Vision: Nudes from the Prado, which runs from June 11 till October 10. It’s shaping up to be an interesting year. —Tom Branchick
The crisp lines of the Williamstown Art Conservation Center are echoed by the barren beauty of a warmer-than-normal winter in the Berkshires, which gave Stone Hill the appearance of late autumn in February. Williamstown Art Conservation Center | 3
Cover Story
Old Abe Rides Again A long-unseen Lincoln campaign banner is restored for exhibition By Gretchen Guidess and Christine Puza
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n the spring of 1860, Abraham Lincoln visited his son Robert at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire to check on the boy’s progress in preparing for his college entrance exams. Robert joined audiences in Concord, Manchester, and Nashua to hear his father reprise his nowfamous February 27 speech at New York City’s Cooper Union, which set forth an argument to limit the expansion of slavery. Frederick Smyth, the he prominent New Hampshire statesman (and future governor), introduced the man from Illinois as “the next president of the United States.” Smyth was not the only one in the Granite State impressed by his visitor. Tangible evidence of the enthusiasm Lincoln inspired that year came to the Williamstown Art Conservation Center in the form of a campaign banner painted for his supporters by New
Hampshire artist Edward L. Custer (1837 – 1881), now owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society The banner, not quite four feet square, shows Lincoln galloping toward the White House astride a white steed, the U.S. Constitution in hand, dressed in full military dress and wearing a straw hat. One of his three presidential opponents in 1860, Vice President John C. Breckinridge, follows behind, carried on a litter bearing the legend, “Cincinnati Platform.” The rickety wooden platform is depicted in a state of collapse on top of four bearers who struggle to hold it up as Lincoln pulls ahead. Above the scene is written, “Honest Old Abe is Bound to Win,” a line from a popular campaign song, while the platform is captioned below, “The Peoples’ Verdict.” The reverse is stenciled with the words “Lincoln & Liberty Forever, Brekenridge [sic] & Slavery Never. Old Derry is All Right.” Nail holes and ferrous staining at the top of the banner suggest it was meant to be carried in procession aloft on a staff. Numerous elements of Custer’s banner can be interpreted to provide a better understanding of the presidential campaign of 1860, explained Wesley Balla, Director of Collections and Exhibitions at NHHS. Edward Custer, Balla said, was a Swiss-born artist active in Manchester and Boston. Known today primarily for his landscapes and family portraits, earlier in his career Two views of the 1860 campaign banner. This page, detail of losses and abrasions to the central scene, and, opposite, the full banner after treatment.
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Custer painted designs and ornamental designs on steam locomotives. To “read” Custer’s image provides an object lesson in the symbolism of nineteenth-century political history. Balla’s study of the banner provides essential clues. Lincoln’s straw hat is a nod to his Whig antecedents. It follows in a tradition of earlier campaign images of Presidents Taylor, Harrison, and Jackson, who were all portrayed wearing straw hats. Lincoln’s martial costume, although appearing to presage the coming conflict, was and is a common way to evoke capable and strong leadership going back to General George Washington. Although Lincoln was running against three other challengers,
including John Bell, for the Constitutional Union Party, and Stephen A. Douglas, for the recently split Northern Democrats, Custer chose to contrast Lincoln solely with John Breckinridge of Kentucky and the Southern Democrats. This may have been to provide Lincoln with the strongest contrast possible: Breckenridge was campaigning on the “Cincinnati Platform,” a policy that allowed the expansion of slavery, adopted by the Democrats at a convention held in that city. The words “The Peoples’ Verdict” may be seen as an ironic evocation of that platform’s opening resolution, which posited a government “springing from and upheld by the popular will . . . of the American people.” Balla said the campaign banner was likely made sometime during the 1860 campaign, after Lincoln’s nomination in May and before his election that November, and added to the NHHS collection sometime later in the century. Prior to entering the museum, it had endured some hard treatment, having been folded in quarters, crumpled, and exposed to considerable moisture. The artifact required conservation and restoration before the historical society could exhibit this piece of New Hampshire and US history. Examination revealed that the banner’s cotton substrate, although water stained, was still robust. Silk fringe applied to three of the banner’s sides was very weak and powdering, while most of the design elements were intact and the stenciling clear and legible. Painted elements, however, were heavily soiled, abraded, and actively flaking, and the painted scene was at great risk for continued loss as the cotton ground flexed and the more rigid paint layer was popped from the fabric surface. There was considerable paint loss along the previous folded creases, and in the adjacent areas the paint was Reverse side of the Lincoln banner.
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Objects and textiles conservator Gretchen Guidess at work on the banner.
undermined. Much of the paint loss was in critical design areas that made interpretation difficult. Most of Lincoln’s face and portions of the Cincinnati Platform were missing altogether. The treatment plan included humidification and easing of the wrinkles and previous fold lines in the cotton ground and stabilization and cleaning of the paint layer. It was proposed to minimize the numerous water-stain tidelines with localized suction, but once the construction of the banner was better understood it became clear that the construction stitching would not permit ready access to these discolorations. Fortunately, enough access was available to allow other treatment, by opening up the banner’s bottom construction seam and releasing the fringe along that edge of the banner. This allowed a silicon mylar barrier to be inserted behind the top layer of the banner to isolate it from the other construction layers. Work could now progress in and around the painted front surface without treatment materials permeating into the lower layers of the banner or harming the back. Flaking paint was consolidated with a dilute water-based adhesive applied with a fine brush to the exposed areas of cotton ground in and around the numerous lifting paint flakes. This adhered the paint layer back to the cotton canvas, and
surface treatment could continue on the cotton ground’s folds, creases, and wrinkles. The banner was humidified in a custom-made tent of plastic sheeting, large enough to contain the work table, banner, and a conservator. The humidity level inside the tent was raised to ninety-five percent and the banner components gradually relaxed as they absorbed moisture. The wrinkles and creases were then smoothed out and rearranged, and the front surface entirely covered with small sand weights and acrylic plates to remove distortions. Following these corrections, the tent was opened and the humidity reduced to the lab’s ambient level. After eighteen hours, the banner was dry. Strong distortions were greatly reduced and the crumpled appearance was gone. The now-flat paint surface was carefully cleaned with cotton swabs and aqueous-based solutions in order to reveal Mr. Custer’s brushwork from behind more than a century of flyspecks and darkened soiling. The banner was transferred to a rigid, fabric-covered padded support and stitched in place. The support will ensure safe handling and good display without flexing or distorting the cotton ground and undermining the paint layer. The continued on page 18
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Feature
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Helping Art Herstory Age Gracefully Preparing Hermine Freed’s feminist collage for a new century
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n the 1970s, video art was a medium inventing itself. Consumer-grade video cameras and electronic tape emerged in the late 1960s and were quickly adopted by the contemporary avant-garde. Despite the fact it was technologically limited and produced images that looked amateurish, video appealed to artists because it was fast, cheap, and modern. It was easy to shoot and edit, and tape didn’t cost much. There were no mistakes, just takes that did or didn’t work, and no rules, except high modernism’s imperatives to subvert tradition and make it new. All the seminal artvideos of the era share the same values of improvisation, experimentation, and iconoclasm. Early video art has the inherent imperfections of outsider art or punk rock— anything made by self-taught artists and rudimentary tools in a spirit of discovery and rebellion. Hermine Freed (1940-1998) was a pioneer of this crude but dynamic artform. Trained as a painter, she was introduced to media art when she made a series of short films about artists for public television. The films were not aired, but Freed began to see the possibilities of the new medium to manipulate time, space, and the viewer’s relationship with images, texts, and ideas. For viewers used to the linear narratives of Hollywood movies and TV, the random visual discourse of video art seemed rooted nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Freed was one of many feminist artists who used video to explore issues of gender, sexuality, and female identity. Her 1974 video Art Herstory assailed the underlying assumption that Western art history is the story of a progression of male geniuscreators. That this assumption rested in part on the depiction of women is central to Freed’s message. Throughout the video, she offers a stream-of-consciousness narration on time, being, and the art process, all the while—through superimposing her image into famous paintings—portraying herself as various women in works ranging from the twelfth to the twentieth century,
including Raphael, Chardin, Ingres, Manet, and van Gogh. The twenty-two minute work remains one of the most influential feminist documents of the 1970s. In 1979, Freed re-imagined as a photographic collage. While the central feminist theme remains the same as in the earlier work, the collage, bearing the title of the video, is in some ways more visually complex and enigmatic. In its largest outer ring, Freed once again presents iconic male depictions of women, intercutting them, as it were, with snapshot self-portraits that lampoon the original paintings. The work, owned by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University, was brought to the Williamstown Art Conservation Center for surface cleaning, stabilization, and remounting in preparation for exhibition. Paper conservator Rebecca Johnston reattached elements of the collage that had become loose or were lifting, largely the result of aged and oxidized rubber cement. The color photographic collage elements represent different types of processes, papers, and qualities, and varying degrees of fading and/or color shifting are evident. These irreversible forms of deterioration relate to the inherent chemistry of the color photographs, but were likely precipitated by years of exposure to light, heat, and other environmental pollutants. Johnston also stabilized the work’s circular foam-board mount, which is most likely original and almost certainly cut by hand by the artist herself. Looking at the back of the piece, one can easily see four curved slivers that the artist added to create a round shape made from a board that was originally square. These slivers were attached with duct tape and other adhesive tapes that were beginning to fail. The tapes were removed and replaced with Japanese paper and wheat starch paste. Johnston then devised a mounting and glazing system that allowed the work to float inside its new frame, sealed from the environment and ready for exhibition once more.
Opposite, Hermine Freed, Art Herstory, 1979, after treatment (detail). Above, the collage in the paper lab. Williamstown Art Conservation Center | 9
Six frames in an alternate herstory 1. Hermine Freed was born in New York City and studied art at Cornell University and New York University. A painter, multimedia artist, teacher, and writer, she was best known as part of the first generation of feminist video artists in the 1970s. Later in her career, she created a series of “photo transformations,” including Art Herstory, that exploited the objectivity of documentary photography to offer commentary on culture, politics, and gender identity. Writing in the Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, Donna Stein said of Freed’s art, “by juxtaposing imagery from different cultures or her personal story, she explored the relationship between reality and illusion, present and past ... instant experience and memory.”
2. In reinterpreting Art Herstory, Freed continued to investigate themes of being and time, transforming an artwork with no physical form (the video) into a unique object in a specific locale (the collage). Freed’s narration for the video might serve as a voice-over for the later collage iteration as well: “Did the artists alter history to fit their own ideology? Have we, or they, reinterpreted the past in order to have it fit our own, or their own, model of the present?”
3. The circular work, or tondo, is forty-eight inches in diameter and composed of more than one hundred fifty photographic images arranged in concentric rings. The center consists of eight wedgeshaped segments depicting earth and stone building materials. The second ring contains images of clouds and sky, and the third contrasts historic and modern arches. The fourth ring is a sequence of glass beads that multiply in successive images. The fifth ring directly evokes Freed’s Art Herstory video, alternating fragments of historic paintings with images of the artist as the model in each work. The outer ring is a decorative frieze of grape leaves and clusters.
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4. The collage entered the permanent collection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in 1986 as a gift of the artist on her twenty-fifth reunion. Her connection to Cornell was enhanced by her marriage to James Ingo Freed, one of the founding partners in the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architecture firm that designed the Johnson Museum in 1973. Art Herstory had been in storage for many years, but will now return to exhibition following treatment at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center. Andrea Inselmann, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art & Photography at the museum, says she hopes eventually to exhibit it with its namesake video.
5. Treatment of the artwork included surface cleaning and stabilization of its photographic elements. The collage was initially surface-cleaned with a dry, soft brush. Embedded surface soil in visible areas of rubber cement was reduced to the extent possible using cotton swabs moistened with acetone. A considerable amount of grime was removed using swabs and soft photo wipes, most noticeably on the perimeter sections, which had been exposed to the ambient environment (see below). Areas of lifting collage elements were re-adhered using hydroxypropyl cellulose in ethanol.
6. Art Herstory arrived at the WACC paper department mounted on a round piece of plywood painted off-white, covered by a circle of clear acrylic attached with L-brackets. This presentation left the edge of the artwork exposed to damage, deterioration, and airborne pollutants and grime. After treatment, paper conservator Rebecca Johnston mounted the work to a fifty-five-inch square honeycombed-aluminum panel faced with mat board and fitted with custom-fabricated wood spacers along the panel’s perimeter. Museum-grade acrylic glazing was then positioned on the spacers, and the whole unit, mounted artwork and glazing, was secured with foil polyester tape to create a protective microenvironment. This sealed package was then framed for exhibition.
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Feature
Ferdinand Bol’s Tender Mercies In the seventeenth century, Amsterdam was the wealthiest city in Europe and home to a small army of painters who flourished amid Calvinist bankers, bureaucrats, and merchants, men whose churches were stripped of ornament but whose homes and public halls were bursting with masterpieces. We know this flowering as the Dutch Golden Age, the era of Hals, de Hooch, Ruisdael, Vermeer, and the towering master of them all, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. These are the best-known figures of a period that produced a long roster of good and great artists as any city in any age. Among the now-less-remembered names of this brilliant collective was Ferdinand Bol, an artist celebrated in his time for his depiction of Pyrrhus and Fabricius in the Amsterdam Town Hall, and his individual and group portraits of the Netherlands’ leading burghers. One easily grasps Bol’s past renown when standing before his 1658 Portrait of Helena Eckhout, an exemplar of the Dutch style of quiet, luminous beauty. Today, much of Bol’s prominence is derived from his five-year apprenticeship with Rembrandt, from whom he learned not only his master’s style and finish, but also his insight and penetrating emotion. Bol treats Mistress Eckhout with a sensitivity heightened by a benevolent detachment. The artist’s tender mercies are evident in the softness of the lady’s face, which is at once still young and, like the sky behind her, all the lovelier for being past its high point. The painting, owned by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, came to the Williamstown Art Conservation Center for cleaning in advance of exhibition. Thomas Branchick, WACC head paintings conservator, described the work’s beforetreatment appearance as “lackluster,” the result of a heavy layer of oxidized varnish exacerbated by numerous micro-flaking paint losses. After removing the yellowed varnish, Branchick was treated to a full display of the painter’s virtuosity. “The biggest marvel for me was how Bol handled the dress, with various shades of black that give dimension to the clothing.” Bol may very well have attained this technique in Rembrandt’s studio as well. Technical examination has revealed the Rembrandt used three black pigments to achieve the shadows of his dramatic chiaroscuro, bone black, charcoal black, and lamp black. The younger Bol may never have risen to the same heights of pathos as his master, but he took part nonetheless in the rich mysteries found at the end of a paintbrush. —Timothy Cahill
Ferdinand Bol, Portrait of Helena Eckhout, 1658, after treatment, and, right, a detail displaying the painter’s mastery of his art. 12 | Art Conservator | Winter 2015
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WACC News & Notes
Williamstown conservators revive historic Albany murals Taylor, but had stood unused for decades, falling into decay and becoming a haven for squatters and roosting pigeons. In 2014, the Renaissance Marriott hotel chain began what became a reported $75 million restoration effort that transformed the property into a luxury hostelry. The reborn hotel opened late in 2015. The restoration took pains to preserve much of the old hotel’s historic character. This included reclaiming the frieze of twelve murals which occupies the perimeter of the opulent
S
lobby, which also features a ix conservators from the Williamstown Art Conservation
coffered wooden ceiling, original chestnut panels, and terrazzo
Center worked on location in Albany, New York recently
flooring. The murals depict key scenes in the capital city’s history,
to revive the luster of a frieze of history murals that had been all
beginning with Henry Hudson’s arrival in 1609. These include the
but forgotten for more than twenty years. The murals are in the
founding of Fort Orange, the first permanent Dutch settlement in
former DeWitt Clinton Hotel, part of the city’s historic Wellington
the New World; the opening of the Erie Canal; Robert Fulton’s first
Row, located across the street from the New York State Capitol.
steam boat, which made its maiden voyage from New York City
The hotel once greeted the likes of John F. Kennedy and Elizabeth
to Albany; and the first steam passenger train in America, which
Reframing Wifredo Lam in Paris Wifredo Lam’s The Eternal Presence was among more than four hundred works by the Cuban modernist on view at a sweeping retrospective at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Prior to leaving for France, the 1944 mixed-media painting, owned by the Rhode Island School of Design, came to the Williamstown Art Conservation Center to be stabilized for travel and fitted with a new frame. The bespoke maple frame, designed and fabricated by Hugh Glover, WACC Chief Conservator of Frames and Wood Objects, structurally supports the stretched canvas, making it safer for travel and long-term preservation. The painting is floated within the frame with the edges of Lam’s canvas revealed, providing a Courtesy Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art
cleaner appearance enhanced by a shadow line at the perimeter. The treatment is
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particularly noteworthy for the scale of the frame, nearly eight feet by seven feet and three-and-half inches deep. The frame was finished in charcoal-gray and glazed with museum-quality acrylic. Lam (1902–1982) combined European cubism and surrealism with Afro-Cuban imagery inspired by his grandmother’s Santaria mysticism. His brightly-colored 1942 masterpiece The Jungle (La Jungla), from the Museum of Modern Art, is visible on the black wall behind the RISD painting. After closing in Paris in mid-February, the exhibit travels to Madrid and London. Wifredo Lam’s The Eternal Presence, left, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
originated in the capital. The scenes were painted in 1927 by Victor Gerald White, a Dublin-born artist who emigrated to New York City. White studied with Robert Henri and George Bellows at the Arts Student League in New York and at the Academie Julien in Paris before embarking on a career as a muralist. He was noticeably skilled at controlling the movement of his painted narratives, as WACC paintings conservator Montserrat LeMense observed in her treatment report: “The artist’s loose and brushy style seems to have been a very deliberate choice used to tell the story and . . . keep the viewer’s eye moving from scene to scene. The artist highly finished only important persons or elements to the story being told, so that a figure in a corner at the edge of a scene is often very sketchily outlined with limited coloring. Various finished areas at arch edges help to bring the viewer along to the next story by directing the viewer with glance and/or gesture on to the central action or subject of a scene. To that end, we were careful not to over restore loosely painted areas that functioned as part of the artist’s technique or intent.” The treatment required overall cleaning and stabilization and consolidation of areas where there was flaking and paint loss. The hotel had sustained both fire and water damage, which required additional inpainting of the image. Evidence suggested that the murals had originally been varnished; however, due to the hotel’s construction schedule, the WACC team was compelled to work on the murals in the midst of other dust-creating construction. Varnishing was considered impracticable, as the slow-drying varnish would have trapped dust and debris, leaving the paintings with a soiled appearance. The decision left the murals with a fresh, bright unsaturated appearance reminiscent of fresco paintings.
This ceramic bird figurine was one of twentytwo pieces of redware sent by Historic Deerfield to the Williamstown Art Conservation Center for stabilization and repair. The earthenware, from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, included utilitarian items such as crocks, pitchers, and shaving cups, and playful objects including a small blue keg lying on a stand and this bird, a sort of pigeon or dove. The bird, which had been previously damaged and repaired, is perched on the handle of a bell-shaped stand with smaller birds on either side, and decorated with streaks of red and black lead glazes. Redware, or red earthenware, was one of the most common indigenous ceramic materials in eighteenthcentury New England. In its raw state the iron-rich clay can be blue, yellow, gray, or red, but iron deposits turn it red during firing. Both keg and bird from Deerfield were quickly identified by Chief Objects Conservator Hélène Gillette-Woodard as simple whistles, evidenced here by the small hole in the dove’s breast. The tail contains the blowhole, and the remainder of the body is hollow and serves as a bellows. When played, the whistle sings out a
Opposite and above, the old DeWitt Clinton Hotel in Albany, New York, during renovation, with the murals as they appeared before treatment.
rich, low note, a round and resonant coo.
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Report from Atlanta
Ravaged by thieves, a Rockwell gem shines again By Larry Shutts Conservator of Paintings, Atlanta Art Conservation Center The Dixon Ticonderoga Company traces its heritage back more
Graphite Company in Ticonderoga, New York, and the name
than two hundred years, to 1812, when founder Joseph Dixon
of his most famous product was born. The trademark yellow
crafted his first graphite pencil at the age of thirteen. Dixon, born
#2 Dixon Ticonderoga pencil, with its distinctive green and
in Marblehead, Massachusetts into a family of sea merchants,
yellow ferrule, is among the most ubiquitous items in offices and
watched as his father’s ships would return from trading voyages
schoolrooms across the country.
laden with Ceylonese graphite as ballast, which was dumped
The company, which has gone through several owners and
into the harbor upon arrival home. Dixon grew up to become
is now highly diversified, has long been involved in the arts
an American champion of graphite. He made his first fortune
through both materials production and as a patron of artwork
marketing graphite stove polish, and later founded the Joseph
for promotional purposes. In the early twentieth century, the
Dixon Crucible Company, which made heat-resistant graphite
company sought out the best illustrators for its print advertising
crucibles for melting iron and steel in smelting furnaces.
campaigns, commissioning luminaries such as F. C. Yohn, Harvey
But the graphite pencil was his first love. He perfected the
Dunn, Tom Lovell, Alan Stephens Foster, and most notably,
crude prototype he had fashioned as a boy, and persisted for
Norman Rockwell. These men’s original artwork, first seen in
decades without much success to get the American public
such publications as the Saturday Evening Post and Colliers,
interested in his writing utensil. Then, all at once, pencils became
are now in the permanent collection of the Dixon Ticonderoga
popular with soldiers on both sides of the Civil War, and Dixon’s
National Museum & Fine Art Gallery near Orlando, Florida.
persistence was vindicated. In 1873, he bought the American
The centerpiece of the corporate museum is Rockwell’s Grandfather and Grandson, a painting with its own dramatic history. On October 19, 1975, the picture was stolen from the offices of what was still the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company in Jersey City, New Jersey, along with two other Rockwell paintings, Vision of Ticonderoga and His First Pencil, and a canvas by Jes Wilhelm Schlaikjer, The Wicket Gate. To date, Grandfather and Grandson is the only one of the four recovered by the FBI Art Crimes Division. It was returned to the company
Cour tesy Dixon Ticonderoga Company
collection in February, 1984, considerably the worse for wear after its ordeal. While in the custody of the thieves, the painting had been punctured, and areas of paint had been thinned by an overNorman Rockwell, Grandfather and Grandson, after treatment. 16 | Art Conservator | Winter 2015
WACC Staff
aggressive cleaning and further disgraced by off-color repainting. The canvas had planar distortions and flaking paint, and as a final insult to injury, was slathered with a drippy and insoluble polyurethane floor varnish. The painting was still in this state of abuse when it was brought to the Atlanta Art Conservation Center with the goal of restoring it to its past majesty, in advance of returning it to view in the new company museum. The painting was executed on medium-weight, tabby-weave linen canvas, which displayed active mold growth on the reverse corresponding to dark staining along the bottom and top corners. Extensive distortions to the canvas were also distracting, due to inadequate tension caused by a broken original stretcher and by the fabric having pulled through the tacks. The distortions manifested in several ways: as rippling draws originating from the left edge; as raised stretcher bar imprints along the top, bottom, and right edges; and as general dents and buckling. The back of the support showed quilting of the canvas caused by the cracked and cupped paint on the front. The distortions were so numerous and severe that, combined with the lifting paint, they warranted the application of a secondary lining canvas to keep the canvas in plane. This in turn helped keep the cupped paint from further flaking losses. Rockwell painted in oils, thickly applied with low impasto and visible brushwork. The paint layer was cracked overall and exhibited two types of crack patterns, drying cracks and mechanical cracks. Drying cracks, which are physically stable, are manifested by the pulling apart of the paint layer, while mechanical cracks are caused by physical trauma—in this case, rough handling. The mechanical cracks resulted in numerous small-scale flaking losses that revealed the white ground beneath. Many areas of drying crackle had been broadly overpainted in an attempt to reduce their visibility and “darken the darks.” Poorly trained restorers resort to this measure, deepening the dark areas to add contrast to a dirty work, when they lack the skill to properly clean the painting. This repaint was oil-based and had a similar solubility to the original paint, which would have made it difficult to remove. Thankfully, it was applied over the varnish layer, so both could be removed at the same time. There were two layers of varnish present. The upper layer was an aged natural resin that had become very dark. Beneath that was a nearly insoluble polyurethane varnish that was thickly brush-applied with runs and drips. Through many, many hours of repeated applications of solvents, coupled with mechanical removal techniques, I was able to take off this glop and uncover the beauty created of Rockwell’s original brushwork. Despite the hardships Grandfather and Grandson has suffered, the treatment was able to restore the picture to its former glory. Joseph Dixon would most likely have be pleased to see the charm of this Rockwell tableau, which features the iconic pencil he created, on view once more at the Dixon Ticonderoga museum in Lake Mary, Florida.
Thomas Branchick Director; Conservator of Paintings/ Dept. Head Nafice Adams Office Assistant /Atlanta Mary Catherine Betz Conservator of Paintings Rachel Childers Pre-Program Intern—Paper Rob Conzett Office Manager Hélène Gillette-Woodard Conservator of Objects/Dept. Head Hugh Glover Conservator of Furniture and Wood Objects/Dept. Head Gretchen Guidess Associate Conservator for Objects & Textiles Matthew Hamilton Photography Technician Luisa Hammond Paintings Intern Terry Haskins Assistant to the Director/Accounts Manager Mary Holland Pre-Program Paintings Intern Rebecca Johnston Conservator of Paper Henry Klein Conservation Technician Montserrat Le Mense Conservator of Paintings Eric Mallet Office Assistant/Technician Leslie Paisley Conservator of Paper/Dept. Head Christine Puza Associate Conservator of Furniture and Wood Objects Michelle Savant Conservator of Objects/Atlanta Larry Shutts Conservator of Paintings/Atlanta
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Lincoln Banner continued from page 7 bottom fringe was reapplied to the banner and the entire fringe was detangled, arranged, and secured to the mount. Light toning was carried out with acrylic paints to reintegrate the areas of paint loss. In many cases, missing design components could be reassembled from the available evidence in the areas adjacent to the loss. But the reconstruction of Lincoln’s missing face, the focal point of the banner, presented a special challenge. The question: whether to restore Lincoln’s portrait or leave the banner as time had defaced it? The decision to proceed with such a full restoration presented several issues, not only technically but from an ethical point of view. Due to the amount of loss, a certain degree of interpretation would be necessary to replace Lincoln’s features. Compensation to this degree detracts from the banner’s strict veracity; that is, it presents the object in a way that could differ from how it might have appeared originally. As Lincoln is the central element on the banner, however, leaving his missing features untouched would be aesthetically jarring and significantly interfere with the understanding and appreciation of the object. After weighing both sides, we proposed inpainting Lincoln’s face. The suggestion was supported by the following conditions: First, the full extent of compensation would be well documented, both in writing and with photographs taken before and after treatment. Second, since the inpainting would be performed atop the adhesive on the sealed textile surface, the differences in height between the original painted surface and the compensated areas would be obvious when viewed from any direction other than straight on. This would allow even a casual observer to easily differentiate between
the original paint layer and the inpainting even while the object was on display, therefore not deceiving the viewer as to the nature and extent of the compensation. Third, in this particular instance, the appearance of the person depicted was very well documented photographically, so there were numerous historically correct sources to draw from in recreating the missing features. Compensation of the missing areas of his face was further aided by the discovery of minute specks of paint still adhering to the surface of the banner when the area was examined under high magnification. These, fortuitously, were enough to confidently delineate Lincoln’s profile and provide the rough proportions of what were his original features. They also served to confirm the correct color of the original paint in these areas. The remaining details on the banner were extrapolated from a close examination of the faces of the other figures in Mr. Custer’s composition in terms of proportion, style, and brushwork. The final result of treatment is a stable, visually harmonious and honest object that can easily be appreciated for the unique way it embodies the political events at this moment in American history. Abraham Lincoln was sent to the White House with the support of fifty-seven percent of New Hampshire voters. Robert Lincoln did get into Harvard, as his father wished. And today, the Lincoln campaign banner is again on view in New Hampshire. Gretchen Guidess is Associate Conservator of Objects and Textiles. Christine Puza is Associate Conservator of Furniture and Wood Objects.
Edward Custer’s signature, located at the bottom of the banner’s reverse. 18 | Art Conservator | Winter 2015
Tech Notes, Winter 2015
An Overview of Scientific Techniques in the Technical Analysis of Paintings By Luisa Hammond Paintings Intern Paintings conservators confronted with questions regarding the material makeup of a work of art often require scientific analysis of the object to help them understand its history and how best to proceed with its treatment. Whether conservators work with paintings of historical importance or private meaning, it is important that any analysis not harm the object. Many of the techniques used in examining works of art are not destructively invasive, though some require samples be taken. Scientific advancements have made the instruments we use so sensitive they provide accurate readings with minuscule samples. (Figure 1) The chief question a conservator must answer before proceeding with a treatment concerns the physical composition of the object. When materials are known, information regarding dating, authenticity, degradation, and treatment can be better understood. One of the most common tests for a paintings conservator is pigment analysis, which determines the chemical composition of an artist’s colors. Many pigments have known dates of first discovery and use. This can be useful for dating a painting and extrapolating other information about the artist, his practice, and his context that can determine a course of action. At times, this process also detects nefarious or invasive activity. The presence of modern synthetic pigments on a supposed “Old Master” portrait can help uncover forgeries. Titanium white (titanium dioxide), for instance, was first commercially available around 1920 and it is not found in paintings earlier than this date. Its presence in a painting dated before this period may indicate a fake, or an instance of subsequent conservation. Pigments also degrade (fade or shift color) in unique ways over time, Figure 1: Anthony van Dyck (attr.), Portrait of Antoine Triest, Bishop of Ghent, c. 1627, detail. The blue dots indicate areas sampled for analysis. so analysis of a sample can help a conservator Figure 1: Anthony van Dyck (attr.), Portrait of Antoine Triest, Bishop of Ghent, c. 1627, detail. The blue dots indicate areas sampled for analysis.
Williamstown Art Conservation Center | 19
Tech Notes, Winter 2015
understand what a painting looked like Techniques and how to prevent further An Overview oforiginally Scientific in degradation. the
Technical Analysis of Paintings Light Often theHammond first analytical step for conservators involves simply inspecting an object under By Luisa different light Paintings Internconditions. Raking light is created by a strong light source placed almost parallel to the face of the object, revealing the texture of surfaces and the condition of the work. Ultraviolet light is useful to test varnishes, paint, retouching, even mold that of Paintings conservators confronted withfor questions regarding the materialand makeup of a work have a characteristic fluorescence short wavelengths. older something the how more art often require scientific analysisinofUV’s the object to help themThe understand its historyis,and oxidized it becomes and the stronger it fluoresces. Original varnish will fluoresce significantly, best to proceed with its treatment. Whether conservators work with paintings of historical while recentor retouches will not fluoresce at all. importance private meaning, it is important When such relatively simple techniques that any analysis not harm the object. Manyare ofnot the definitive enough to inform a conservator of how techniques used in examining works of art are not to proceed, additional analysissome is necessary. destructively invasive, though require This samples may require one or more samples to be physically be taken. Scientific advancements have made removed from the typically the instruments wework. use soSamples sensitiveare they provide small and taken from an non-intrusive part(Figure of accurate readings with minuscule samples. the 1) artwork. The field of analytical chemistry provides a range of instruments conservators use to The chief question a conservator must answer answerproceeding their treatment andconcerns satisfy their before with questions a treatment intellectual curiosity. the physical composition of the object. When materials are known, information regarding dating, XRF authenticity, degradation, and treatment can be Most pigments are One madeoffrom natural minerals that better understood. the most common tests contain metal elements, making elemental analysis for a paintings conservator is pigment analysis, a usefuldetermines procedurethe in pigment which chemicaldetermination. composition of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is a common technique an artist’s colors. Many pigments have known for making determination. dates of firstthis discovery and use. The This XRF can be useful instrument works by emitting x-rays that interact for dating a painting and extrapolating other with individual atoms the element, causing information about the in artist, his practice, and his 400x Normal Illumination 400x Crossed Polars 400x UV the electrons close to the center of the to be context that can determine a course ofatom action. displaced. When this occurs, electrons further Figure 2: Comparisons At times, this process also detects nefarious or from the nucleus moveThe in topresence assumeof themodern more-stable central positions. movement of pigment samples from invasive activity. synthetic pigments on aThis supposed “Old releases Master”energy Figure 2: Comparisons in the form of fluorescence. Each individual element has a unique fluorescence that the van Dyck portrait, portrait can help uncover forgeries. Titanium white (titanium dioxide), for instance,the wasXRF first of pigment samples from detector reads,available identifies, and quantifies. XRF instrument provides a readout that displays as examined under a commercially around 1920 and itThe is not found in paintings earlier than this date. Its the van DyckTop portrait, microscope. row all the elements found dated in thebefore samplethis andperiod their relative amounts. Using this information, a presence in a painting may indicate a fake, or an instance of subsequent asfrom examined under is the red sash;a conservator can determine extant(fade pigments based on in a knowledge of over whattime, elements make of conservation. Pigments alsothe degrade or shift color) unique ways so analysis microscope. Top row middle row is from theis up what pigments. XRF instruments range in size from small portable machines that resemble a sample can help a conservator understand what a painting originally looked like and how to from red sash; middle brownthe background; and futuristicfurther ray guns and are easily taken on location, to larger versions with greater sensitivity prevent degradation. row is from brown bottom row the is from the that stay in the lab. Generally, XRF is used as a first resource to determine a broad range of background; and bottom gray sleeve. Each sample elements present. However, when a conservator requires more specific knowledge about the row is from the grey Light shows different sized different in eachstep layer a painting, additional, moreinspecting specific, analysis is required. sleeve. Each sample shows Often thepigments first analytical forofconservators involves simply an object under particles and properties different sized particles under differing light and different properties sources. under the different light sources.
different light conditions. Raking light is created by a strong light source placed almost parallel Microscopy to the face of the object, revealing the texture of surfaces and the condition of the work. A more sophisticated leveltooftest analysis involves inspecting samplesand under a microscope, in Ultraviolet light is useful for varnishes, paint, retouching, even mold that have normal illumination, UV light, or with polarized light, i.e., light filtered to control the axis a characteristic fluorescence in UV’s short wavelengths. The older something is, the more
20 | Art Conservator | Winter 2015
of its electromagnetic oxidized it becomes and waves. the stronger In all instances, it fluoresces. light Original is transmitted varnish through will fluoresce the sample significantly, rather whilereflected than recent retouches on it. When will looking not fluoresce at a sample at all. under a microscope, a conservator observes its unique When physical such relatively properties, simple for example techniques the are crystalline not definitive structure, enough color, to and inform size aofconservator the particles of how to proceed, examined, as well asadditional the way the analysis particles is necessary. look under This polarized may require light one and or UVmore lightsamples compared to to be physically visible light. All removed pigments from display the work. unique Samples structural are typically properties small thatand cantaken be compared from an and non-crossintrusive part referenced for of identification. the artwork.(Figure The field 2) of analytical chemistry provides a range of instruments conservators Cross-sections use toare answer required theirtotreatment understand questions the layers andofsatisfy a painting, their intellectual from the ground curiosity. layer to any retouched layers or surface varnishes. A cross-section sample is XRF larger than other samples and the conservator must carefully consider Most pigments made from causing natural noticeable minerals that contain to metal where it can be are taken without disruption the paint elements,Often making elemental analysis useful in pigment surface. a sample is taken froma the edgeprocedure of a painting or from an determination. fluorescence (XRF) a common for of area that alreadyX-ray has major losses or cracksisrevealing thetechnique underlayers making this determination. The XRF instrument works by emitting x-rays the painting. Surgical scalpels and micro-spatulas are often used to ensure that interact with individual atoms in the element, causing the electrons precision. Once a sample is obtained and prepared, it may be looked at close toreflected the center of the atom to beproduces displaced. When this occurs,image electrons under visible light, which a photographic-like further from the nucleus move in to assume the more-stable central of the sample where all the layers can been seen and identified. This positions. This movement releases energy the form of fluorescence.orEach can sometimes reveal multiple paint layers,inincluding overpaintings individual element a unique fluorescence thelayer. XRFThe detector restorations that arehas separate from the originalthat paint use ofreads, identifies, and quantifies. The XRF instrument providesassociated a readoutwith that ultraviolet light, alternately, will show the fluorescence displayspigments all the elements found in the theirinrelative amounts. certain or varnish layers thatsample can beand helpful identification. Using (Figurethis 3) information, a conservator can determine the extant pigments based on a knowledge what elements make pigments. XRF A scanning electronofmicroscope (SEM) usesupanwhat electron beam directed instruments range in size from small portable machines that resemble at the cross-section to produce different images of the sample. Two futuristic ray guns are easily takenthe onscanning location, electron to largermicroscope. versions with types of images areand obtained through greater sensitivity that stay in analysis the lab. Generally, XRF used as ainfirst Backscattered electron (BSE) occurs when theiselectrons the resource determine a broad range of elements present. when a beam aretoreflected off the sample through different types However, of interactions conservator moreHeavier specific elements knowledge the different pigments and back to requires the detector. willabout backscatter the electrons in each layer of a painting, analysis is required. more than lighter elements,additional, resulting inmore areasspecific, of increased brightness. The overall image of the sample shows the elemental distribution of lighter and Microscopy heavier elements where the heavier elements are shown as areas of lighter A more sophisticated level of analysis involves inspecting samples under color and the lighter elements appear as areas of darker color. a microscope, in normal UVway light, or with light filtered to of The SEM can also be illumination, used in a similar to the XRFpolarized to obtainlight, exacti.e., elemental analysis control the axis of its electromagnetic waves. In all instances, light is transmitted through the much smaller samples. In this case, the electron beam serves as the high energy source instead sample rather than reflected it. When looking at causing a sampleanunder a microscope, a conservator of x-rays, but reacts with the on atom in the same way, electron to be ejected and observes its unique physical properties, for example the crystalline structure, color, and size This another to fill its place, emitting characteristic radiation that is detected by the instrument. of the particles as well as the spectroscopy way the particles look under polarized light and UVin process is calledexamined, energy-dispersive x-ray (EDS or EDX). This technique results light compared to visible light. All pigments display unique structural properties that can be an elemental map that shows the exact distribution of elements throughout the sample allowing compared and cross-referenced identification. (Figure 2) all the way up to any surface for identification of pigments infor each layer from the ground Cross-sections are required to understand the layers of a painting, from the ground layer to treatments. any retouched layers or surface varnishes. A cross-section sample is larger than other samples and the conservator must carefully consider where it can be taken without causing noticeable FTIR and Raman Spectroscopy disruption to the paint Often sampleforis pigment taken from the edge a painting from an The previous analyticalsurface. techniques areauseful analysis and of other types oforanalysis area that already hasmaterials. major losses cracks revealing the and underlayers of the painting. involving inorganic Butormaterials such as oils resins made from organicSurgical scalpels and must micro-spatulas are often used to ensure So-called precision.Fourier Once a transform sample is obtained compounds also be analyzed and understood. infrared and prepared, it may be looked at under visible light, which a photographic-like spectroscopy, or FTIR, examines thereflected vibrational, stretching, and produces bending energies that are
Figure 3: Cross-section taken Figure 3: earlobe Cross-section taken from the area showing from the earlobe area showing distinct layers of ground, distinct of ground, pigment, pigment,layers and varnish, as seen and varnish, seen under under visibleas light (top) andvisible lightlight. (top) and UV light. UV
Williamstown Art Conservation Center  |  21
observed image of the in compounds sample where when all the theylayers absorb canlight beeninseen the infrared and identified. region This of thecan spectrum. sometimes reveal multiple Different functional paint groups layers, including in a molecule overpaintings create distinct or restorations bands that that absorb are at separate different from the original paint wavelengths. These layer. bands Thecan usebeofbroad ultraviolet or narrow. light, Each alternately, molecule willhas show a unique the fluorescence spectrum associated with “fingerprint” that certain conservators pigments can orcross-reference varnish layers that to vast canlibraries be helpful andindatabases identification. to match (Figure an unknown 3) sample. FTIR is useful in determining if an organic material such as cellulose is present, A scanning though electron the technology microscopecannot (SEM)distinguish uses an electron the source beamofdirected the cellulose—if, at the crossfor section toitproduce instance, is from different cotton orimages wood pulp. of the sample. Two types of images are obtained through Raman thespectroscopy scanning electron is complementary microscope. to Backscattered FTIR and also electron measures (BSE) vibrational, analysis occurs when the electrons stretching, and bending in thefrequencies beam are reflected of molecules. off theRaman sampleisthrough used more different for inorganic types of interactions and substances;a molecule back to that theisdetector. FTIR silent Heavier it canelements be observed will backscatter with Ramanthe and electrons vice- more than lighter versa. Whereelements, FTIR measures resulting theinabsorption areas of increased of light,brightness. Raman spectroscopy The overallcalculates image of the sample shows scattering of light. the elemental Scatteringdistribution patterns areofunique lightertoand each heavier molecule elements and allow wherefor thediscrete heavier elements are shown identifications. Thisasunique areas of scattering lighter color is determined and the lighter by theelements structureappear of a molecule, as areas of darker color. therefore, small differences in crystal lattice structure can distinguish different forms of the same The molecule SEM can with alsovarious be used properties in a similar or uses. way to FTIR the XRF and Raman to obtain areexact oftenelemental used together in analysis order to of achieve muchasmaller greater samples. overall understanding In this case, the of electron an objectbeam and its serves components. as the high energy source instead of x-rays, but reacts with the atom in the same way, causing an electron to be ejected The analytical and another techniques to fill described its place, here, emitting and many characteristic more, areradiation typicallythat employed is detected by theconservators by instrument. or This byprocess specialized is called analytical energy-dispersive technicians.x-ray Technical spectroscopy analysis(EDS at theor EDX). This technique Art Williamstown results Conservation in an elemental Center map is performed that showsinthe itsexact own distribution analytical laboratory of elements and throughout in cooperation thewith sample labsallowing at neighboring for identification Williams College. of pigments While in each the instruments layer from the can ground give us results all the in way theupform to any of pictures, surface treatments. graphs and readouts, it is a conservator’s knowledge and experience of artist’s materials that allows for the data to be interpreted into useful FTIR and Raman Spectroscopy information regarding a painting’s composition and history. The previous analytical techniques are useful for pigment analysis and other types of analysis involving inorganic materials. But materials such as oils and resins made from organic compounds must also be analyzed and understood. So-called Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, or FTIR, examines the vibrational, stretching, and bending energies that are observed in compounds Luisa Hammond is an intern in the Williamstown Art Conservation when they absorb light in the infrared region of the spectrum. Center paintings department. A Williams College senior majoring in Different functional groups in a molecule create distinct bands art history and chemistry, she is a candidate for graduation in June that absorb at different wavelengths. These bands can be broad or 2016, after which she hopes to pursue a career in art conservation and narrow. Each molecule has a unique spectrum “fingerprint” that conservation science. conservators can cross-reference to vast libraries and databases to match an unknown sample. FTIR is useful in determining if an organic material such as cellulose is present, though the technology cannot distinguish the source of the cellulose—if, for instance, it is from cotton or wood pulp. Raman spectroscopy is complementary to FTIR and also measures vibrational, stretching, and bending frequencies of molecules. Raman is used more for inorganic substances;a molecule
22 | Art Conservator | Winter 2015
Members of the Consortium
Williamstown Art Conservation Center
Historic Deerfield, Inc. —Deerfield, MA
227 South Street,
Hood Museum of Art,
Williamstown, MA 01267
Dartmouth College —Hanover, NH
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy —Andover, MA Albany Institute of History & Art —Albany, NY Alice T. Miner Colonial Collection —Chazy, NY The Arkell Museum —Canajoharie, NY Arnot Art Museum —Elmira, NY Art Complex Museum —Duxbury, MA Bennington Museum —Bennington, VT Berkshire Museum —Pittsfield, MA Bowdoin College Museum of Art —Brunswick, ME Charles P. Russell Gallery, Deerfield Academy —Deerfield, MA The Cheney Homestead of the Manchester Historical Society —Manchester, CT Colby College Museum of Art —Waterville, ME Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art —Amherst, MA Farnesworth Art Museum —Rockland, ME
The Hyde Collection —Glens Falls, NY The Lawrenceville School —Lawrenceville, NJ Mead Art Museum, Amherst College —Amherst, MA Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester —Rochester, NY Middlebury College Museum of Art —Middlebury, VT Mount Holyoke College Art Museum —South Hadley, MA Munson Williams Proctor Arts
—Ogdensburg, NY Gershon Benjamin Foundation, —Clayton, GAHarriet Beecher Stowe Center —Hartford, CT Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University —Ithaca, NY
he mission of the Williamstown Art Conservation Center, a
nonprofit institution, is to protect,
University of New York
conserve and maintain the objects
—Potsdam, NY
of our cultural heritage; to provide
Smith College Museum of Art,
examination, treatment, consultation
—Northampton, MA Springfield Museums
and related conservation services
—Springfield, MA
for member institutions, and for
Sterling and Francine Clark Art
other nonprofit organizations,
Institute
corporations and individuals; to
—Williamstown, MA Suzy Frelinghuysen and George L.K. Morris Foundation
conduct educational programs with respect to the care and conservation of works of art and objects of
—Lenox, MA
cultural interest; to participate in the
Union College
training of conservators; to promote
—Schenectady, NY Williams College Museum of Art
the importance of conservation and increase the awareness of
—Williamstown, MA
the issues pertinent to collections care; and to conduct research and disseminate knowledge to advance
—Hartford, CT
the profession.
Neuberger Museum, Purchase College, State University of New York —Purchase, NY New Hampshire Historical Society
Atlanta Art Conservation Center 6000 Peachtree Road Atlanta, GA 30341
—Concord, NH New York State Office of General Services, Empire State Plaza Art Collection —Albany, NY Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge —Stockbridge, MA Picker Art Gallery,
—Poughkeepsie, NY
Roland Gibson Gallery, State
Museum of Connecticut History
Colgate University
Frederic Remington Art Museum
T
—Corning, NY
—Utica, NY
—Cooperstown, NY Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center,
Mission Statement
Western Art
Institute
Fenimore Art Museum
Vassar College
The Rockwell Museum of
—Hamilton, NY Plattsburgh State Art Museum —Plattsburgh, NY Portland Museum of Art —Portland, ME Preservation Society of Newport County —Newport, RI Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art —Providence, RI
Alabama Historical Commission —Montgomery, AL Booth Western Art Museum —Cartersville, GA Brenau University —Gainesville, GA Columbia Museum of Art —Columbia, SC The Columbus Museum —Columbus, GA High Museum of Art —Atlanta, GA Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art —Demorest, GA Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts —Montgomery, AL Morris Museum of Art —Augusta, GA Telfair Museum of Art —Savannah, GA
Williamstown Art Conservation Center | 23
24 | Art Conservator | Winter 2015
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