AIC's 45th Annual Meeting

Join us at 8:15 am for the start of an action-packed General Session. AIC President Pam Hatchfield will welcome attendees and introduce Paula Gangopadhyay of IMLS. The Keck Award will be presented to Gary Albright, Judith Levinson, & James Hamm.

In October 2012 the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage began a five-year conservation/restoration campaign for the Ghent Altarpiece painted by the Van Eyck brothers (1432). After an extensive preliminary study in 2010 it was decided that the main focus of the project would be a conservation treatment carried out in three phases rather than a comprehensive restoration. This treatment would take place in front of the public in the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (Belgium) where an exhibition gallery was redesigned as a conservation studio. With the first phase finished (two years behind the initial schedule) we could look back on how this conservation treatment took a completely different turn after the varnish removal. The paper will focus on how, although a comprehensive pre-study was conducted, unforeseen findings resulted in a reconsideration of the scope of the project. What are the implications when one changes course mid treatment? How do you challenge decisions that were made well before the conservation team was assembled? How to neutrally address significant financial and timing consequences to all the different stakeholders, when the conservators are challenged on what the outcome of the revised treatment should be? What is the impact of these changes for the future two phases of the project? These thorny issues will be addressed by the author`s personal experiences in these unique circumstances as the projects on-site coordinator for the past four years. This case study could be of particular interest to the American conservation community, as strict oversight from multiple entities (both religious and political) is a more common occurrence in Europe.

Large scale, functional material culture has long suffered the onus of being considered somewhat exempt from established stewardship practices. This is primarily the result of the impracticalities and fiscal limitations of caring for macro artifacts but also the deference that most conservators have paid to traditional restoration practices. This paper will illustrate one example of how a conservator's understanding of materials and modes of deterioration has altered long-established practices for treating ephemeral materials. Doped fabric is not often found in the fine art world, but is ubiquitous to the collection at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM). Doping is the practice of applying a waterproof coating to fabric which also serves to shrink the material over a rigid structure. A doped surface is traditionally made of multiple coats of clear cellulosic resins with light blocking layers and final decorative finishes over a cotton or linen fabric. Because of the inherent chemical instability of the cellulosic resins and the requirement for scheduled inspections of the structures beneath, doped fabric materials have long been considered to be dispensable and expected to be replaced during routine operational maintenance or during a restoration. However, when viewed as a multi-media artifact with inherent preservation challenges similar to those in other realms of conservation, a new approach can be devised. Comparing the similarities and recognizing the differences between doped fabric structures and canvas paintings inspired a new treatment methodology for preserving historic aircraft fabric. This concept represents a major departure from the long-standing restoration traditions at NASM. A new approach to preserving doped fabric structures will be illustrated through the treatment of the control surfaces on a World War Two Martin B-26 Marauder, named "Flak Bait”. The case study will detail materials analysis, decision-making processes, encountered problems and solutions, loss compensation and varnish selection. It will also emphasize how the benefits of cross-disciplinary collaboration, coupled with practical research has influenced these innovative and adaptive treatments and altered established methodologies.

Award Presentations for: Allied Professional: Teri Rofkar (pos), Honorary Membership: Stephen Koob & Terry Drayman-Weisser

The Harvard Art Museums reopened in 2014 after a six-year renovation and closure. Conservation involvement in the planning of this building project influenced all art-related spaces, processes, and procedures. This talk reflects on the question: what is the role of conservation in a museum renovation project? The success of conservation initiatives relies on effective collaboration, predominantly with professionals outside our field. We must cultivate trusting relationships with museum colleagues to get approval, support, and funding. This talk will share three projects from the Harvard Art Museums' renovation that demonstrate preventive conservation practiced through communication and collaboration: a large scale materials testing program, the integration of light sensitive materials throughout new galleries, and a program of gallery art incident tracking and response. Each program demonstrates the importance and power of collaboration in preventive conservation. A materials testing program was devised for the design and construction of two consecutive major building projects, totaling 77,000 square feet of art spaces. Conservators, conservation scientists, and administrators played integral roles in the design and planning process. They devised a materials testing program, primarily using the Oddy test, to review all construction materials proposed first for an interim facility and then for the renovated the Harvard Art Museums. The program sought to minimize harmful off-gassing of construction materials by making the best choices of materials where possible, understanding that concessions would be necessary. Over eight years of testing, 900+ materials were evaluated for use. Lessons learned will be shared about this ongoing program. A new curatorial directive to integrate light sensitive materials throughout the museum's galleries (43,000 square feet) prompted the need for clear guidelines on exhibiting, lending, and teaching with light sensitive materials. While conservators initially perceived this charge as being in tension with the light-focused architectural design by Renzo Piano, they worked closely with architects and lighting engineers to understand the predicted effects of natural light in a building with 9500+ square feet of glass and to plan for optimal control of natural light with a system of 450+ operable and fixed shades. Conservators then developed and implemented a light monitoring program that measured light levels at 40 points throughout a full year to verify the predicted light effects, prescribe shade programming and focus on problematic areas. In response to concerns about visitors' frequent contact with art on view in the museum's intimate gallery spaces, a simple, collaborative program devised by Conservation, Collections Management, Security, and IT tracks and responds to gallery art incidents. With their standard duties, the museum's 46 security attendants record minor and major incidents on "Art Touch Cards.” The notes are compiled and the aggregate data is analyzed by a cross-departmental team, which identifies and diagnoses the objects suffering the most frequent incidents. The museum has made effective changes in response to the analyses, and the impact has been measurable. In addition to reduced incidents, the program has improved upkeep of non-art conditions in galleries, and, surprisingly, staff engagement.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art acquired Osiris and Isis, an important mid-career painting by Anselm Kiefer, in 1987.  SFMOMA recently re-opened after a major expansion to accommodate the Fisher Family Collection of 20th century art, which includes masterworks by Anselm Kiefer.
Anselm Kiefer's oeuvre examines history and culture by means of incorporating potentially unstable and problematic materials (including straw, lead, found objects and industrial media).  Kiefer's works are often oversized, extremely heavy, fragile and vulnerable; they challenge the norms of stewardship.  Osiris and Isis exemplifies Kiefer's use of mixed techniques and found objects, which are included in a composition of massive size.  The painting has required treatment intervention at regular intervals since its acquisition.
This presentation will trace the trajectory of care Osiris and Isis has received over several decades.  Treatments of the painting which did not age well over time will be discussed.  A cross-disciplinary treatment which would have deviated from standard practice was recently considered.  The proposed treatment for the painting was revised after the artist was brought into the discussion.  A relationship of trust between SFMOMA, Kiefer and his studio was created once Kiefer became involved with the project.
SFMOMA's engagement with artists can provide guidance for the care of artworks and serves as a starting point for successful museum activities involving the Museum's Artist Initiative, Curatorial, Collections and Education programs.
We now have a much better understanding of "what Anselm Kiefer would do" when concerns and questions arise regarding the conservation and exhibition of his works.  As we continue our dialog with the Kiefer studio, we plan to carry out more in-depth study, research and treatment of the SFMOMA/Fisher Kiefer Collection.

In 2014 The Museum of Modern Art opened a landmark exhibition centered on the final chapter of Matisse's long career, the cut-outs. The largest Matisse cut-out exhibition ever mounted, it had as its central work one of MoMA's most beloved attractions, The Swimming Pool. This large, room-sized cut-out was not only the centerpiece of the exhibition, its conservation was the genesis of the show. This exhibition was the first time that a conservator at MoMA, Karl Buchberg, was also a curator of an exhibition; sharing this title with Jodi Hauptman, Senior Curator of Drawings and Prints. The Swimming Pool was created in 1952 in the dining room of Matisse's Cimiez-Nice apartment. Matisse's assistants would paint sheets of paper with Linel gouache which were then dried and stored. When Matisse wanted a particular color, a sheet would be brought to him which he would then cut into a desired shape. A studio assistant would then take the cut shape and pin it on the studio wall according to Matisse's instructions. The Swimming Pool consisted solely of ultramarine blue painted paper shapes on a frieze of white Canson paper pinned to the burlap lined walls of the dining room. After his death in 1954 it was permanently mounted by the Parisian firm Lefebvre-Foinet. The work was divided into nine panels; the blue shapes were adhered to the white paper frieze which was then adhered to new burlap, chosen by Matisse's widow as it was the only fabric faithful to the original conception. When MoMA acquired the work in 1975, the white paper was stained, the ultramarine blue shapes were unevenly decolorized from the contact with the acidic burlap and the burlap itself severely darkened. My predecessor, Antoinette King, removed the staining in the white paper during a lengthy treatment. The blue cut-outs and the burlap were not treated. In 2009 I decided to carry out a treatment with three goals: to replace the discolored burlap to return the work to its original color balance, to increase the height of the new panels to re-create the original dimensions of the work and to re-install the work in a room that re-created the original floor plan. Although the white paper frieze was not original--- it had been newly added during the first mounting,---I chose not to replace it. It was approximately the same age as the blue cut shapes and had a similar patina. The most radical decision was not to re-adhere the white frieze and blue cut shapes on new fabric, but instead to pin them on the newly fabricated panels. This re-created the original pinned aspect of the work and minimized any further acid induced damage. This paper aims to describe the treatment choices for this work and illustrate how these choices came to inform the cut-out exhibition as a whole, highlighting the relationship and collaboration between conservator and curator.

Presentation of the Robert Feller Lifetime Achievement Award: Meg Loew Craft*, Patti Dumbaugh, President's Award