MoMA | Category: Conservation

Posts in ‘Conservation’

February 3, 2014 | Behind the Scenes, Collection & Exhibitions, Conservation

Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Living City” Lives On: Conserving the Broadacre City Model

Posted by Ellen Moody, Assistant Projects Conservator, Sculpture Conservation

Drawing of Broadacre City by Frank Lloyd Wright. From B. Pfeiffer, Frank Lloyd Wright 1943–1959: The Complete Works [Vol. 3], edited by Peter Gössel, published by Taschen, 2009

MoMA and Columbia University’s Avery Library recently made an acquisition sure to excite even the most casual architecture fans: the Frank Lloyd Wright Archive. In addition to many thousands of drawings, photographs, and ephemera, this collection includes over 60 models and building fragments. One of the largest and most expansive models is that of Broadacre City—Frank Lloyd Wright’s utopian reimagining of the city as open space and landscape rather than skyscraper and skyline.

January 13, 2014 | Artists, Behind the Scenes, Conservation, Jackson Pollock Project

MoMA’s Jackson Pollock Conservation Project: Bringing the Project to Conclusion: Restoration of Number 1A, 1948

Posted by James Coddington, Chief Conservator, The Museum of Modern Art Jennifer Hickey, Project Assistant Conservator

Jackson Pollock. Number 1A, 1948. 1948. Oil and enamel paint on canvas, 68” x 8’8.” On view at MoMA in a recent acquisitions exhibition in 1950

Readers who have been following the blog will recognize a pattern in our approach to conservation treatment of Number 1A, 1948, the final of three Jackson Pollock paintings that have been the focus of our 18-month project.

December 10, 2013 | Behind the Scenes, Collection & Exhibitions, Conservation

Magritte’s The Enchanted Pose, 1927: Palette Unveiled

Posted by Ana Martins, Associate Conservation Scientist Chris McGlinchey, Conservation Scientist Michael Duffy, Painting Conservator

As indicated in the previous posts in this series, MoMA paintings conservators and conservation scientists have been studying five Magritte paintings for the past two years in preparation for Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926–1938.

November 21, 2013 | Behind the Scenes, Collection & Exhibitions, Conservation

Magritte’s The Menaced Assassin, 1927—Treatment and Research

Posted by Michael Duffy, Painting Conservator

As indicated in the previous posts in this series, MoMA paintings conservators Cindy Albertson, Anny Aviram, and Michael Duffy have been studying five Magritte paintings for the past two years in preparation for Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926–1938.

October 31, 2013 | Collection & Exhibitions, Conservation

The Discovery of Magritte’s The Enchanted Pose

Posted by Michael Duffy, Painting Conservator Cindy Albertson, Assistant Conservator

As indicated in the previous post in this series, MoMA paintings conservators Cindy Albertson, Anny Aviram, and Michael Duffy have been studying five Magritte paintings for the past two years in preparation for Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary 1926–1938.

October 15, 2013 | Behind the Scenes, Collection & Exhibitions, Conservation

Revealing the Mystery of Magritte’s Materials and Techniques

Posted by Danielle Johnson, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture Michael Duffy, Painting Conservator

From left to right: Conservators Michael Duffy, Anny Aviram, and Cindy Albertson, and Curator Anne Umland in MoMA’s paintings conservation lab with René Magritte’s The False Mirror; The Palace of Curtains, III; and The Portrait

In his polemical 1938 speech “La Ligne de vie (Lifeline),” René Magritte spoke of his “objective representation of objects,” claiming that, “In my view, this detached way of representing things is characteristic of a universal style in which the manias and minor preferences of the individual no longer play any part.”

July 18, 2013 | Behind the Scenes, Conservation, Jackson Pollock Project

MoMA’s Jackson Pollock Conservation Project: Number 1A, 1948

Posted by Jennifer Hickey, Project Assistant Conservator James Coddington, Chief Conservator, The Museum of Modern Art

Jackson Pollock. Number 1A, 1948. 1948. Oil and enamel paint on canvas, 68″ x 8’8″. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase. © 2013 Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

With study and treatment of One: Number 31, 1950 completed and the painting returned to exhibition, we’re moving on to the final painting of the project: Number 1A, 1948.

May 29, 2013 | Behind the Scenes, Conservation, Jackson Pollock Project

MoMA’s Jackson Pollock Conservation Project: Wrapping Up Treatment of One: Number 31, 1950

Posted by James Coddington, Chief Conservator, The Museum of Modern Art Jennifer Hickey, Project Assistant Conservator

A meeting between conservators and curators to view <em>One: Number 31, 1950</em>

A meeting between conservators and curators to view One: Number 31, 1950 as Pollock would have during its creation: laid horizontally

Throughout the project, we’ve been working closely with curators in MoMA’s Department of Painting and Sculpture, and this exchange of ideas surrounding Pollock has enriched and informed the treatment process. During one such meeting, we took advantage of the opportunity to view One: Number 31,1950 as Pollock saw it during its inception: laid horizontally.

May 9, 2013 | Behind the Scenes, Conservation, Le Corbusier Kitchen Conservation

Le Corbusier Kitchen Conservation: Video Update

Posted by Roger Griffith, Associate Conservator Anne Grady, Assistant Conservator

In the March of 2012, conservators in MoMA’s sculpture conservation lab undertook a yearlong treatment of an original kitchen by Charlotte Perriand and Le Corbusier from the seminal urban construction the Unite d’Habitation. All of the kitchen components (including the drain!) were transported from Marseilles, France, to our lab in New York City, and reassembled for research and treatment.

May 8, 2013 | Behind the Scenes, Conservation

Conserving a Nam June Paik Altered Piano, Part 2

Posted by Glenn Wharton, Time-Based Media Conservator

After exhaustive research prior to conserving Untitled (Piano), it was time for reflection. MoMA curators and conservators discussed the difficult decisions ahead. We knew that Nam June Paik playfully changed his works with each installation, and often incorporated new audio and video technologies into his older video sculptures. Should we continue this tradition, or freeze the existing technologies at the moment of his death?

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