2011 Annual Report - National Gallery of Art

42
� Shelley Sturman, head
of object conservation,
removes thick layers
of discolored surface
coatings from Henri
Matisse’s masterful
bronze Figure Decorative.
Preserving
preparation for the renovation of the East
Building exterior, six outdoor sculptures were
removed, treated, and relocated. Temporary housings
were constructed to protect three works that
could not be moved. The monumental sculpture
Moondog by Tony Smith was re-installed in the
Sculpture Garden following a major repainting
using paint produced in collaboration with the
Army Research Laboratory.
Every sculpture was assessed in a Gallerywide
effort to ensure the utmost safety and
security in the mounting system for each. Old
and inadequate mounts were replaced with
newly fabricated and more suitable mounts.
The publication of the systematic catalogue
Edgar Degas Sculpture, co-authored by an art historian
and two Gallery object conservators
with contributions from the scientific research
department, concluded more than twenty years
of collaborative effort.
The Robert H. Smith-funded Renaissance
Bronze Project continued with research conducted
for the exhibition Antico: The Golden
Age of Renaissance Bronzes, including technical
analyses of more than fifty bronzes. New
insights into Antico’s materials and techniques
were included in the catalogue essay, wall panels,
and website feature.
The paper conservation department completed
a major preservation project treating
and re-housing 5,300 American prints from
the David and Reba Williams collection. In
addition, paper conservators tackled several
delicate treatments including two pastel drawings
by Edgar Degas. Losses in the paper
support of Degas’ Madame Dietz-Monnin were
filled with toned paper to make them less
visually distracting, and prominent scratches
through the pastel in Girl Drying Herself were
inpainted. Conservators compensated numerous
paper and media losses in William Henry
Johnson’s rare and colorful screen-print Blind
Singer. A color etching by Mary Cassatt and a
large photogravure by Charles Nègre were
treated to reduce overall discoloration and
localized staining. Paper conservators and
technicians completed thirty major treatments,
275 minor treatments, 516 simple treatments,
and 791 examinations for exhibition, loan, and
collection maintenance.
The photograph conservation department
completed twenty-seven major treatments,
sixty-nine minor treatments, and 575 examinations
of condition for exhibitions, loans,
acquisition, and donor development. Mel
Bochner’s silver gelatin print Surface Dis/Tension
was treated in preparation for the exhibition
Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph,
1965–1977 at the Art Institute of Chicago. The
treatment involved extensive reduction of stains
and surface soil, and compensation and inpainting
of numerous substantial losses. The majority
of conservation treatment activity was in
preparation for the Gallery exhibitions Harry
Callahan at 100 and I Spy: Photography and the
Theater of the Street 1938–2010. The department
also assisted with planning and installation of the
exhibitions The Pre-Raphaelite Lens: British
Photography and Painting, 1848–1875 and Lewis
Baltz: Prototypes/Ronde de Nuit, the installations
Modern Lab: There is nothing to see here and Modern
Lab: The Found Alphabet, and the Library Image
Collection exhibition The Solemnity of Shadows:
Juan Laurent’s Vision of Spain.
With generous support from the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation, the department added a
senior and an assistant photograph conservator to
the staff. In addition, a scientist devoted to the
research of photographic materials was appointed
within the scientific research department. The
photograph conservators and scientists are
collaborating with Gallery curators and partner
institutions to advance scholarship related to the
manufacture, chemistry, characterization, and
conservation of platinum and palladium prints
and closely related processes.