Morality, Legality and its Possible Solutions in Art Conservation

Struggle within Museums between Conservators and Curators

Art conservators play a vital role in the preservation of our culture and heritage, though this importance can sometimes be undermined by the differing goals of the public and other museum staff. Conservators cite disagreements with museum directors and curators over the future of certain artwork that needs to be properly restored and put on display. Philip Conisbee, a curator at the National Gallery of Art, quotes Keith Christiansen, the Department Chair of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on how the public’s focus on contemporary over classical has directly impacted what gets displayed in museums. Curators are pressured to display work that is more modern and less political, narrow criteria that excludes the artwork that provokes thought and has the ability to educate the public on something new (Schwartzbaum). He also cites other disputes and reluctant compromises between conservators and curators, such as lighting disputes (i.e. too bright or too low light, and finding a happy medium that allows viewers to properly appreciate the artwork without shortening its lifespan) and “not letting us borrow things” (i.e. refusing to display certain artwork because it has not been restored properly enough to be open to the public).

Other Complications in the Conservator Field: The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990

In December 1990 VARA was passed, granting visual artists “moral rights.” Among others, these new rights dealt with how artists’ work would be handled after leaving the artist’s possession – which meant considerable changes for conservators and collectors alike. Artist intention has always been debated in the conservation community, as conservation processes always mean some sort of slight alteration, and can never truly restore pieces back to their original look. These laws would force conservators to be more careful with how they approach the restoration process, especially since artists would have legal backing to sue should their work be changed even for conservation purposes. Poorly done conservation seen as negligent or “mutilation” of a piece would leave the conservator liable to the artist under VARA (Garfinkel, Fries, Lopez, Possessky).

Duties of a Conservator Specializing in Painting Conservation & Education Outreach

Julie Heath is a conservation educator as well as a conservator specializing in paintings at the Lunder Conservation Center at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. She leads workshops and tours around the conservation labs and other Smithsonian facilities.

Heath details the nature of conservator work and provides examples in paintings she has helped restore: from watercolor on paper to oil on burlap. In terms of surface treatment, she must consolidate paint, remove surface grime, and conduct a humidification process as well as a lining process for sturdy mounting. In most cases, she works manually with the aid of certain table-top equipment, though for certain procedures, she uses large machinery and equipment that is capable of executing the restoration process without manual retouching (humidification and lining). Only 20% of a conservator’s work occurs in the lab, which leaves room for difficulty in arranging public tours of mostly empty labs. However, the public awareness of the work that conservators do is extremely important to more than just the art world – it reaches various scientific and anthropological fields and is essential to understanding and preserving our history. Heath and her colleagues at the Smithsonian Institute widely encourage tours and other ways of promoting conservation education to the masses.

William H. Johnson. “Still Life – Bouquet” (1931). Before and after treatment – restoration process included removing surface grime (pictured above), consolidating paint, humidification and lining processes.

References

Garfinkle, Ann M., Janet Fries, Daniel Lopez and Laura Possessky. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation. 36.2 (1997): 165-179. Web.

Heath, Julie. Smithsonian Institute Lunder Conservation Center. “Using Art Conservation in Educational Outreach.” Web.

Institute, The Getty Conservation. (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Perry, Marilyn. “The Samuel H. Kress Collection: Conservation and Context.” Introduction. Studying and Conserving Paintings: Occasional Papers on the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London: Archetype Publications, 2006. 3-5. Print.

Schwartzbaum, Paul. Studies in Conservation 52.1 (2007): 79-80. Web.