Daly Conservation

This blog post was inspired by a series of e-mails to the Objects Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation (OSG-list-serv) during September 2010.  I hope to summarize the opinions for the AIC blog but I am really torn about whether to mention specific conservators in the blog post for the AIC blog, at first I thought it would be better to be anonymous and only offer a summary but after reading over all the e-mails again, I thought direct quotes would be more interesting and powerful.  This is a professional minefield and as a student just starting out I risk alienating myself and my fiancee, who is a fantastic ethnographic objects conservator.

“Courage is fear holding on for one minute longer” ~ George S. Patton

The Article is from the August 31st edition of the Wall Street Journal, “When Creator and Owner Clash” by Daniel Grant.  The purpose of the article is to summarize some recent cases of the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA).  VARA was created in 1990, and in those 20-years there have been a few cases of note in which an artist sued the owner of their art after the work was ‘modified’ to a point at which the artist considered it no longer their work.

VARA is not a very long read,  it essentially offers an artist the:

• right to claim authorship
• right to prevent the use of one’s name on any work the author did not create
• right to prevent use of one’s name on any work that has been distorted, mutilated, or modified in a way that would be prejudicial to the author’s honor or reputation
• right to prevent distortion, mutilation, or modification that would prejudice the author’s honor or reputation

The article cites one case in which the The Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the City of Harrisburg’s Department of Parks & Recreation is against the artist David Ascalon of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.  David Ascalon created a work for the Holocaust Memorial in Harrisburg - the sculpture was made of two metals, a stainless steel column twined around with a large wire made of core-ten steel.  Visually, the stainless steel would appear polished while the core-ten would rust.  10-years later the piece was in need of treatment, instead of hiring the artist, who offered his services, the owner’s hired David Grindle, a local sculptor and restorer, to perform a modification to the piece, removing the core-ten, replacing it with stainless steel, removing the artist’s name (but not the date, 1994), and writing in “Restored by David B. Gindle, 2006 [and the names of the restoration committee]”.  Then the owner’s contacted David Ascalon to inform him that he can no longer claim this as his work of art.

So, the owner decided they wanted a different sculpture, and they changed the sculpture and removed the name of the artist, interestingly enough preventing the artist from claiming they mutilated his sculpture because the owner (or restorer and the restoration committee) have gone to lengths to remove the artist’s materials and the hand of the artist, preventing David Ascalon from exercising his VARA right to disown the piece as his work.

What is disturbing about this case is that while AIC membership personally supports VARA, believes in preserving original materials, and the artist’s intent, conservators are in a position between the owner or custodian of the piece and the artist who created it.

A look at the AIC code of Ethics for applicable quotes reveals:

“Professional Conduct:

3. The conservation professional should be cognizant of laws and regulations that may have a bearing on professional
activity.

6. Consent: The conservation professional should act only with the consent of the owner, custodian, or authorized agent.”

Should the conservator be required to perform a certain amount of research, or due diligence, to determine whether the treatment is appropriate?  Are conservators in the position of telling a owner what they can and cannot do with their collection?  A response to this article was drafted by Eryl Wentworth, Executive Director of AIC, to the Wall Street Journal and is available on the AIC blog, and perhaps a follow-up article will be written in the WSJ.

VARA specifically has a clause for conservation, but I would be surprised if this is used in this case:

(c) (2) The modification of a work of visual art which is the result of conservation, or of the public presentation, including lighting and placement, of the work is not a destruction, distortion, mutilation, or other modification described in subsection (a)(3) unless the modification is caused by gross negligence.

Although it is a fine line between what is a distortion, it appears that the artist still considers this to be his work, even after these modifications, and in his claim he is asking the owner for immediate access to the sculpture to restore it to it’s original condition and restore his name to the sculpture.  I am curious to keep up with Ascalon v. Department of Parks & Recreation, 1:10-cv-01544-YK, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg). and to hear more about the outcome.

I hope to write a summary of the opinions expressed by OSG-list-serv members soon for the AIC blog.

I’ve been in Portland, Oregon over the past few days at the 2010 WAAC meeting.  Portland has been fantastic, with great food, fun activities, and nice weather (for the English and for ducks).  I participated in a Angels project on the first day, at the Nikkei Center in downtown Portland.  My contribution to the project was the creation of a few different prototypes for earthquake mitigation.  The prototypes were fairly straightforward, put something on a shelf to keep the boxes on the shelf when the building shakes.  Various types of netting were sampled, the more sturdy netting, with less flexibility was better for support. It was important to still be able to access the collection, so Vel-cro tabs were added at the end of the netting on one side, and zip ties were used on another side to securely attach to the shelf.Belts were also installed and seemed effective - see the side of the shelf.

The lectures are world-class and show a variety of research topics and treatments.  I will highlight a few lectures from the first day, Daniel Cull (http://dancull.wordpress.com) is summarizing a few other lectures.  The first lecture was by Dr. Tami Lasseter Clare about the technical study of a Chinese Burial Relic.  Her studies used X-radiography to determine how the bronze money tree was put together, she saw casting voids in the x-rays, a keying mechanism for the branches, and could determine repairs.  Here studies of the repair materials discovered a variety of material, showing a history of repairs, which was not surprising to me given the fragile nature of the materials.

Chris White gave a lecture about the evolution of wood screws in American furniture.  His research began at the MFA, Boston and involved XRF of different brasses.  I was interested to learn the dates of important technological advances in the making of screws.  In 1761 the first copper cladding was used, stamping was begun to be used around 1800, and ore roasting, circa 1850, introduced sulfide ores and removed arsenic as a impurity in the metal.  Arlen Heginbotham at the Getty has created a database of wood screws and he is looking for volunteers to test the database if you  are interested in being more involved with this research.

There were other really interesting lectures that day, and I was really impressed with the quality and thoughtfullness of all the papers presented.

One of the first projects I have been given to research and treat as part of my internship is Louise Nevelson’s End of Day, Nightscape IV.

The object consists of thirty wood trays, divided into five sections of four trays, two sections of three trays, and two sections of two trays. The sculpture is an assemblage of found wood objects, adheared to wood trays and spray-painted uniformly black.

Louise Nevelson’s sculptures made during the 1950’s and 60’s are often assemblages of found wood objects that are spray-painted a monochromatic color, usually black, white, or gold.  The monochromatic nature of these sculptures creates the effect of the pieces floating in space.  In the 1970’s she transitioned to using wood pieces that were fabricated in the studio and painting the sculptures uniformly white or gold.  This piece is in the early black style but was fabricated in 1973 during Nevelson’s transitional period.

I am curious to know what type of spray paint Nevelson used for her sculptures.  The accounts I have found say she spray painted sculptures but does not list the brand or type.  I am also looking for scientific information about the analysis of spray paint, I have found some information in forensics journals but nothing in searches through art conservation literature. I have contacted the Louise Nevelson Foundation and I am hoping to contact Diana MacKown, who was Nevelson’s assistant for years.  Perhaps they could shed some light on this black sculpture.

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Exterior, View of the entrance facade with the sculpture “Shuttlecocks” by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen,
originally uploaded by Frankphotos.

Today was my first day in the objects conservation lab at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. It is a lively lab with a lot of projects, three full-time objects conservators and a Kress Fellow. I had a tour that led to the registration department, down to the loading dock where the Detroit Institute of Arts show Through African Eyes was being unloaded, back to conservation, then back to registration, photo services, and the library - I began researching two treatments I will undertake during the next few months - it was good that I wore comfortable shoes.

The day ended with a lecture from the H.R. department about fun things to do in Kansas City, and a speech from the new director Julián Zugazagoitia. This was perfect timing as I have just moved to Kansas City and I really appreciated the information about places to see and things to do, and lots of restaurant recommendations which was really great. The lecture was followed with a reception with cookies shaped like the Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen Shuttlecocks that are featured on the lawn, a sweet and amusing touch.