A delicate glass vase by French artist Emile Galle (1846-1904), owned by the Glessner House Museum was brought to The Center after it was accidentally damaged and shattered. The vase broke into discrete fragments with extensive associated losses along the break edges, including an area of significant loss around the rim. There were also two running cracks as a result of a fracture.
This past month, Hurricane Sandy devastated the Eastern seaboard leaving homes and businesses severely damaged, and basements, storage spaces, and first floors flooded by water. In some areas, the water line reached nearly five feet. The Conservation Center was called onsite to New York City on October 29th, where we assisted both businesses and home owners with damaged art, heirlooms, and unique items affected by the flood waters. The Center's onsite crews worked to carefully remove and triage over two thousand works of art in order to mitigate additional damage.
Over the past 29 years The Conservation Center has developed a national reputation as the ‘go to’ place for the rescue of some of the nation’s finest artworks and artifacts from fire and floods, as well as the restoration of cherished personal heirlooms. As of July, The Conservation Center has a space to match the breadth of their work: the company has recently moved into a newly designed, state-of-the-art 25,000 square foot space in Chicago’s upcoming arts district.
Now that our company move is completed, the administrative staff at The Center has been busy taking care of all the important details to ensure our business continues to run smoothly. Fortunately, we have moved into a spacious environment where we can better coordinate our daily tasks and client pick up and drop offs.
Recently, a Modern Charles (1907-1978) and Ray (1912-1988) Eames chair and an antique Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) style chair were brought separately to The Conservation Center, for review. Both chairs are examples of influential furniture designs. We received some interesting background information from the collectors and an explanation from our associate furniture conservator, Michael Young about the various challenges faced when conserving 18th century versus mid-20th century furniture.
The Conservation Center often assists museums, institutions, foundations and non-profit organizations with the presentation and care of their collections. Aside from providing a wide array of conservation services, The Center's experts are always on hand to consult on long-term preservation planning, on the display, packing, transport and long-term storage of collections, or to help formulate Disaster Response plans. Our conservators are also brought in on projects to provide courier services and condition reports for lending institutions, or to help with the final stages of exhibition preparation.
A private collector brought this print to The Center several months ago. To a critical eye, the print was in poor condition: the sheet was soiled and distorted, and there were two tears that were barely visible except upon close inspection (see figs. 1-3). The tears required intricate repair work to realign the edges and provide necessary structural support to the compromised sheet, while keeping the repair as discreet as possible. After the piece was safely returned in its improved condition, the collector wrote the following testimonial for us to share:
The Dress was in extremely fragile condition when it arrived at The Center. After consulting with the client, The Center’s Textile Conservator created a treatment plan that made it suitable for continued use and took into consideration the historic nature of the piece. The repaired dress was returned to the client in an archival box that can be used to protect and house the piece between christenings.
Whether a corporation’s art collection is a curated investment, a donation from an art-loving CEO, an act of community connection, or a trove of archival material, keeping it in good condition requires the knowledge of experts. The Conservation Center has a long history of caring for corporate art holdings in four categories: disaster response, re-housing, storage, and display.
When this vellum document arrived at The Center, it had experienced severe water- and age-related damage. Over the course of many years, the vellum had rotted and subsequently it exhibited severe distortion, in addition to having been stored folded in quarters. Moreover, the pages were wet, causing irreversible pigment migration between the touching pages; the water also left several water stains throughout. In addition to the fold creases, there were horizontal creases down the center of the sheet, tears at the lower left and around the edges, and a large loss at the lower right.
The Animalistic Vase was brought to The Center because it was broken into over twenty pieces and minute fragments. It had previously been extensively repaired with adhesive, and the joints restored with painted plaster. Before treatment began, it was difficult to determine just how many losses there were, but it appeared that all main fragments were present and the losses were minimal. On the surface, there was archeological evidence, as well as evidence of use and wear with related scratches and abrasions.
This portrait was one of a series of artworks brought to The Center after a destructive home fire. The painting showed signs of severe fire-related damage: the
ordeal left a heavy, dark layer of oily and acidic soot on the surface, obscuring the painted surface completely. Additionally, the stretcher had been charred, and undulations were present throughout the canvas.
The peoples living in what we today know as The People’s Republic of China have been making art for centuries. Our personal archives can hardly hope to present a complete picture of Chinese art history, but we have been graced with some excellent examples of artistic eras and traditions, spanning in some cases thousands of years.
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