Bringing Conservation into View
Conservation and restoration usually happen behind the scenes, with museum visitors only vaguely aware of the rigorous work of conservators and the necessity of caring for paintings and other artifacts. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, however, is working to change that by highlighting painting restoration in the museum and online.
In fall 2004, paintings conservators Joan Gorman and David Marquis of the Upper Midwest Conservation Association (UMCA) conducted a major conservation treatment of Guercino's 1648 oil painting "Erminia and the Shepherds" at The Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) during public viewing hours. Museum visitors could observe the restoration, while the conservators posted an online log of the process, complete with webcam images, for those who could not visit in person. The exhibit, called Restoring a Masterwork II: Guercino's "Erminia and the Shepherds," was a follow-up to the museum's successful 1999 exhibition, Restoring a Masterwork: Castiglione's "The Immaculate Conception."
The online version contains information about the painting, its condition report, proposed treatment steps, a log of the conservation process, FAQs, and much more. During the exhibition, there were about 20,000 online visitors, in addition to 1,500 users at two kiosks in the museum. According to Michael Dust of MIA's Interactive Media Group, visitors expressed appreciation of the chance to observe and interact with conservators at work. Docents were also stationed in the exhibition gallery to help visitors understand the conservation process.
The conservators updated the online log themselves, giving them a chance to talk about conservation directly to online users as well as musuem visitors.
"Overall, we felt the project was a great success and a great way to inform visitors about one of our principal missions, the preservation of our collections," Mr. Dust said.
Both Restoring a Masterwork online exhibits are available on MIA's Web site at www.artsmia.org/restoration-online/. They can also be accessed through UMCA's Web site at www.preserveart.org/.
Photos: Top, Conservator Joan Gorman discusses the finer points of the conservation process with gallery visitors. Below, the painting before treatment. Courtesy The Minneapolis Institute of Art.
For previous Preservation Spotlights, click here.
