The Art Institute of Chicago
Museum Studies
Volume 31, no. 2 (Fall 2005)
Edited by Gregory Nossan
This groundbreaking publication showcases the work of art conservators from throughout the Art Institute of Chicago, showing how research, craft, and technology are united in the service of the museum’s mission to preserve its treasures and further art-historical knowledge. Here conservation professionals detail their original research on objects in the Art Institute’s permanent collection, offering lively accounts of the various challenges involved in conserving books, drawings, electronic media, paintings, photographs, posters, sculptures, and textiles. An introductory essay addresses the breadth of conservation efforts at the museum, offering an overview of current practice and setting the stage for the eleven articles that follow. These focus on works as diverse as an ancient Egyptian statue of the god Osiris and Gary Hill’s 1990 video and sound installation Inasmuch As It Is Always Already Taking Place, telling stories of the many ways in which Art Institute conservators encounter art objects. They assess, for instance, the condition of a fragile piece and determine whether or not to treat it; uncover the trail of an artist’s sometimes elusive intentions and techniques; and use new technologies, both ingeniously simple and highly engineered. Through numerous color illustrations and a style of writing that strives to make the goals and language of conservation accessible, this publication seeks to show a wide public what our conservators do—and how and why they do it.
Awarded Honorable Mention, AAM Publications Design Competition
Articles in this publication:
Francesca Casadio, Emily Heye, and Karen Manchester, “From the Molecular to the Spectacular: A Statue of Osiris Through the Eyes of a Scientist, a Conservator, and a Curator”
Barbara Korbel and Janice Katz, “Binding Beauty: Conserving a Collection of Japanese Printed Books”
Kristi Dahm, “Tarnished by Time: The Technical Study and Treatment of a Rediscovered Old Master Drawing”
Frank Zuccari, Zahira Véliz, and Inge Fiedler, “Saint John in the Wilderness: Observations on Technique, Style, and Authorship”
Faye Wrubel and Francesca Casadio, “Conservation/Revelation: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Ballet Dancers Finds Renewed Harmony”
Lorna A. Filippini and Christa C. Mayer Thurman, “Piecework: Conserving the Florence Elizabeth Marvin Quilt”
Kristin Hoermann Lister, with contributions by Sharon L. Hirsh, Francesca Casadio, and Inge Fiedler, “Hodler’s Truth”
Douglas G. Severson, “’Treated by Steichen’: The Palladium Prints of Alfred Stieglitz”
Barbara Hall and Robert Aaron Jones, “Time and Tide: Restoring Lorado Taft’s Fountain of Time—An Overview”
Harriet K. Stratis and Peter Zegers, “Under a Watchful Eye: The Conservation of Soviet Tass-Window Posters”
Suzanne R. Schnepp, “On Time: Approaches to the Conservation of Film, Videotape, and Digital Media”
112 pages, 8 3/8 x 10 1/4 in.
ISBN-13: 9780300113426
ISBN-10: 0300113420
