Forum on conservation of post-war paintings

CollectorsWorld Online Forum
Skin Deep: Questions on the Conservation of Post-War Paintings
January 29 - February 15, 2003

How should we approach the decision to treat or not to treat a
painting whose primary effect comes from a pristine, uninflected
surface when that surface has been blemished? This on-line forum
will bring together participants from varied sectors of the art
world to discuss treatment questions around paintings with such
minimally-inflected surfaces.

Topics will include acceptable levels of damage to
minimalist/monochromatic paintings. How are they devalued by local
or overall restorations?  Can we use standards applied to earlier
paintings?  Whose judgments apply?  Are conservation treatments ever
driven by market considerations?  Does the owner, alone, have the
final word in deciding that a fragmentary or damaged work is
"unexhibitable"?  Should public or scholarly interests ever override
the owner's judgment?  Who is in the best position to speak for the
artist's intent or interests in this situation?

Participants in the online forum will include Carol Stringari,
Senior Conservator at the Guggenheim, Jim Coddington, Agnes Gund
Chief Conservator at the Museum of Modern Art, Ronald Feldman, a
long-time art dealer and director of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts,
Rustin S. Levenson, a painting conservator in private practice with
studios in New York City and Miami, Joachim Pissaro, an art
historian who is Director of the catalogue raisonne of Robert
Motherwell's paintings, and Jeffrey Weiss, Curator of
Twentieth-century Art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington,
DC.  Andrea Kirsh, an independent scholar, will moderate the forum.

Skin Deep will begin at 2 pm EST on January 29th and conclude at 6
pm EST on February 15, 2003.  Please note that during the run of the
forum, the moderator will be able to receive and consider questions
or remarks sent in by visitors. In order to send comments to the
moderator you first sign up for (free) membership to the
CollectorsWorld community by going to
<URL:http://www.collectorsworld.org> and choosing "Sign Up/ Log-in"
in the upper right corner of the web site's home page.

CollectorsWorld is an educational, not-for-profit web site devoted
to conservation and art stewardship. It was founded and is supported
by AXA Art Insurance.

Rebecca Foster
Studio Manager
Narrativer Rooms LLC


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:46
                 Distributed: Friday, January 31, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-16-46-011
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