Stanley Landsman sculpture

I am participating in the conservation of a Stanley Landsman
sculpture from the mid-1960's, titled 'The Infinity Room', that is
in the collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum.  The sculpture
consists of seventeen five-sided plywood boxes with their interiors
completely covered with glass mirror.

During past transport and storage, several of the mirrors were
broken and must be replaced. In every instance but one, the mastic
or adhesive used to adhere the mirrors to the plywood was an
unidentified, black, tarry substance, still somewhat pliable, whose
bond was fairly easy to break using denatured alcohol as a
surfactant.  In one case, however, there was an additional adhesive
used, also unidentified.  This was a light brown in color, possibly
a polyurethane, and very tenacious.  The mirror had to be broken
into sections for removal.  In every case, all the adhesive residue
was removed manually, using a heat gun and a wood chisel.

I am now looking for an adhesive to adhere the new mirrors.  It
needs to be strong, since some of the mirrors will be over the
viewer's heads, it must not bleed through the silvering, and it must
be reversible.

Robert Sieger
Fine Art Service, LLC


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:11
                   Distributed: Sunday, June 17, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-21-11-015
                                  ***