OBJECTS CONSERVATION

The Sculpture Department specializes in the restoration of 14th-21st century sculpture and three dimensional works in ceramic, plaster, marble, metal, stone, wood, glass, mixed media, as well as ethnographic sculptures and artifacts. This subspecialty within the field of conservation demands a broad knowledge of sculpture materials and fabrication techniques, both historic and contemporary.

Related Articles:

• Back in the Race: Repairing a Chinese Tang Dynesty Artifact by Natalia Ivancevich and Gabrielle Tieu
• when bad things happen to personal pieces by Natalia Ivancevich
• Reliquary: The Assessment and Remediation of Structural and Cosmetic Concerns by Ann Kennedy Haag
• treating three-dmensional objects by Lucia Bay

Treatment Examples

Cube structure, Sol Lewitt

Pre-treatment: Broken elements, scratches and abrasions

Post treatment: Elements have been readhered, and surfaces cleaned and inpainted.

Lalanne sheep damaged in Hurricane Katrina, post-treatment

Pretreatment

 

This T'ang Dynasty Sculpture was damaged in a residential move. The shards were reassembled by our Decorative Arts Department to their original posiion and the losses were filled and retouched.

This bust was accidentally damaged, and had broken into over 60 pieces. The individual extant shards were first cleaned using conservation solvents and then carefully reassembled. Areas of loss were filled with conservation adhesive, and edge seams retouched to match the original to both value and hue.