Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Unfurling the Cincinnati Map
6/1/2023
This week, the museum installed a twenty-first century take on the monumental “roll-up” map.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Hey Gorgeous!
5/25/2023
This week, grab a sneak peek at “coming attractions” with this Indian floor spread! She’ll be the “star of the show” in our Anu and Shekhar Gallery of South Asian Art when installed at the end of June.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Jain Shrine Nearing Completion!
5/18/2023
The treatment on our Jain Shrine is (finally!) nearing completion!
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Street Cleaning
5/11/2023
We recently cleaned Sunlight on Prospect Street, Gloucester, Massachusetts by Edward Hopper (1882–1967).
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Jacquard Loom Blanket
4/27/2023
Does crisp spring weather make you crave a snuggly blanket? The Cincinnati Art Museum has several!
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Shell & Barnacle Covered Bowl
4/20/2023
This fifteenth-century Chinese ceramic bowl presents some intriguing features that tell a fascinating story of its past. Shells and barnacles cover the bowl’s surface. These unusual attachments are commonly seen on objects that have spent time in ocean environments, in this example, possibly the result of a shipwreck.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: A Charming Secret
4/13/2023
Painted by the French Impressionist Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), Fog on Guernsey recently paid a visit to our lab for cleaning—and it let us in on a charming secret.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Cincinnati 1954
4/6/2023
A recent bequest of 20th-century American prints and paintings includes this view of Cincinnati by Laurence Sisson (1928–2015). Painted in watercolor with pen and black ink, the scene captures downtown buildings overlooking the Ohio River as Sisson saw them in 1954.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Wow! That’s a PINK Dress!
3/30/2023
Treatment is complete for this 1920s silk chiffon and velvet dress which showed loss in several places, including the right shoulder.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Filling-in Areas of Loss
3/23/2023
After removing all the old adhesive and over paint, we revealed several areas of loss to the painted scene on the glazed surface. This loss was likely caused by the same incident that damaged the foot causing the piece to break into multiple fragments.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Revealing an (Anonymous) British Lady
3/16/2023
This portrait of an anonymous lady by an anonymous British artist was so dirty that only the most basic details were visible before conservation.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: John Ruthven’s Flying Quail
3/9/2023
Paper conservation often involves undoing repairs by others who don’t have the knowledge or materials needed to best preserve the art. I recently examined a drawing by Cincinnati artist John Ruthven (1924 – 2020) with a long tear that had been mended with pressure sensitive tape, often referred to as “Scotch tape.”
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Conserving and Displaying a Palampore
3/2/2023
Are you a pal of Indian textiles? Then be sure to see the palampore currently on display in the South Asian Gallery!
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Jain Shrine—Revealing Multiple Layers of History
2/23/2023
While cleaning and conserving our Jain shrine, we discovered several layers of paint from different periods of its history. The carved wooden designs would have been repainted several times during its use as a devotional object.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Another British Invasion!
2/16/2023
These three portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds (British, 1723–1792) have come out of storage and into the conservation lab for the museum’s British catalog project . They are due to be examined, and perhaps treated, before heading to our photography department for high resolution imaging.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Preparing a Vintage Child’s Dress for Display
2/2/2023
Getting beautiful objects on display is a multi-stage process that often includes a stop (or several!) in Conservation. This week we installed some new objects in the Forecourt Gallery of the museum, including this child’s dress.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Cleaning Up the Jain Shrine—Work Continues!
1/26/2023
We are working on conserving a new piece of the shrine—which is cleaning up very well—revealing beautiful bright red and yellow pigments underneath the coating.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Brightening a Nearly 100-Year-Old Harbor Scene
1/19/2023
Before the work was shipped to the museum from out of state, our curator of American art, Julie Aronson, PhD, contacted a professionally trained paintings conservator in that region to examine it. He noted a few areas with cracks and lifting paint that might be jeopardized during transport. With permission from the owner , the conservator applied the three tissue paper patches you see here to make sure that no paint flakes were lost in transit.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: 1920s Chanel Sequined Dress
1/5/2023
Heat and moisture melted the missing sequins on this 1925–1926 party dress at the wearer’s armpit.
Ivory Shrine: Tiny but Mighty
12/21/2022
Many of the carved items (such as the bow held in the hand of the figure on left side of the archway) had broken and required repairs to be carried out under a microscope.
Revealing a “Hidden” Cézanne
12/15/2022
A few months ago, I posted about the complicated surface coatings on Cézanne’s Still Life with Bread and Eggs.” But what was going on under the surface was even more of a surprise.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Analyzing a Tang Dynasty Horse
12/8/2022
You can see the conserved Dancing Horse in the special exhibition Galloping Through Dynasties through January 1, 2023
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: The Perfect Pink
12/1/2022
We are “dyeing” to find the perfect shades of pink silk chiffon to repair this 1920s dress!
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Jain Shrine Update
11/17/2022
This week in objects conservation: Almost 12 months from when we first started the treatment, half of the Jain shrine has been conserved, and a new batch of pieces has moved into the lab to begin treatment.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: The British Invasion... of Conservation
11/10/2022
Our paintings conservator has just begun a big multi-year project, teaming with curators and other scholars, to examine CAM’s collection of 65+ paintings by British artists.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Seeing Spots
10/27/2022
Our textile conservator got to wear all these “hats” this week to address some spots on this settee in Gallery 209, the British portraiture gallery.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: A Pair of Ceramic Jars
10/20/2022
These large jars are in rough shape and are currently in the lab for some major repairs.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: A Fresh Mount for Guan Yu
10/13/2022
In the newly opened exhibit, Galloping Through Dynasties, visitors will see several of the museum’s hanging scrolls for the first time.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Women at the Races
10/6/2022
Look for the recently conserved painting in our gallery soon.
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