Conservation

Two paintings by R.B Kitaj were brought to the paintings conservation laboratory for examination prior to loan. In this painting, Kitaj sketched an underdrawing with charcoal which he then sprayed with a transparent nitrocellulose fixative. He then painted over it with oil paint using a brush and an oil-wax paint stick. The artist’s use of nitrocellulose under these circumstances is extremely problematic given it is very sensitive to light and humidity which can cause it to yellow and embrittle over time.

Frank Preusser, Senior Scientist, intern Amanda Burrr, and Mellon Fellows Kelly Leahey and Catherine Bouvier learn how to use a portable XRF for elemental analysis of one of our Paul Strand photographs.The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation program for art museums helps institutions undertake serious scholarship on their permanent collections. The art conservation program concentrates on advanced training for future generations and developing fields of importance to conservation as a whole.

LACMA’s outdoor sculpture Saddle by artist Anthony Caro recently underwent a cleaning treatment. Here, Siska Genbrugge removes the protective coating from a sculpture using a new dry ice blasting technique by which small pellets of frozen CO2 were targeted onto the coating at high pressure. The coating flaked off without damaging the underlying corrosion layer.

LACMA’s highly acclaimed exhibition, Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700–1915, is on the road. First stop is the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, Germany, open through 29 July. The next venue will be in Paris, France, at the Musée de la Mode et du Textil from 13 December 2012 through 21 April 2013. Here, conservator Susan Schmalz examines the condition of an elaborate 1825 Portuguese hat as it is unpacked in Berlin.