Conserving Art on Paper
Here in the Paper Conservation Lab conservators examine, document and treat a wide variety of works on paper for exhibition, acquisition and collections storage. The collections include prints, drawings, watercolors, and photographic materials, all of which have their own unique physical and aesthetic characteristics. Typical conservation treatments and preventive measures include surface cleaning, removing harmful attachments such as pressure-sensitive tape and poor-quality matting materials, reducing discoloration and staining, flattening paper distortions, and housing artworks in chemically-stable, acid-free materials.
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Smithsonian American Art Museum Objects Conservator L.H. (Hugh) Shockey, Jr., and Curator of Film and Media Arts Michael Mansfield discuss the challenges and triumphs of conserving and exhibiting media arts in the twenty-first century.
In this studio conservators restore the surface of paintings to a condition that most closely resembles an earlier unaltered or undamaged state. The two most common procedures that take place here are cleaning and inpainting.
Talks from the symposium "Conserving and Exhibiting the Works of Nam June Paik" on June 26, 2013 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Talks from the symposium "Conserving and Exhibiting the Works of Nam June Paik" on June 26, 2013 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.