Conservation of a contemporary lacquered screen: A collaborative,interdisciplinary, international project involving the artist,fabricators, and conservators from three different areas |
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| Authors: | Julia Nagle Lyndsey Morgan |
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| Institution: | 1. Julia Nagle Conservation Limited, London, UKpaintingconservation@mac.com;3. Patina Art Collection Care Limited, Baldock, UK |
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| Abstract: | This paper discusses issues surrounding the conservation of contemporary art within the private sector using a real example, a freestanding hinged and lacquered screen. The artwork developed severe damage whilst on display in a private collection when a section of the lacquer cracked and delaminated from the bottom of one of the panels, taking paint with it. This significantly compromised its pristine appearance, and preliminary observations suggested that restoration using traditional consolidation, retouching and varnishing techniques was highly unlikely to be successful. Initial contact with the artist led to negotiation with the original fabricator's studio. This highlighted the challenges involved in reinstating the badly damaged paint and resin using an approach that would still be acceptable within the code of ethics of the conservation profession, and the potential problems of sharing information with experts who are not conservators. Part painting, part sculpture and part furniture, the screen does not fall into the standard divisions of conservation practice. Its eventual treatment demanded collaboration between specialists in paintings, sculpture, lacquer work, and conservation science. The paper addresses three areas of importance to the conservation of contemporary art: the challenges of working as an interdisciplinary team to deal with complex (and sometimes conflicting) ethical approaches and material requirements; the difficulty in balancing the desire to preserve original materials with the need to produce a pristine result, and the importance of the artist's ratification of conservation to the market value of the work. |
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| Keywords: | Conservation of contemporary art Market value Artist's ratification |
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