Max Dean, As Yet Untitled , 2007/670, Puma 550 industrial robot, found family snap shots, conveyor, shredder, metal, electronics, installation: 60” x 144” x 120” (152.4 x 365.8 x 304.8 cm), edition of 3. Gift of Jay Smith, David Fleck, Gilles Ouellette and Terry Burgoyne, 2007. Collection Art Gallery of Ontario. Photo by Sean Weaver/AGO.
By Sherry Phillips, Conservator of Contemporary and Inuit Art
“The viewer has the opportunity to determine the fate of found family photographs. The robot is programmed to pick up a photo from the hopper on the right, present it to the viewer, wait several seconds for a response before proceeding. Should the viewer choose to intervene by covering one or both of the hand silhouettes in front of them, the robot will place the photo in an archival box. Should the viewer choose not to act, the robot will place the photo in a shredder and the shredded photo will be conveyed to a pile. The robot runs continuously.” (Dean, 2013)
The passage above, taken from artist Max Dean’s website, provides a description of As Yet Untitled as the robot featured in the artwork might: succinct and detached, without any of the emotion we often attach to a family photo. Photographs are often the first personal possessions rescued from a fire or flood that has devastated a home. They are records of times past and loved ones who may no longer be with us. On the other hand, the photographs used in this artwork were all found, which means that someone discarded them. What circumstances could lead to the discarded family memories? And when faced with shredding or salvation, what response will the viewer, a stranger, choose for someone else’s photographic memories?
The concepts that the time-based media installation evokes are complex, and so are the physical components that allow it to operate. Like all pieces of technology, they need upkeep. The Conservation Department of the AGO is undertaking a restoration and mechanical upgrading of As Yet Untitled, in collaboration with Max Dean, Dr. Richard Voyles — associate professor in the University of Denver’s Department of Computer Engineering — and Marcel Verner of the Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Institute. The aim is to prepare the work, which became part of the AGO’s collection in 2007, to be exhibited and ensure that the technology is rugged and reliable well into the future. The work has been promised for loan to the city-wide Le Mois de la Photo, in Montreal, Quebec, September to October 2013.
Time-based media, meaning that time or duration is a dimension of the artwork and is revealed to the viewer over time, often involve a kinetic component. In the case of As Yet Untitled, there are several synchronized moving parts and as with any mechanical system, components wear or become obsolete. Unlike more traditional areas of art conservation, the conservation of contemporary art may involve the replacement of an artwork, in part or entirety, in order to continue the operation and comprehension as the artist intended. In this case, all components of the work will be inspected and upgraded as needed, and a new controller will be designed and programmed to correctly operate the various components. Max Dean as well as computer and robotics specialists will take the lead on upgrades to the mechanical and operational program systems and, as the conservator, my main role will be documentation of changes to the current format of the artwork.
Sherry will be conducting work on As Yet Untitled until mid-August, 2013, and will add updates to the blog along the way. Use this link to find more As Yet Untitled posts!
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AGO staff moved Floor Burger into the Conservation Department for the final phase of treatment in mid-February
If you’ve been following our Floor Burger conservation stories, you know that Sherry Phillips has a special relationship with this particular Claes Oldenburg sculpture. From October 2012 to March of this year, Sherry worked with the piece closely — sometimes very, very closely — getting it in tip-top shape for a short-term loan to the MoMA. To wrap up our Floor Burger series on a personal note, Sherry wrote about her experience accompanying the sculpture on its journey to the Big Apple. Read the rest of this entry »
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s first exhibition, happening on June 5, 2013, the Conservation Department is highlighting a painting that was a part of that exhibition, entitled Landscape with Figures.
This painting was originally in the collection of the Boulton family, builders and first owners of The Grange. While we don’t know for sure whether it belonged to Sarah Anne or to Harriet Boulton, we do know that William and Harriet took an extended trip to Europe from 1856 to 1957. We also know that Landscape with Figures was not included in the 1852 bazaar for the liquidation of debt due on St. George the Martyr Church, which included many paintings from the Boultons, so they may not have owned the painting at that date. This may mean that it was more likely acquired by Harriet, rather than Sarah Anne. We can’t be sure when the painting arrived at The Grange, but we do know that Harriet’s father was consul general to the Netherlands, and it’s possible Harriet brought it with her from her childhood home in Boston.
From Molendi to Molenaer
In the summer of 2009, AGO conservation intern Emily Min made an amazing discovery. While cleaning a painting, a work at first attributed to unknown artist named “F. Molendi,” she discovered a gem amongst the soil, dust and debris. Surface cleaning revealed the signature, an obscured “K. Molenaer.” Compared with other examples of this Dutch artist’s signature, we could see it was a match.
Klaes Molenaer (c. 1630-1676) was a moderately successful landscape painter from Haarlem, an active cultural centre and the most lucrative location for artists to work in the Netherlands during the 17th century. Painters who would have counted among Molenaer’s contemporaries included Frans Hals, Salomon van Ruysdael and Jan Steen. A work by Molenaer augments an already strong collection of 17th-century Netherlandish work — from what was to become known as the Dutch Golden Age — at the AGO, and we are fortunate to have found another example from this period.
Landscape with Figures after varnish application
Treatment details
A partial conservation treatment reveals the appearance of the artwork before treatment and at various points during treatment. On the left, a preliminary, new varnish layer has re-saturated the appearance of the paint layers, but we have not yet done the inpainting (retouching) and final varnishing. We’ve surface-cleaned the centre area and removed the old varnish layer towards the left and only partially towards the right. The right side still has the old varnish and surface soiling in place. Surface cleaning and removal of a discoloured varnish layer will brighten the overall painting and return it to a truer representation of the artist’s original intent. The signature in the bottom right corner — very dark and obscured by a discoloured varnish — only became evident through close scrutiny and chance positioning of a bright light.
Paint-sample analysis by the Canadian Conservation Institute identified the nature of the unusual dark spots visible throughout the sky. Originally we thought that a resin may be migrating from the wood support through the paint layers to the surface of the artwork. CCI was able to establish, however, that the disfiguring spots were more likely caused by a drying oil migrating from the paint layers or older coating below the uppermost paint layers.
Conservation treatment on Landscape with Figures will eventually be completed but for now the painting is an informative illustration of the various stages of a painting conservation treatment stopped mid-way. Surface cleaning and varnish removal will continue in the right side of the painting and we will re-join the top and bottom panels. This will be followed by the application of an isolating, preliminary varnish layer before we do precise retouching with modern paints to disguise the dark spots and better visually reintegrate them with the surrounding original paint layers. Only then will we apply a final overall varnish layer.
We know that the painting has been restored at some point in the past, because sample analysis also revealed the presence of pigments that would not have been available during the artist’s lifetime. These pigments, Prussian blue (available starting in 1704) and cobalt blue (available 1803-04) appear to have been used to cover the disfiguring brown spots. We found the later pigments on top of a varnish layer, with original paint below.
Though we were able to identify the artist behind the work, the mystery remains as to how this painting came to Canada. Still, Harriet would have known that she owned a Molenaer, and now that the grit and grime from years of gas lighting and coal fires has been removed, so do we.
Compiled by Stephanie Gibson, Sherry Phillips, Jenny Rieger, Maria Sullivan
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What is this thing?
The specimen in the video above, the larva of a webbing clothes moth (Tineola bisselliella), was discovered in a cardboard box stored on top of a wool carpet in an administrative office. At only 5mm long, webbing clothes moth larvae can be very difficult to detect. The red wool fibres from the carpet — also visible in the video — provided the larva a steady source of food. At this stage in its life cycle, after hatching from an egg, the moth can cause the most damage, because larvae feed on material and produce frass (aka excrement) that will be a colour similar to the material that has been eaten (in this case the red fibre from the carpet).
What’s happening in the video?
Conservators Sherry Phillips and Maria Sullivan collected the larva and viewed it under microscope to identify the specimen, and the carpet was immediately wrapped and sealed to prevent further migration of pests, then placed in a chest freezer to eliminate any other larvae, eggs and adults in the carpet.
Where did it come from?
Moths can find their way into the Gallery on coats, clothing or on other items that staff or visitors carry. New artworks or materials are screened for pests before placement in the galleries or vaults.
So, what’s the big deal?
All galleries and museums need to be vigilant and pro-active in keeping pests under control. The goal of an effective pest-management program is to find and deal with these issues before they affect the collection, and so efforts extend to all areas of the building, not just in the galleries. Larvae can cause extensive damage to artwork made of or containing materials that have protein, such as natural fibres — particularly silk and wool — as well as hides and feathers. AGO staff monitor for pests throughout the building on a weekly basis to identify potential problems, because it is easier to prevent a problem than to deal with an infestation.
Curious about Conservation?
If you have a burning question about Conservation, leave a comment below. We’ll do our best to give you an answer in an upcoming Conservation Notes post.
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Prayer bead inside micro-CT scanner. Sustainable Archaeology, University of Western Ontario.
Micro-CT scanning prayer beads from the Thomson Collection
The AGO’s Lisa Ellis, conservator of sculpture and decorative art, and Sasha Suda, assistant curator of European Art, travelled to the University of Western Ontario to answer questions about the intricate construction of two prayer beads from the Thomson Collection currently featured in the exhibition Idea Lab: Research at the AGO, Investigating Miniature Ivory and Boxwood Carvings, running from July 19, 2012, to April 2014.
The complexity of the prayer beads has until now defied attempts to fully understand their construction. Some of these miniature carvings contain close to 100 separately carved elements. Traditional tools like X-radiography and microscopy cannot not fully explain how these objects were made — the way they are pieced together obscures joins from view and stacks elements, making it impossible to fully decipher the objects’ interiors with X-rays.
In order to understand these objects, we required much more sophisticated imaging. For help with our problem, we tracked down Dr. Andrew Nelson and doctoral student Zoe Morris from the University of Western Ontario’s Department of Anthropology, and Dr. Ron Martin from its Department of Chemistry. This highly specialized group of experts introduced us to micro-computed tomography, also known as high-resolution X-ray tomography or micro-CT scanning.
The Sustainable Archaeology facility at Western University has a Canadian Foundation for Innovation–funded industrial Nikon Metrology XT H 225 system microtomography (micro-CT) scanner with a resolution so fine that it can distinguish details as small as 36 micrometers — a third of the diameter of a human hair — in the scans of the prayer beads. Just like medical scanners (which have a slice thickness of 600 micrometers), micro-CT scanners perform non-invasive studies to show internal features not of human anatomy, in this case, but of archaeological and bioarchaeological materials and now artworks.
Micro-CT scanning is now successfully exposing the construction secrets of these superlative carvings: scans of the two prayer beads have revealed hidden joins, pegs and adhesives. With the support of our collaborators at Western, the AGO team is eager to continue our micro-CT investigations into these fascinating objects and scan the remaining eight prayer beads in the Thomson Collection.
Zoe Morris, University of Western Ontario, manipulating and interpreting the scans.
Curious about Conservation?
If you have a burning question about Conservation, leave a comment below. We’ll do our best to give you an answer in an upcoming Conservation Notes post.
Signature Partner of the AGO’s Conservation Program
You’re probably used to finding packets of silica gel in your shoes boxes, electronic packaging, new purses — its uses are many — but did you know it’s also hidden in spots all around galleries and museums? In this post, conservator of sculpture and decorative arts Lisa Ellis explains why it is also a simple but powerful material used in the preservation of artworks. Read the rest of this entry »
Many of the works in our collection are fragile and delicate, but there are some that are fragile and also very, very heavy. In this post, conservator of sculpture and decorative arts Lisa Ellis and mountmaker John Williams explain how our staff members move this kind of work around the Gallery.
Notes on the Storage, Handling and Exhibition Base (SHEB) for Archangel Michael
This superlative and rare sculpture, depicting the Archangel Michael, was an anonymous gift to the AGO in 1997. It is dated to around 1290 and is carved out of limestone.
Depending on exhibition schedules, sculptures at the AGO rarely sit still for any length of time. Instead they tend to move from gallery to gallery and sometimes temporarily reside in storage areas or even travel to other institutions on loan. The AGO conservators and mountmakers assist the Exhibition Services department in the movement of large, fragile objects such as the Archangel Michael. Read the rest of this entry »
We’ve all seen the yellowing of old photos and the fading of fabrics near windows in our own homes. The effects of light on works of art in our collection could be just as harmful, but our ever-vigilant conservators aren’t about to let that happen. In this post, conservator Katy Whitman explains why and how we keep different kinds of light in check. Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes it’s not the work itself but the materials we use to display it that need help. In this post, photograph conservator Katy Whitman describes how she fixed a pesky case of glass deterioration.
A view of the daguerrotype through the cover glass before treatment.
Antique frames in storage. Photo by Scott Cameron/AGO.
A visitor asks: Do you receive artworks with frames or do you construct them to fit?
Margaret Haupt, deputy director of Collections Management and Conservation at the AGO, replies:
Frames are an integral part of every art collection — they serve to protect and enhance the artwork. The best frames can be works of art themselves. Most of the paintings you see on display at the AGO are exhibited in the frames that were on them when the pieces came to us. Generally, original frames are considered a valuable attribute of the artwork.
A frame protects the picture that it surrounds — it gives us a means of hanging the picture, and protects the edges from damage. When the frame incorporates picture glass in front and a backing layer behind, it can actually provide a sealed microclimate for housing and display. We do upgrade the frames as necessary to ensure that they are structurally sound, they won’t rub the front edges of the paintings and that they are sealed.
AGO framers do make frames whenever an artwork arrives without one, or when the existing frames are inappropriate — in some instances, they can’t be upgraded to be fully functional or they are visually incompatible with the painting.
The Gallery’s framing workshop. Photo by Scott Cameron/AGO.
The work of the Frame Shop is focused on pieces that will be displayed in AGO exhibitions. Staff also ensure that works loaned to other museums for exhibition are presented to their best advantage and that they are framed to withstand both the rigours of travel, as well as any differences between environmental conditions at home and away.
The staff sometimes perform minimal conservation treatments such as stabilizing the structure and surface decoration through consolidation; light cleaning, such as removal of dust; and toning out any distracting losses. More complex interventions are undertaken in consultation with our conservators.
The AGO has a large collection of historic period frames, many of which are important decorative arts objects in their own right. Those are separately labeled when installed in the galleries with an artwork. We also keep original frames from the Canadian historical collection, as well as any frames that represent a conscious and deliberate choice of the artist for the presentation of his or her work. There are frames in this collection that can even be considered an intrinsic part of the artwork.
We reframe paintings using historic frames when we find a good match. Period frames provide the viewer with a broader sense of the original physical context or environment in which the work was intended to be displayed when it was created.
As a “mat”ter of fact…
Notes from Works on Paper conservator Joan Weir
Works on paper are usually displayed in frames that are fabricated to standardized sizes in the AGO framing shop. As a space-saving measure, because the AGO works on paper collection contains more than 20,000 items, most of the works are only framed up when needed for exhibition. When not on display, the works are stored in their protective acid free mats in boxes in the Marvin Gelber Print and Drawing Study Centre.
A variety of museum matting styles are used for displaying works on paper. Some factors we take into consideration include the date of the work, the type of image, the media being displayed and the artist’s intent. For example a 19th-century etching print may have a window mat that comes up to the printing plate mark, while a contemporary print might not have a window mat at all and may be “float mounted” instead. Some works are artist framed and we would not alter them for display or storage.
Thank you for your question!
Curious about Conservation?
If you have a burning question about Conservation, leave a comment below. We’ll do our best to give you an answer in an upcoming Conservation Notes post.
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