These lectures highlight current and recent painting conservation projects at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, describing the fascinating work involved in understanding as well as preserving the artwork in the Museum's care. Michael Gallagher, conservator in charge of paintings conservation at the Museum, introduces the lectures.
The Newman Collection, which spans the late 1940s to early 1960s, includes 38 paintings by twentieth-century American and European artists. Acquired by the museum in November 2005 as a gift from Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman, the collection's core group of pictures has been described as one of the greatest collections of abstract expressionism in the world. Paintings conservator Shawn Digney-Peer talks about the work he did on this magnificent collection of paintings, highlighting their structural nature as modern works characterized by mixed media and unvarnished surfaces. Describing how minor condition flaws in the work become intricate and detailed problems to be solved, Digney-Peer delves into the challenges faced by the conservator of modern and contemporary artworks.
Lecture by Shawn Digney-Peer, assistant conservator, Paintings Conservation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; introduced by Michael Gallagher, Sherman Fairchild Conservator in Charge of Paintings Conservation
Learn more about the Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection:
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2007/muriel-kallis-steinberg-newman-collection
Learn more about paintings conservation at the Met:
http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/museum-departments/conservation-and-scientific-research/paintings-conservation
