Conservation
Pigment Collection Colors All Aspects of the Museums
Only a small portion of our famous Forbes Pigment Collection is on display. But its influence is felt throughout the museums every day.
Getting Technical: Prints and Drawings Workshop at the Museums
During a recent Getty Foundation–funded workshop, participants from institutions around the world joined experts from the Harvard Art Museums and beyond to learn about the collaborative stewardship of collections.
Clarity on Homer’s Brush Harrow
Paintings conservation fellow Anne Schaffer shares how a simple treatment revealed a critical detail in Winslow Homer’s The Brush Harrow.
The Fruits of Forbes’s Travels
What began as an interest in painting led to Edward Waldo Forbes’s extensive travel in England and Italy and an education in connoisseurship, artists’ materials, and techniques.
A Painting with Presence
The largest work in The Bauhaus and Harvard, Herbert Bayer’s Verdure required special efforts as it was cleaned and installed.
Refreshing Sol LeWitt’s Vision
Representatives from the estate of famed conceptual artist Sol LeWitt recently re-executed his vibrant and imposing Wall Drawing #830 at Harvard.
Preserving and Interpreting Photographs in Context
Laura Panadero, the museums’ Craigen W. Bowen Paper Conservation Fellow, shares the rich information we can glean from the books containing photographs in our collections.
Géricault’s “Stone Paper”
In preparing for the exhibition Mutiny: Works by Géricault, conservators and conservation scientists combined historical research, close looking, scientific analysis, and artistic re-creations to better understand “stone paper,” a printing surface that Géricault used as an alternative to limestone.
The Mysteries of Prince Shōtoku
As we prepare for a 2019 exhibition about this remarkable 13th-century sculpture, curators and conservators are seeking answers to longstanding questions about the object.
A Clearer View
In preparation for our Animal-Shaped Vessels exhibition, conservators pioneered a treatment to reduce staining on, and enhance the interpretation of, an ancient Greek jar.