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News From the Conservation Center, New York University

In 2022, the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU welcomed four new faculty mem­bers, bid farewell to an esteemed colleague, and greeted an incoming class of six outstanding new students. Another seven of our students graduated in May, having now begun impressive placements. There has been considerable progress in renovations to the Chan House, our major research projects continued apace, and students and faculty resumed in-person work at domestic and international sites. We are grateful to our Facilities Department for overseeing the installation of a new kitchen and 5th floor lavatory, and to our IT Department for the enhancements to connectivity and projection in our Lecture Hall and Seminar Room.

In August, Matthew Hayes, a 2003 graduate of the Conservation Center and 2017 PhD from the Institute, joined our faculty as the Kress Post-Doctoral Associate in Paintings Conservation, teaching the Kress Class with Kress Fellow Molly Hughes-Hallett and Clinical Professor Emerita Dianne Modestini. Another alumna, Lisa Conte, ‘11, was appointed Visiting Associate Professor of Paper Conservation, joining us from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum where she was Head of Conservation. These two alumni hit the ground running as new teaching faculty, overseeing treatments, leading seminars, and mentoring our student body. In addition to alumni appointments, Dr. Glennis Rayermann joined as Visiting Assistant Professor of Conservation Science, traveling to New York from Amsterdam where she was Research Associate with the Netherlands Institute for Conservation+Art+Science+ (NICAS).

The Judith Praska Distinguished Visiting Professorship was awarded for the fall semester to Dr. Ber­trand Lavédrine, a professor at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN) and a scientist at the Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation (CRC) in Paris. Bertrand taught a course entitled Research and Communication in Conservation and Science, which focuses on the thermal, photochemical, or mechani­cal changes of materials, and the communication of associated experiments and their evaluated results through video. In the spring semester of 2023, we will welcome Rebecca Gridley as the first Judith Praska Visiting Assistant Professor of Conservation. Rebecca, an assistant objects conservator with the Art Conservation Group, will focus her course on her area of expertise, the treatment of vitreous materials. As always, we are grateful to our anonymous donor who makes these vital additions to our faculty possible.

These distinguished placements arrived not a moment too soon. We celebrated the career of our colleague Professor Hannelore Roemich, who retired in the summer of 2022 and for whom we hosted a bittersweet farewell in July. We wish her well on her return to Germany and the new adventures which await her.

We have also had an active year conducting research. Conservation Center Research Faculty member Christopher McGlinchey directs the Conserving Canvas project, funded by the Getty Foundation, that is investigating new formulations of the lining adhesive Beva 371 to recapture the working properties so valued in the old formulation (no longer manufactured). Our team is collaborating with the University of Akron’s School of Polymer Science and Engineering to test and create new mixtures. We plan to host two experts’ meetings and workshops for conservators in 2023, one in New York and the other in Turin, to trial some of the new formulations and gain further feedback. Our interim results are extremely promising, and we look forward to sharing the project culmination and results in the years to come.

Peggy Ellis, Eugene Thaw Professor Emerita of Paper Conservation, continues her work on the computational characterization (or “coding”) of Leonardo da Vinci’s papers (see: leocode.org). By cap­turing the unique manufactured patterns contained within his papers, her team of students and fellow researchers has been able to identify identical papers, called moldmates, found in and shared between Leonardo’s notebooks. This helps to establish dates, chronology, and place of origin. Peggy has also been appointed Exhibition Conservator for de Kooning Drawing, scheduled to open at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2026. In cooperation with The de Kooning Foundation, she is documenting as many of his works on paper as possible to accurately identify the artist’s materials and techniques. And, from January through March 2023, Peggy will be a Fellow at the Drawing Institute at the Menil Collection, where she will develop a quantifiable system for conservators and curators to describe white paper using universal color terms.

—Michele Marincola, Chair and Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of Conservation, mm71@nyu.edu

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