At first glance, it is difficult to know exactly what is happening with this tightly rolled item. When they arrived at The Center, these two documents - one paper, one parchment - had experienced extremely high heat conditions from a fire that consumed a building. They were rolled together in a fireproof box and had contracted and shrunk together because of the extreme heat. The two documents were incredibly brittle and could not be safely unrolled during the initial examination.
One hundred twenty years of dust, grime, soot, and age - the early twentieth-century membership photographs from the Chicago chapter of the Scottish Rite showed their years. The photographs were taken and developed by the Gibson, Sykes & Fowler studio, one of Chicago's earliest photography studios that opened circa 1860.
Antique photography presents a challenging set of condition issues for any conservator. They are inherently delicate and often have significant inherent vices. Inherent vice - also known as an inherent fault - is the object's likelihood of deterioration because of the qualities of the materials initially used, not because of anything that happened to the artwork during its lifetime.
When Mrs. Dahlis Marshall wrote to the United Press in December 1942, she was a recent war widow, seeking answers for the sake of her sons. Her husband George F Marshall, Lieutenant Colonel United States Army, had lost his life in November 1942 during the battle of Oran Harbor, Algeria. Mrs. Marshall received notification of his death through the next of kin notification that so many families received during World War II. But as the mother of two young sons, she knew she needed more details; one day, the children would ask questions, and she wanted to be able to give them answers. Leo Disher, United Press war correspondent, answered the plea. He sent a humble document made from humble materials - a Western Union telegram.
Carved wood, fabric wrapped and covered in thousands of meticulously placed seed beads, this chair's owner had one goal when she contacted The Center: "I wanted to make sure it was in its best condition!!" The owner, Lori, inherited the chair from her mother. It was in her mother's gallery in Palm Beach for many years and later was in her home. Before this, the chair's history is unknown; however, the construction and design are consistent with 20th-century Bamileke beaded art.
This year at EXPO CHICAGO, Northern Trust is hosting an intimate conversation with three female pioneers who are pushing the bounds of creativity. Steph Wagner, Northern Trust Director of Women and Wealth, will lead a thoughtful conversation with three women creating a ripple effect in the art world. From building the largest art restoration firm in North America to challenging auction house norms with NFTs to transforming communities with the power of color, we will explore how these innovators found their passion and are channeling it into a source of positive change.
“Madonna della Strada Chapel at Loyola University Chicago received the donation of five relics from the Kerwin daughters whose parents Mary and Charles C. Kerwin have a long association with Loyola University and the Archdiocese of Chicago. The relics are from Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Saint Clare of Assisi, and a piece of the True Cross of Christ. These items are special connections for the faithful of our community and serves as reminders of heroic people for whom we can model our lives on. The Kerwin daughters were extremely generous in that their donation included the conservation of the relics so that they can be viewed and prayed with by our community.”
In late-2023, construction is scheduled to be completed on the University of Notre Dame's new art museum. The new Raclin Murphy Museum of Art will increase the University's capacity to display its art collection and accept programs that the current facility, the Snite Museum of Art, cannot because of size restrictions. In preparation for the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art opening, select paintings are undergoing treatment by The Conservation Center staff in preparation for display in their new home.
This month, The Center's CEO Heather Becker was featured virtually during the opening of this year's Verisk Elevate Conference in Salt Lake City. With our decades of disaster response experience, The Center is always ready to work with adjusters and insurance companies to save art collections big and small, personal or corporate, historic or modern.
Letterbooks are filled with a staggering amount of information, indexing all the essential communication a person had during their life. Records of business arrangements, copies of letters, and other important correspondence; the letterbook was an inbox before we had inboxes, a hard drive before hard drives.
Our Furniture Department is thrilled to have performed a complex, multi-step treatment of a Chinese masterpiece. The Imperial Screen was produced as a gift in 1791 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711 - 1799), the fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty who had one of the longest reigns in Chinese history, lasting just over 60 years from 1735 to 1796. The screen came to the United States for display during the 1939 Worlds Fair; The Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. It is now a prized part of the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art in Elmhurst, Illinois.
To kick off the new year, we held an art competition amongst our talented staff this January. Creations were submitted and after our vote, we are proud to share the winning entry from Lead Preparator David Schmitt, the runner up entry by Conservation Services Director Jesus Mejia, and the second runner up from Facilities Manager and Senior Art Handler Alfredo Garcia.
The Allen family lore tells a plausible, if improbable, tale; the antique sword is an heirloom that has been carried by one generation to the next going all the way back to its original owner - Ethan Allen. Specifically, the founder of Vermont, Revolutionary War patriot, and politician Ethan Allen, who lived from 1737-1789.
This year the art world lost an artist whose name had become ubiquitous with the Chicago art scene: Karl Wirsum (1939 - 2021). A graduate of the School at The Art Institute of Chicago and a lifelong Chicagoan (a short teaching stint at Sacramento State University in the 1970's the only exception), Wirsum was a part of the Hairy Who group of Chicago artists in the mid 1960s. Truly, no collection of Chicago art is complete without a work by Wirsum.
The Conservation Center's dedication to the long-term preservation of artworks and heirlooms reaches far beyond the walls of our laboratory. Since 2007 we have published our educational newsletter monthly, sharing hundreds of conservation stories with our subscribers. We also believe in sharing our experience and expertise with professionals whose work intersects with conservation. Through lectures, learning modules, and podcasts, our goal is to help prepare insurance professionals for the day they respond to a claim that includes fine art. We are proud to collaborate with The Property & Liability Resource Bureau (PLRB) to provide their members with continuing education opportunities and would like to share one of those topics with you - Ethics in Conservation.
"I have always liked the painting... it tells a story..."
Is there truly any better reason to display a work of art in your home? Purchased in the 1950s, Portrait of a Woman has been in the family of its current owner for nearly 70 years. Believed to be attributed to 19th-century German painter Philip Vieth, this captivating painting holds many secrets. The woman is looking straight at the viewer with a look of distress, one hand on her head and the other clutching a letter. On the table, interrupting the pattern of the tablecloth is a single gold ring.
When this striking turquoise ceramic bowl arrived at The Center for treatment, it immediately caught the attention of our objects conservator, with its history and character. This dish is low-fired ceramic and finished with a lovely glaze on the interior and half of the exterior with decorative hand-painted bands and curved motifs. Although we are unsure how old this Persian dish is, our conservator's examination showed that this object had survived a long life so far.
Thick or thin, matte or metallic, carved or clean-lines: fine art frames can fade into the background or compete with the artwork it displays for the viewers attention. The frame for The Annunciation does just that, with carvings, oil and water gilding, and yellow and red bole undertones - it truly is a work of art all on its own.
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