Displaying items by tag: deterioration

Throughout the autumn season visitors to the National Gallery of Denmark can see the museum’s conservators at work, restoring Albrecht Dürer’s 500 year-old masterpiece "The Arch of Honour of Maximilian I."

For many years, this artwork by Albrecht Dürer – the largest Renaissance woodcut ever made – was on display at the Royal Collection of Graphic Art’s premises in Prinsens Palæ, now the home the National Museum of Denmark. Here, the 3.5 x 3m artwork was exposed to light and changing climate conditions, and eventually it yellowed and deteriorated to such an extent that it was no longer fit for display. Since then it has been rolled up and tucked away in the SMK storage facilities.

In the spring of 2015 Dürer’s large-scale work will see the light of day again – and be the main feature of an exhibition arranged by the Royal Collection of Graphic Art.

Workmen took blowtorches to the ship and club venue ‘Thekla’ in Bristol to cut out and remove the artist Banksy’s painting of the Grim Reaper from just above the waterline on the steel hull.

The artist painted the Grim Reaper onto the ship, which is moored in Bristol harbor, around 10 years ago but exposure to the elements is causing ongoing deterioration.

Recognising the artwork’s iconic status and to preserve the image Thekla’s owner, the music promoter DHP Family, has decided to remove it while the boat is in dry dock for general maintenance, which happens only every eight years.

The Vatican Museums will be installing a new landmark heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system for the Sistine  Chapel, specially designed to address the challenges of protecting Michelangelo’s masterpieces against deterioration. 

The Governate of the Vatican City State and Carrier on Wednesday said the new system is expected to be installed and  commissioned by the third quarter of 2014.

The new system, which replaces a Carrier system installed in the early 1990s, is designed to have twice the efficiency and three times the capacity of the previous system. 

On June 10, 2013, Bank of America announced the recipients of its 2013 Art Conservation Project. The program provides grant funding to international nonprofit museums to conserve historically and culturally significant works of art that are in danger of deterioration.

This year, Bank of America’s Art Conservation Project will provide funding for 24 works in 16 countries. One of the most significant undertakings is the restoration of Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers in Los Angeles. Built between 1921 and 1953, the Watts Towers are an iconic part of the city and have fallen into disrepair. The towers are part of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Other projects include the restoration of Jackson Pollock’s (1912-1956) Number 1A, One, and Echo at the Museum of Modern Art; 13 mural drawings by Diego Rivera (1886-1957) at the Detroit Institute of Arts; four Tudor paintings at the National Portrait Gallery in London; a Rembrandt (1606-1669) study at the National Gallery in Prague; and a Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) photography collection at La Casa Azul in Mexico.    

Bank of America launched its Art Conservation Project in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in 2010. It was expanded to include the Americas, Asia, and Australia in 2012. Including this year’s recipients, Bank of America will have funded the conservation of 57 projects in 25 countries.

Henry Moore’s (1898-1986) severely damaged sculpture Knife Edge Two Piece (1965) will finally be restored according to the Parliamentary Art Collection. The sculpture, which is prominently displays outside of the Houses of Parliament in London, is England’s most revered work by the British sculptor.

Moore and the Contemporary Art Society donated Knife Edge Two Piece to England in 1967 but the work fell into disrepair after administrative changes left it with no legal owner. Eventually, the British government suggested that the House of Commons take ownership for the sculpture and that the Parliamentary Art Collection take responsibility for the its care.

The bronze sculpture, which is marred by discoloration, deterioration, and incised graffiti, will undergo conservation beginning February 16, 2013. Conservator Rupert Harris will lead the effort, which involves removing the sculpture’s protective lacquer and abrading its surface to eliminate the damage. The work will then be repatinated and treated with wax in order to protect it from future environmental damage.

The conservation project is expected to cost a little over $50,000 with most of the funding coming from the Parliamentary Art Collection. The Henry Moore Foundation will contribute about $17,000 to the effort. The Knife Edge Two Piece restoration project is expected to reach completion at the end of March 2013.