Displaying items by tag: flooding

A Danish phD thesis revealed that a common preservation method may cause more harm than good to artworks. The study showed that when an oil painting treated with the once-popular wax-resin lining is exposed to relative humidity over 60 percent there is a good chance that it will shrink, compressing the paint and causing it to flake off. The revelation was part of Cecil Krarup Andersen’s thesis, which was recently defended at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Conservation.

During the 20th century the “lining” technique was popular among conservators and used to protect well-known masterpieces including works by Rembrandt and Vincent van Gogh while traveling for loan exhibitions. For her thesis Lined canvas paintings: Mechanical properties and structural response to fluctuating relative humidity, Andersen studied the Danish national gallery's collection of Danish Golden Age paintings and examined the difference in moisture sensibility before and after wax-resin lining.

The wax-resin technique became popular during the 1960s but was obsolete by the 1970s since the method tended to darken paintings’ colors. However, the discovery of relative humidity’s effect on wax-resin lined canvases is a new finding. While the majority of museums maintain an approximate relative humidity of 50 percent, malfunctioning climate controls and flooding could leave some of the finest works in the canon of art in perilous danger.

Two months ago, Hurricane Sandy battered New York City and caused severe flooding in many art galleries, especially those located in Chelsea. Initially, the prominent firm AXA Art Insurance estimated that the damage they would be paying out totaled around $40 million. Due to the severity of the destroyed gallery spaces and damaged artworks, that number is now closer to $500 million. The hard-hit area is slowly recovering but many galleries remain closed and under construction.

One of the main contributors to the growing price tag on Sandy-related art losses is Pop artist Peter Max (b. 1937) who lost an entire collection of works on paper that had been stored in a flooded warehouse. The claim for the lost Max works was set at $300 million.

After Hurricane Sandy battered the east coast, art institutions from the Lower East Side to upstate New York felt the effects. Art galleries including R 20^th Century in SoHo, Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side, the New Museum on the Bowery, Postmasters Gallery in Chelsea, and Storm King Art Center upstate in Mountainville were without electricity as of yesterday. Eyebeam and Zach Feuer in Chelsea suffered serious flooding. Water levels reached above five feet inside Feuer’s gallery, destroying the entire exhibition on view. Most of the gallery’s permanent inventory is kept on storage racks higher than five feet so Feuer has hope that those works will be salvageable.

Once dealers have fully assessed and dealt with the damages to their galleries and inventories, they will be faced with increased insurance premiums. While many galleries have liability and short-term travel insurance, they do not usually insure art.

In addition, some of the city’s most anticipated galas were cancelled due to the hurricane. The Studio Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the New York Public Radio all put their galas on hold because of Sandy. Hopefully the hit to New York’s gala season won’t affect the fundraising efforts tied to such events.