What We Learned about the Hidden Lives of Artworks
As the exhibition Uncrated: The Hidden Lives of Artworks comes to a close today, itâs worth looking back at the work conducted by the team of registrars, conservators, preparators, and curators that made the exhibition possible. WhenUncrated was first proposed in fall 2014, it was viewed as an opportunity to assess and examine artworks long stored in gallery Eâa little-known space located deep in the Heinz Galleries that had been used as storage for nearly 15 years. But as the idea developed, it became apparent that this exhibition offered more than an opportunity to review an inventory of artworks: it could also afford visitors a unique yet fleeting window into the museumâs permanent collection. READ MORE Â
As highlighted throughout the course of Uncrated: The Hidden Lives of Artworks, conservation is a key element in keeping CMOAâs permanent collection in good repair. The Archer is no exception. Noble yet diminutive in form, this kneeling warrior has remained forever poised to fire his arrow at an unseen enemy. Unfortunately, such dedication to task has taken its toll, primarily on his muscles. By 2007, the Archerâs outstretched left arm had so greatly deteriorated that it separated from his body at the bicep. Luckily, CMOA conservators were able to administer aid, employing dowel rods, epoxy, and vinyl spackle to reattach the warriorâs much-needed limb. Pictured are conservation photographs of the Archer before, during, and after treatment to reattach the arm.
Carnegie Museum of Art purchased the Archer in a lot of five casts, which are all marble originals from the eastern pediment of the Temple of Athena in Aegina. This early collection record from the CMOA Archives documents the acquisitionâfrom the date and year down to the dollar amount paid.Â
Michael Belman, objects conservator at Carnegie Museum of Art, tells the story of how the Archer was rehabilitated for the 2007 exhibition On a Grand Scale:The Hall of Architecture at 100.
The Archer is part of a lot of five castsâincluding Fallen Warrior, Standing Spearman, Head of Athena, and Bended Warriorâpurchased in 1905 for $107.50. The sculptures are all casts of marble originals from the eastern pediment of the Temple of Athena in Aegina. The original, which dates from 480â450 BCE, is currently located at the Glyptothek in Munich. Pictured is a sketch from the CMOA Archives of the eastern pediment of the Temple of Athena, showing the five figures purchased as casts by the museum in 1905.
Plaster Cast of Archer, from the Eastern Pediment of the Temple of Athena in Aegina, Greece
The plaster cast of the Archer reflects CMOAâs unique collection, and offers a snapshot from a fleeting moment in the history of American museums.
In the mid- to late-1800s, when many American museums first opened their doors, institutions routinely purchased plaster casts of famous sculptures and architectural monuments as a way to tell the history of art. CMOAâs Halls of Architecture and Sculpture opened in 1907, offering Pittsburghers an opportunity to experience some of the worldâs great buildings and artworks at a time when most people did not travel abroad.
Over time, however, casts fell out of favor. By the 1930s, most museums started dispersing or destroying their cast collections. Leon Arkus, director of CMOA from 1968 to 1980, was instrumental in keeping the collection intact at a time when some believed the Hall of Architecture should be converted to galleries. Today, the Hall of Architecture is the only remaining cast collection in North America, and the third largest in the world.
The Archer is part of a lot of five castsâincluding Fallen Warrior, Standing Spearman, Head of Athena, and Bended Warriorâpurchased in 1905 for $107.50. The sculptures are all casts of marble originals from the eastern pediment of the Temple of Athena in Aegina. The original, which dates from 480â450 BCE, is currently located at the Glyptothek in Munich.
Noble yet diminutive in form, this kneeling warrior has remained forever poised to fire his arrow at an unseen enemy. Unfortunately, such dedication to task has taken its toll, primarily on his muscles. By 2007, the Archerâs outstretched left arm had so greatly deteriorated that it separated from his body at the bicep. Luckily, CMOA conservators were able to administer aid, employing dowel rods, epoxy, and vinyl spackle to reattach the warriorâs much-needed limb.
In September of 2007, the Archer made his post-rehab debut in the exhibition On a Grand Scale:The Hall of Architecture at 100, which celebrated the history of this storied space in the museum.
Uncrated: The Hidden Lives of Artworks is on view in the Scaife Lounge at Carnegie Museum of Art from March 9, 2015âMay 8, 2015. Learn the stories behind some intriguing works from CMOA's collection and find out more about the people who buy, move, hang, clean, and care for them. Over the course of nine weeks, a team of registrars, conservators, preparators, and curators will be sharing their work with the public as they examine objects recently taken out of storage. Come back throughout the show and visit uncrated.cmoa.org to see what new discoveries the team is making.
Ann Hamiltonâs objects trigger many questions. What is the conceptual as well as practical relationship between an ephemeral event and the remaining artifacts? How can these objects be explained in a museum gallery? This week, as we examine Hamiltonâs (offerings) as part of Uncrated: The Hidden Lives of Artworks, the CMOA Archives offer insight about such questions.
The decision about what to keep as art object was a result of conversations among the artist, the curators of the 1991 International (Lynne Cooke and Mark Francis), the artistâs gallery, and the museumâs conservators (see below). In an early proposal, the assertion was that the molds used to cast the wax heads comprise the work of art; the heads would need to be refabricated every time the object was shown, and the process of heating and melting would need to be replicated in the gallery space. In the end, though, practical considerations prevailed, and the artwork was defined as the two furniture elements the museum eventually acquired.
Uncrated: The Hidden Lives of Artworks is on view in the Scaife Lounge at Carnegie Museum of Art from March 9, 2015âMay 8, 2015. Learn the stories behind some intriguing works from CMOA's collection and find out more about the people who buy, move, hang, clean, and care for them. Over the course of nine weeks, a team of registrars, conservators, preparators, and curators will be sharing their work with the public as they examine objects recently taken out of storage. Come back throughout the show and visit uncrated.cmoa.org to see what new discoveries the team is making.
Kurt Christian, chief preparator at Carnegie Museum of Art, discusses Ann Hamiltonâs (offerings), 1991. The artwork, commissioned for the 1991 Carnegie International, was originally installed in an empty house adjacent to the Mattress Factory. Today, however, there are concerns regarding the structural integrity of the pieceâand the best plan for its long-term care. Â Â Â
The works by Ann Hamilton in the CMOA collection are artifacts from
an event that occurred almost 25 years ago and that exists only in a few
images and in the still-wondrous accounts of those who saw it.
The two strange pieces of furniture owned by CMOA are potent remnants of Hamiltonâs 1991 installation (offerings), commissioned for the 1991 Carnegie International and located in an empty house adjacent to the Mattress Factory, a contemporary art space and museum on Pittsburghâs North Side.Â
The immersive installation filled three floors:
Image 1: Upon entering the first floor, visitors were greeted by the distant sound of chirping canaries. Mounds of melted wax covered a concentrated area in the middle of the floor. Wax oozed through cracks from the ceiling above.
Image 2: Ascending to the second floor, visitors encountered a table (now in CMOAâs collection) with a minerâs log, open, and covered in the same wax, again dripping from the ceiling above.
Image 3: On the third floor, 30 canaries fluttered about, their wings leaving markings on soot-covered windows. A glass vitrine (the second element owned by the museum) was filled with cast wax heads, melted by a heating element in the case, oozing out of the bottom, down to the floor, through the cracks to the stories below.
Hamiltonâs objects trigger many questions. What is the conceptual as well as practical relationship between an ephemeral event and the remaining artifacts? How can these objects be explained in a museum gallery?
The decision about what to keep as art object was a result of conversations among the artist, the curators of the 1991 International (Lynne Cooke and Mark Francis), the artistâs gallery, and the museumâs conservators. In an early proposal, the assertion was that the molds used to cast the wax heads comprise the work of art; the heads would need to be refabricated every
time the object was shown, and the process of heating and melting would need to be replicated in the gallery space. In the end, though, practical considerations prevailed, and the artwork was defined as the two furniture elements the museum eventually acquired.
Uncrated: The Hidden Lives of Artworks is on view in the Scaife Lounge at Carnegie Museum of Art from March 9, 2015âMay 8, 2015. Learn the stories behind some intriguing works from CMOA's collection and find out more about the people who buy, move, hang, clean, and care for them. Over the course of nine weeks, a team of registrars, conservators, preparators, and curators will be sharing their work with the public as they examine objects recently taken out of storage. Come back throughout the show and visit uncrated.cmoa.org to see what new discoveries the team is making.
Kurt Christian, chief preparator at Carnegie Museum of Art, discusses the transformation of Heinz E since Uncrated: The Hidden Lives of Artworks. opened back in March.
Kurt Christian, chief preparator at Carnegie Museum of Art, discusses the care and handling of Thaddeus Mosleyâs Georgia Gate (1975). The spare but expressive structure, composed of finely carved wood on three marble bases, has been on view numerous times over the years. Its delicate wooden armsâcarved, like so many of Mosleyâs sculptures, from reclaimed wood from the cityâs public works departmentâhave made the work particularly vulnerable. As part of Uncrated: The Hidden Lives of Artworks, CMOAâs art handlers and conservators will revisit their plan for the long-term care of the sculpture.
An innovative artist who emerged during Pittsburghâs vibrant sculpture
scene of the 1960s, Thaddeus Mosley has a distinguished place in
CMOAâs collection and exhibition history.
In 1983, John Caldwell, adjunct curator of contemporary art at CMOA, contacted Mosley to express interest in his recent sculpture work. In a handwritten note, Mosley told Caldwell about a current exhibition, adding: âMuseum owns one piece of mine, which I think is in storage, called Georgia Gate. Have some larger pieces at home, which you can see anytime. I work as a postal clerk nights.â
The work that Mosley refers to, Georgia Gate, was acquired in 1976 following the artistâs participation in the 66th Annual Exhibition of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. The spare but expressive structure, composed of finely carved wood on three marble bases, has been on view numerous times over the years. Its delicate wooden armsâcarved, like so many of Mosleyâs sculptures, from reclaimed wood from the cityâs public works departmentâhave made the work particularly vulnerable. For example, in July 1979, the sculpture was taken off view after a small child stepped onto the platform that held it and damaged the work. Eight years later, in March 1987, Georgia Gate was taken off view again after excessively dry environmental conditions caused some cracking in the wood.
In 1997, Recent Sculpture by Thaddeus Mosley debuted in the museumâs Forum Galleryâan exhibition that featured such powerful works as Cove for Chillida (1994) and Sourceâof All Gods and Superman (1994). With mallet and chisel, Mosley wrestled with sentiments of life and mortality through his sculpture, themes that have permeated his art practice for more than six decades.Â
Georgia Gate is in good condition todayâit was last on view in 2007 for the exhibition Popular Salon of the People: Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Annuals at Carnegie Museum of Art, a retrospective of the AAP shows from 1910 to 2006. But as part of the storage project for Heinz E, the museumâs chief preparator wants to create a dedicated crate for the work. Mosleyâs sculpture will be outfitted with whatâs referred to as a skeleton or slat crate, constructed to both frame and brace delicate objects.
Uncrated: The Hidden Lives of Artworks is on view in the Scaife Lounge at Carnegie Museum of Art from March 9, 2015âMay 8, 2015. Learn the stories behind some intriguing works from CMOA's collection and find out more about the people who buy, move, hang, clean, and care for them. Over the course of nine weeks, a team of registrars, conservators, preparators, and curators will be sharing their work with the public as they examine objects recently taken out of storage. Come back throughout the show and visit uncrated.cmoa.org to see what new discoveries the team is making.
Elizabeth Tufts Brown, associate registrar at Carnegie Museum of Art, discusses the extensive number of CoBrA artworks in the museumâs permanent collection. Leon Arkus, director of CMOA from 1968â1980, was a major advocate for this cadre of artists from Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam. In âArt of the People: Pierre Alechinsky and the CoBrA Movement,â Nicole F. Scalissi writes that âCoBrA was an intense, if brief, coalition of radical artists and poets who were interested in recharging art with the sensual experience of the world.â You can read her full article on the CMOA Blog.
Art of the People: Pierre Alechinsky and the CoBrA MovementÂ
With its high-key, high-contrast palette and jagged lines, Pierre Alechinskyâs Savage State (1968) carries on the look, feeling, and approach of CoBrA, a vibrant Paris-based artist collective that came together in the years following the World War II. Taking their name from the first letters of the three northern European cities the artists hailed fromâCOpenhagen, BRussels, AmsterdamâCoBrA was an intense, if brief, coalition of radical artists and poets who were interested in recharging art with the sensual experience of the world. Their paintings and drawings share some aesthetic qualities like brilliantly saturated colors and playfully distorted human forms, but what really linked these artists was their intentionâcreate a new art for a new postwar society. Against the intellectualism and cool aesthetic of Surrealism, CoBrA attempted to initiate a new âart of the peopleâ out of artistic experimentation, emotional expression, and spontaneity.
Amanda Donnan, assistant curator of contemporary art at Carnegie Museum of Art, discusses this weekâs featured artwork: Pierre Alechinsky's Savage State, 1968. Alechinskyâs work is emblematic of a time certain period in the museumâs history, especially as it pertains to the evolution of the Carnegie International through the years.
As part of Uncrated: The Hidden Lives of Artworks, Carnegie Museum of Art offers visitors a space to post questions about the permanent collection as well as the day-to-day work that goes on at an art museum. That being said, we wanted to share a selection of questions asked by the public, with answers from a variety of CMOA staffers.
