Behind the Scenes: Conservation and Collections

Visitors to our auditorium may have wondered what that whirring kinetic sculpture is doing on the roof. It’s actually a weather station that measures wind and weather conditions 24 hours a day. Inside the museum we have 23 small devices scattered in storage and exhibition spaces that also measure temperature and humidity. We take the data from these devices, transfer the information to a computer program and print graphs of the fluctuating numbers both inside and outside the museum. This environmental monitoring project, funded by the Getty Grant Program, has allowed us to evaluate existing environmental conditions and, whenever possible, modify them according to the specific needs of particular types of artwork in the galleries.

For instance, the new storage area for our paintings and works on paper is a small, contained space that is designed to keep the temperature at 70 degrees and the relative humidity (RH) at around 50%. These are the average optimum conditions for keeping most artwork in stable condition. As we reduce the temperature setting for the air conditioner, we will simultaneously reduce the RH. Visitors to our Japanese sword exhibition last year had every right to complain that the galleries were freezing. We had turned the air conditioning down to 65 degrees to ensure that the swords remained at the appropriate level of humidity.

Relative humidity is a measure of the amount of water in the air compared with the amount of water the air can hold at the temperature it happens to be when you measure it. The warmer air is, the more water vapor it can “hold.”

What happens inside the museum when the weather changes drastically outside? The graph above shows you a three day period in January 2006 when we experienced a very dry period with RH at 20% followed by an overnight increase to 80% as the temperature rose to almost 80 degrees. Although the temperature remained relatively stable in the low 60’s in the below-ground museum storage, the RH shot up to almost 60 percent. We realized that during the winter, we will need to run an auxiliary dehumidifier in order to keep the RH at acceptable levels.

The building renovations and reinstallation of various collections scheduled to take place over the coming year will not only spruce up the physical appearance of the museum, it will also have long-range conservation results for both our historic building and the art collections.

(1) Cara Varnell and Bridget Bray sponging and sloshing (2) Jeff Taylor taking a sample before emptying the rinse water (3) Eight rinses and 54 gallons of distilled water removed the stains in the textile. Photos by Chris Engle.

Earlier this year, visitors could observe collections staff in the museum courtyard emptying many gallons of distilled water into a large basin with a beautiful Japanese textile floating on the surface. By sponging, submerging and repeated rinsing, they were attempting to alleviate stains resulting from old water damage. They were directed and supervised by Cara Varnell, the museum’s consulting textile conservator. Cara and the
staff were fighting water with water (however, please don’t try this at home).

The museum is fortunate to have a list of qualified conservation specialists to call on for special advice and help when problems arise. They are also available to give workshops to staff on special procedures for handling and storage of specific types of artwork. The museum has a modest annual budget for conservation that is often augmented by generous private donations as well as by grants for specific projects.

Left: before restoration. Right: after restoration. Okimono, Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912), ivory, Gift of Jacques R. Simon, 2004.10.1

We are proceeding with ongoing conservation of Japanese paintings and works on paper from the Harari Collection, based on recommendations from Sandra Castile, a respected conservator from New York’s Metropolitan Museum. For the recent exhibition “Reflections of Beauty,” we were able to have two paintings cleaned and remounted, and an elegant carved ivory sculpture restored in time for the exhibition. When the new Gallery of Japanese Art is opened, we anticipate that work will be done on additional paintings and other artworks so that they may be rotated on a regular basis.

Marcia Page,
Deputy Director for Collections

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