~Ir.t (lIommonfu.ta:1t1r Df ~ssa:.clrlts.ttts Massachusetts Art Commission State House Room 72 Boston, MA 02133 Tel. (617) 727 - 100~"ext. 51~ Fax (617) 727-7700 ~. Peter L Walsh Chairman Bonita A. Flood Arlene E. Friedberg ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ART COMMISSION Paula M. Korol YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1999 Katherine B. Winter The members of the Massachusetts Art Commission respectfully submit the Annual Report for the year ending June 30, 1999. The Commission is charged under General Laws chapter 6, sections 19 and 20 with the "care and custody of the State House art collection" and thus serves as the curator of the Commonwealth's 200 year-old collection of paintings, sculptures, wall murals and artifacts by some of America's most important artists. The Commission conducts its programs of conservation and preservation of the art collection under an annual appropriation, which it receives through the Bureau of State Office Buildings, as well as its program of public infonnation and assistance CONSERVATION Since its program began in 1985 the Art Commission has required that all conservators working with objects in the State House Art Collection adhere to the Cafe of Ethics and Standanis for Practice of the American Institute for Conservation. This 0xIe ofEthics requires, in part, that all conservation procedures be reversible, and fully documented by both photograph and written report. These practices help insure that future curators and conservators will know what the conditions were, why the objects were treated, and what measures (materials and procedures) were taken to correct these conditions. During FY'99 the Art Commission continued its program of conservation and preservation of the State House Art Collection with the following projects. Maintenance of exterior monuments Following initial conservation treatment in 1986-1987, the Art Commission has contracted with professional conservators to conduct routine inspection and maintenance of the bronze statues and plaques installed on the State House grounds. Frequent evaluation, touch-ups in the protective acrylic coating, and renewal of the sacrificial topcoat of wax is crucial to preventing the on-set of the corrosion process that originally disfigured the bronzes. This year, the Commission extended its first-ever, three-year contract to Daedalus art conservators, Cambridge, to provide maintenance of seven full size statues and eight plaques on an annual basis beginning in June 1999. More frequent care of the bronzes by the conservators will greatly contribute to their on-going preservation as well as their overall appearance. MR 702M3 M4 1 1999 c.2 State Library of Massachusetts State Hous , Boston .... Annual Report of the Massachusetts Art Commission FY'99 Page 2 .. ' House Chamber Murals With kind pennission and generous funding from the Honorable Thomas Finneran, Speaker of the House, the Art Commission was able to undertake the cleaning and conservation of the murals in the House Chamber. The project was implemented under the direction of the Art Commission September - October, 1998, after abbreviated time schedules forced postponement last year. The five panels in the series, entided "Milestones on the Road to Freedom," were painted by Albert Herter in 1942. All were painted in oils on canvas in the artist's studio in New York, and later adhered to the wall of the Chamber with a technique called "muro-flaging." Previous treatment in 1965 was undocumented, but it is presumed that the murals had been damaged, requiring repairs. Thirtyyears later, the murals had become dull and lifeless. Grime build-up had masked much of the subde palette and actually hidden from view some fine detail. Gianfranco Pocobene, of Malden, a professional painting conservator, was contracted to examine, document and clean the murals. Staging was erected in three levels above the Speaker's platform in order to provide access to all areas of the murals, while allowing informal sessions to take place from the rostrum two times per week. Initial test cleaning and varnish removal trials revealed some unsuspected conservation conditions, and resulted in a two-part program developed in consultation with the Art Commission. Part one addressed panels 2-5, all of which exhibited the same conditions: stable murals, with an extremely heavy grime layer over a very thin varnish layer. When the grime layer was removed, the varnish layer was found to be in surprisingly good condition in that it had not discolored or become britde over the years. A curatorial decision was made to leave this varnish layer on the canvases. Part two addressed the Governor Wmthrop mural, on the far left, which exhibited significandy different conditions from the other four. This panel had received visible damage from water leaks and plaster that had gone into solution and dripped down the canvas. This appears to have been repeat damage. After removal of the grime layer, testing revealed that nearly half of the mural had been over-painted, probably in an attempt to blend repairs. In removing the overpaint we discovered that the previously damaged areas were actually quite small, and that extraordinary liberties had been taken in retouching such large areas of the canvas. Further, this over-paint had been protected by a heavy layer of varnish which had been tinted to a muddy gray color, also to integrate the areas of retouching. Combined, the extensive retouching and tinted varnish actually altered the true appearance of the mural. This is an illustration of why professional oversight of the collection according to museum standards is crucial to its care and preservation. Conservators implemented a five-part process to repair and restore the Winthrop mural: all areas of flaking and damaged paint were consolidated; the grime layer was cleaned, much in the same way as in the other four panels; all earlier over-paint was removed the canvas was entirely re-vamished with a clear synthetic varnish; small areas of damage were inpainted Inpainting is always conducted over the isolating layer of varnish so that the conservator's work never touches or mixes with the artist's original work. Annual Report of the Massachusetts Art Commission FY'99 Page3 ~, The five week treatment revealed the not only the lighter palette selected by the artist, but the extraordinary amount of detail that was worked into each panel. Despite their installation far above the viewer, much of this detail can now be seen from the floor, and each scene is more fully integrated without being distracting. We thank the Speaker for the opportunity to conduct this long­ awaited work. Collections Storage The Art Commission shares archival storage facilities in the sub-sub-basement of the west wing with the State House flag project, and monitors conditions in and around the vault area. Flooding of the rear corridors and mechanical rooms continues to be of the utmost concern in its threat to vault contents, and frequent pooled water which raises humidity levels to unacceptable levels. The Commission continues to alert building personnel to the threat of flooding during heavy rains until its recommendation of mechanical water alarms is addressed. The Commission met regularly with building personnel and project designers contracted to make recommendations for the renovation of HVAC systems in the vaults, addressing acceptable storage conditions for the historic textiles. The Commission also requested replacement of six smoke/heat detectors in the vault in June. ACQUISITIONS The Art Commission is pleased to report one new addition to the State House Art Collection: the 8th Air Force Memorial plaque was unveiled on June 14, 1999 by Albert Audette, President of the Massachusetts Chapter of the 8th Air Force Historical Society. The memorial is installed in the east wing entrance to the State House, and has been catalogued by the Art Commission as object # 1999.1. Art Commission member Paula Kozal, and Art Collections Manager Susan Greendyke Lachevre continue to serve on the Steering Committee for the Women's Leadership Memorial which will honor six women for their contributions toward the betterment of public life in Massachusetts. The Art Commission attended a daylong meeting in September 1998 at which five art finalists made presentations to an award paneL Following these presentations, the Chair, Ms. Koza~ and Ms. Lachevre commented on curatorial and conservation aspects of each design. The commission was awarded by the Steering Committee to Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and Susan Sellers for their proposal entided "Hear Us." The multi-faceted, multi-media project features marble plaques inscribed with quotes and inset with bronze portrait heads of the six honorees. The plaques will be placed against wallpaper printed with copies of pioneering legislation enacted through the efforts of each woman. The Commission has worked with project administrators from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and the artists to address specific design and other curatorial concerns. Paula Kozal also serves on the sub-committee which meets frequendy with the artists to review the work in progress. The memorial is scheduled to be unveiled in October 1999. Annual Report of the Massachusetts Art Commission FY'99 Page 4 ornER PROGRAMS Outreach and Public Information The Art Commission office continues to serve as a resource for information and images of objects in the art and artifact collections. Its research flles, and photo archives, in particular, are continuously tapped for information and images for scholarly publications on art and history, school texts, exhibitions, documentaries, and personal research. In lieu of a user fee, the Commission requests courtesy copies of all publications which feature images from the art and artifact collections, and our growing library attests to the variety of ways in which the collection has served historical and scholarly interests. In addition, the Art Commission addresses all research inquiries and requests for images from the state's historic battle flag collection for educational and scholarly use.