NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL SUPPORTS CONSTRUCTION OF NEW ON-SITE CONSERVATION LAB

In July 2009, the New York City Council awarded the Guggenheim a $1 million grant to execute Phase III of the museum’s overall efforts to restore its Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building, a city, state, and national landmark. This third phase of restoration work at the museum will address much needed interior renovations—specifically, the construction of an on-site conservation lab and lighting system improvements. The on-site conservation lab will enable conservators to (1) more effectively maintain works of art on view for the public; (2) treat any damaged works of art in need of immediate care; and (3) enrich conservation-related education programming for the general public and students. Lighting improvements will include upgrades to systems that are obsolete, enhancing the quality, flexibility, and environmental standards of the presentation of art in the galleries and public programs in the Peter B. Lewis Theater. The Guggenheim is extraordinarily grateful to New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Council Members Daniel Garodnick and Domenic Recchia for their advocacy on behalf of this project, and to the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs for all of its support. The museum also appreciates the commitment of New York State Assembly Member Jonathan Bing, who has appropriated $125,000 toward the on-site conservation lab.

ANDREW W. MELON FOUNDATION AWARDS GRANT IN SUPPORT OF RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION OF THE PANZA COLLECTION

In April 2010, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded the Guggenheim Museum a generous $1.23 million grant to undertake the Panza Collection Conservation Initiative. This multi-year project is designed to ensure that Minimalist, Post-Minimalist, and Conceptual works from the 1960s and 1970s are carefully researched, preserved, and presented to the public in a manner sensitive to historical context and material integrity. The grant from the Mellon Foundation supports the first phase of the Panza Collection Conservation Initiative, a three-year comprehensive evaluation of 94 works by Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Bruce Nauman, and Lawrence Weiner, which are part of the Guggenheim’s renowned Panza Collection of Mimimalist, Post-Minimalist, Conceptual, and Environmental art from the 1960s and 1970s. The Panza Collection Conservation Initiative was conceived by Carol Stringari, Guggenheim Deputy Director and Chief Conservator, and Nancy Spector, Guggenheim Deputy Director and Chief Curator. Ms. Stringari and Ms. Spector will work in close with collaboration with Jeffrey Weiss, the Guggenheim’s newly appointed Curator, Panza Collection, and Ted Mann, Associate Curator, Panza Collection, to lead an interdisciplinary team of curators, conservators, and scientists who will contribute to the project. Ultimately, the Guggenheim will address all 357 works in the Panza Collection, establishing strategies for effectively preserving and exhibiting variable, ephemeral, and refabricatable artworks, and setting precedents to guide the treatment of such works in public collections across the United States and around the globe.

ADDITIONAL CONSERVATION WORK IN NEED OF FUNDING

Panza Collection Conservation Initiative
With a major commitment from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in place toward the first phase of the Panza Collection Conservation Initiative, additional support is needed to help match the Mellon Foundation’s contribution and allow the Guggenheim to undertake and complete subsequent phases of the project.. As the repository of one of the most significant collections of Minimalist and Post-Minimalist art in the United States, the Guggenheim is uniquely positioned to investigate how to address the long-term preservation and display of works emerging from these genres and that of Conceptual art. The Panza Collection Conservation Initiative will utilize the Guggenheim’s holdings to develop solutions for the conservation of these seminal pieces of American culture. The project will be organized around a series of case studies of major 20th-century American artists—beginning with Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Bruce Nauman, and Lawrence Weiner—who are represented in-depth in the Panza Collection.

Kandinsky Project
The Kandinsky Project is a five-year investigation into the materials and the techniques Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944) used to create his groundbreaking paintings. The goals of this project are to gain deeper insight into Kandinsky’s means of artistic expression and to develop more informed treatment guidelines for the conservation and restoration of the artist’s work. Kandinsky is the Guggenheim’s signature artist, and the museum has one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of his work, including 67 easel paintings as well as watercolors, drawings, and prints. Thanks to support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, a pilot study of six paintings was completed, and the results of that study are published in the exhibition catalogue accompanying Kandinsky, which was on view at the Guggenheim from September 18, 2009 through January 13, 2010. The Kandinsky Project will examine 30 paintings and employ a variety of technical and scientific methods, such as infra-red photography and x-radiography, to examine the paintings’ structures and investigate the pigments Kandinsky used to create his colorful compositions.

Julie Barten, left, and Gillian McMillan at work in the Guggenheim's conservation lab. Photo: David Heald © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York