Date/Time
Date(s) - 11/07/2001
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Location
Art Workers Guild
Categories
Mark Rothko’s Seagram Murals are rarely off display. Painted in 1959-60 for the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York, a key commission that was never fully realised, nine of them entered the Tate’s collection in 1970 and were installed in a room of their own according to the artist’s wishes. By 1997 they were looking tired and dusty. The impetus of the opening of Tate Modern provided a great opportunity to examine these nine paintings in the studio, to document and investigate features, and to ascertain whether they could be cleaned. Although the treatment is straightforward, the route taken to establish the parameters for conservation proved to be a rich resource that has informed future care, presentation and interpretation of the paintings.
Mary Bustin, Tate Gallery
Full meeting notes are published in The Picture Restorer, Issue 20, Autumn 2001, p.19