Student Blog: Chrysler Museum of Art

​This summer I have had the incredible opportunity to be a pre-program intern at the Chrysler Museum of Art. As a junior in the University of Delaware’s undergraduate art conservation program, I am constantly looking to visit new museums and meet the conservators who care for the artworks. I could not have found a better opportunity than learning from WUDPAC graduates, Mark Lewis (WUDPAC 1996) and Jennifer Myers (2020). Under their supervision, I have had the opportunity to develop my observational and documentation skills, learn new treatment methods and approaches, and deepen my understanding of materials used in works of art and their conservation. ​

One of the main projects I have worked on this summer is the treatment of this portrait from Walter P. Chrysler’s original collection donated to the museum. Chrysler bought this painting in 1960 from Harry B. Yotnakparian, an art dealer from New York, and included it in his traveling exhibition “The Controversial Century: 1850-1950.” In this exhibition, the painting was attributed to James Abbott McNeil Whistler as a portrait of Mary Cassatt. While this painting turned out not to be by Whistler, it appears to be a self-portrait of a woman painter and highlights an interesting part of the Chrysler Museum of Art’s history.​

The portrait has multiple tears and holes that were stabilized in a previous restoration by lining the original canvas to a secondary canvas support. This treatment did not address losses in the painting where the original canvas and paint layer are missing. I was tasked with filling these losses and matching the texture of the original oil paint with reversible fill materials to suppress the evidence of the damages​.

The first material I used was Modostuc. Because this fill material is soluble in water, I was able to thin the thick, white paste to create a material that I could use to recreate the canvas weave and individual brushstrokes. I also used small, metal tools to sculpt the dried Modostuc to add further texture. ​​

The next material I used was Gamblin Pigmented Wax/Resin Sticks. They differ from the Modostuc because the wax/resin materials can be reheated and shaped to add texture. The first step for this fill was to apply the wax/resin with a heated needle-like tool. Because the area I was filling with the wax/resin was so large, I wanted to make sure the texture of the fill would match the texture of the painting as much as possible. To do this I created a silicone mold of the paint surface and used a tacking iron to locally apply heat through the silicone mold onto the wax/resin fill. This left me with a more convincing fill as it had the same texture of the canvas weave that was visible in the surrounding areas of original paint. ​

The next major project I worked on was the treatment of Thomas Cole's painting, The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds. This painting spent many years of its life rolled up in storage. While in storage, it suffered extensive damage to the canvas. As a result, it had significant paint losses running in vertical lines throughout the entire painting. In the late 1970s, before it was purchased by Chrysler, it was lined, retouched, and varnished. Over time, the synthetic varnish and retouching paints have greatly discolored. It was decided by the museum curator and conservators that this painting needed some attention, but because it is so large, any treatment must be carried out in the gallery while the museum is open to visitors. ​​​​

This summer I have helped with toning some of the paint losses with gouache in areas where the discolored varnish has been removed. This not only will speed up the retouching process later, but since this painting is so damaged, it helps to show visitors where the treatment is headed and that the paint losses will not be visible forever.​

As I have progressed through this internship, I have had the chance to learn more about what it is like to work as a conservator in a museum. It has been enriching to learn not only about the treatment aspect of conservation but also about proper documentation, communicating with other departments within the museum, working on a deadline, and teaching others about conservation while working in the gallery. ​

— Abby Peterman, University of Delaware Art Conservation Honors College Class of 2024​​​​