Student Blog: Museum of Modern Art

​After a summer interning at the Balboa Art Conservation Center in San Diego, CA, I traveled back to the East Coast to spend my third and final year at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) interning for the David Booth Conservation Department at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, NY. My internship, supervised by paintings conservators Anny Aviram and Michael Duffy (WUDPAC Class of 1988), has been full of preparing artworks for exhibition and loans, gallery maintenance, exciting treatments, and preparing for an upcoming workshop geared toward The City University of New York (CUNY) college students, titled, “What is Art Conservation?"

​In addition to working with an incredible team of conservators, one of the main things that drew me to MoMA was the collection of artworks that the museum has. For example, one of my main treatments this year has included the technical study and treatment of a large painting, “Oyoyo" (1965), by the mid-century Nigerian artist Uche Okeke. The artwork is an oil (est.) painting on board that refers to the metaphysical theme of Oyoyo, or children who die prematurely and live transitionally between the world of the living and the unborn.​

The painting shows various condition issues, including loss of paint and surface grime. I was able to work with MoMA Scientist Dr. Catherine Stephens and Winterthur Museum Scientist Catherine Matsen to analyze the materials the artist used in the painting. The acquired information also allowed me to tailor my treatment approaches to best clean the painted surface. I have been able to use many techniques I've learned from my current supervisors and in my second year at WUDPAC, particularly from an independent study course taught by Winterthur Paintings Conservator Matthew Cushman, titled “Cleaning Painted Surfaces."

This internship has allowed me to continue analyzing materials used by modern and contemporary artists and allowed me to explore unique and thoughtful treatment approaches for sensitive painted surfaces. I'm excited to continue this type of work next year at MoMA as The David Booth Fellow in Paintings Conservation following my graduate internship!​

— Magdalena Solano, WUDPAC Class of 2022

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