It is with great sorrow that
we report that Bruno Pouliot—Winterthur Senior Conservator of Objects and
WUDPAC Affiliated Assitant Professor—passed away on May 23, 2018. A celebration
of Bruno's life was held on June 4th in the Sundial Garden at Winterthur. In lieu of flowers,
the Pouliot family suggests contributions in Bruno’s memory be made to
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library with “Bruno Pouliot Memorial” in the
memo line and mailed to Winterthur Museum, c/o Development, 5105 Kennett Pike,
Winterthur, DE 19735. The funds will be used toward the purchase of a tree to
be planted in the Garden and the Louise and David Roselle Exhibitions
Endowment.
Bruno joined in 1997 the
staff of Winterthur Museum and also became faculty in the Winterthur/University
of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. At the time of his passing, he served
as Senior Objects Conservator and Head of the objects laboratory for the
museum, and as Affiliated Assistant Professor for the conservation program.
Following the completion of his
Master’s Degree in Art Conservation at Queen’s University in the 1980’s, Bruno developed
a wide expertise in the conservation of objects, particularly those in a
decorative art and ethnographic setting. His early career included internships
at several museums in the Canadian West, California, and France, as well as
teaching in West Africa an ICCROM course on the conservation of wooden objects.
From 1986 to 1997, he occupied two different positions as the single objects
conservator at two well-known Canadian museums: the Prince of Wales Northern
Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, and the McCord Museum in Montreal. In both of
these roles, Bruno played an important role establishing conservation and
collections care procedures, while helping prepare objects for a variety of
exhibits. He shared his work at different conferences and publications,
and in 1996 he coordinated a workshop of the Canadian Association for
Conservation on the theme of integrated pest management.
Bruno worked at Winterthur
for nearly 20 years, overseeing the objects conservation laboratory and contributing
to the care and treatment of objects at Winterthur, focusing especially on
organic materials, metals, and stain reduction on ceramics. He expanded the
curriculum for the first-year students on organic materials, with emphasis beyond
the decorative arts and ethnography, to modern materials and those related to
natural sciences. He served as major supervisor for the objects majors during
their second year of study, and contributed to the extensive seminar series
that allowed students to delve deeper in many aspects of objects conservation. He
served as French Editor for the abstracts of the Journal of the American
Institute for Conservation, and as Editor for the Art and Archaeology Technical
Abstracts Online. His particular research interests allowed him to present many
lectures and posters nationally and internationally, as well as publish
articles on a variety of topics, including the lacquering of silver, the
conservation of basketry, hornware, shell, leather, and tinplate, plus the
specific process of stain reduction on ceramics. In 2010 he was the recipient
of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) Sheldon & Caroline Keck
Award for excellence in the education and training of conservation
professionals and in 2018 Bruno received the AIC’s Robert L.
Feller Lifetime Achievement Award, given for exceptional contributions to the
conservation profession over the course of one’s career. He will be dearly
missed.
