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Thaw Conservation Center's blog
Taming the Wild Things: Storage Considerations for the Bequest of Maurice Sendak
Submitted by Thaw Conservati... on Thu, 09/24/2020 - 2:30pmOver 900 objects relating to Maurice Sendak’s (1928–2012) stage designs for The Magic Flute, The Cunning Little Vixen, Love for Three Oranges, The Nutcracker, and an opera based on Where the Wild Things Are arrived at the Morgan in 2013 as part of the artist’s extraordinary bequest. For many of us, the magic of Sendak’s books, in particular Where the Wild Things Are, live vividly in the memories of our childhood. It is thus both a delight and an honor to create a safe home for these wonderful objects.
Color and Curious Creatures: Fifteenth-Century Block Books at the Morgan, Part II
Submitted by Thaw Conservati... on Fri, 08/21/2020 - 11:52pmAn earlier post discussed some of the traditional colors that appear in the Morgan’s block books. In most cases, the hand-applied colors are typical of the dyes and pigments seen in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. However, a few unexpected pigments were discovered during the study of these fifteenth-century books, enabling a better understanding of how some of them were changed over the centuries.
Color and Curious Creatures: Fifteenth-Century Block Books at the Morgan
Submitted by Thaw Conservati... on Wed, 07/08/2020 - 7:00pmHol(e)y Moly!: Historical Damage and Repairs in Medieval Manuscripts
Submitted by Thaw Conservati... on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 6:00pmWhen looking at a medieval manuscript, it is often the illuminations that catch the eye—colorful figures rendered in miniature, gleaming gold backgrounds, ornate initials that twirl and bloom across the margins. But beyond the illuminations, and even beyond the text, the substrate itself merits closer inspection.
Materials and Decorative Techniques of the Read Album Leaves
Submitted by Thaw Conservati... on Fri, 05/15/2020 - 12:00amThe Morgan Library & Museum holds a collection of fifty-seven Persian and Indian album leaves acquired by J. Pierpont Morgan from Charles Hercules Read in 1911. These leaves are collectively known as the Read Albums and are broadly divided into two groups, Persian (MS M.386.1–.21) and Indian (MS M.458.1–.36).
Looking at Works of Art on Paper: An Overview of Examination and Imaging Techniques
Submitted by Thaw Conservati... on Fri, 05/01/2020 - 12:00amConservators in the Thaw Conservation Center (TCC) often spend time just looking at objects in the Morgan’s collection with the goal of understanding the physical structure of the object, the materials that make up the object, the support the object is made on, the techniques used to make the object, the object’s current condition, and even how the object may have looked at the time of its creation.
Preserving and Revealing the Museum’s Treasures
Submitted by Thaw Conservati... on Mon, 11/13/2017 - 11:19amThe Thaw Conservation Center at the Morgan is a world-class laboratory for the conservation of works on paper and parchment—drawings, prints, photographs, illuminated manuscripts, rare books, fine bindings, and literary, historical, and music manuscripts—as well as a place for conservation studies.
Conservation treatment of Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Our Savior on The Cross (Cary 508)
Submitted by Thaw Conservati... on Mon, 07/17/2017 - 12:16pmIn 1786, the Clergy of the Cadiz cathedral in Spain commissioned Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) to compose The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross. In 1791, a copyist’s manuscript of the full orchestral score, with annotations by Haydn himself was prepared for a series of concerts to be held in London.
Conference Presentations
Submitted by Thaw Conservati... on Tue, 06/14/2016 - 9:28pmConservators working in the Thaw Conservation Center at the Morgan Library & Museum undertake technical research projects relating to the objects they are treating for the Morgan's robust exhibition and loan program, for digitization, and for scholarly access in the Reading Room.
Thaw Conservation Center
The Thaw Conservation Center at The Morgan Library & Museum, a world-class laboratory for the conservation of works on paper and parchment—drawings, prints, photographs, illuminated manuscripts, rare books, fine bindings, and literary, historical, and music manuscripts—as well as a place for conservation studies, opened in February 2002.
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