The Conserving Canvas Initiative
Conserving Canvas is an international grant initiative funded by The Getty Foundation focused on the conservation of paintings on canvas. This initiative began in 2018 for the purpose of ensuring that paintings conservators who work on artworks of historical and cultural value are properly trained in both traditional and contemporary methods of structural conservation treatments, so that these specialized techniques refined by generations of practitioners are not lost to time. Since the 1980s, in a response to some previously poor treatment outcomes, museum conservators have been pressured to adopt the conservation philosophy of “minimal intervention”. Most museums have climate controls and lighting conditions that preserve paintings by naturally slowing oxidation and hydrolysis degradation mechanisms related to fluctuating temperatures, humidity, and light exposure. While minimal intervention is now a pillar of contemporary conservation practice, this ubiquitous approach has resulted in a loss of necessary skills among conservators to treat major structural condition issues in those paintings that have not been preserved using environmental controls. Paintings are made of mostly organic materials, and these materials naturally degrade over time - the fact that we still have paintings today from centuries ago is due to the skillful interventions of art conservators and restorers over those many hundreds of years. The Conserving Canvas Initiative is addressing this knowledge gap, ensuring that a new generation of art conservators will be able to skillfully execute major structural treatments, and continue to extend the life of priceless artworks for future generations to enjoy.
I am excited to have been selected as a participant in the Conserving Canvas Initiative. After attending the Conserving Canvas Symposium at the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Yale University in 2019, I was then selected to receive training on historical lining techniques at C2RMF: Centre de Recherches et de Restauration des Musées de France, in October of 2023. These historical techniques were invented in Europe and have been used for centuries in the stabilization of deteriorating paintings, however these techniques have not been a part of North American conservation training programs for many decades. Expanding one’s knowledge and skill base in traditional techniques and materials is a way of honouring the past and making better informed choices about treatment directions on each unique artwork that comes under our care.
For more information about Conserving Canvas, please visit The Getty Foundation’s website.
