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NEDCC Trains Photograph Conservators
in Central and Eastern Europe
Preserving the Region’s
Cultural Heritage Collections
One Photograph at a Time
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2007 Bratislava workshop participants take part in a session on identification of photographic processes led by Nora Kennedy, Sherman Fairchild Conservator of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). |
Photograph: Monique Fischer |
ABOUT the PROGRAM
In 2003, when the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) began the initiative to train Central and Eastern European conservators in photograph preservation, there wasn’t a single professional in the region who had been trained in this specialized field. At the same time, important collections of photographs were coming to light, many of which had been hidden away for safety during the years of Communist rule.
NEDCC worked in partnership with the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (AFAD) in Bratislava, Slovakia; the Conservation Center at New York University; and the Getty Conservation Institute to offer a training program in photograph conservation for professors, conservators, and students in the region. An overall aim of the program has been to raise awareness among institutions about the preservation needs of these valuable cultural heritage collections. The program was made possible by generous support from the Trust for Mutual Understanding, The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Tianaderrah Foundation, and the Getty Foundation.
Each year for the past five years, a week-long photograph conservation workshop was held at the AFAD in Bratislava for conservators, professors, and students from the surrounding countries. The workshop provided an overview of the history of photographic processes, as well as sessions on photograph identification, preservation, and conservation. Four of the Bratislava workshop participants were chosen each year to travel to NEDCC in Andover, Mass., for a month-long intensive Photograph Conservation Institute, where they received in-depth training.
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Map of Central and Eastern Europe (www.rec.org) |
2008 PHOTOGRAPH CONSERVATION WORKSHOP IN SLOVAKIA
The International Photograph Conservation Workshop was presented at the AFAD on September 22–29, 2008, for an audience of twenty conservation professionals and students from Estonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia, Poland, Georgia, and the Czech Republic. NEDCC Senior Photograph Conservator Monique Fischer led the workshop, and Ralph Wiegandt, Assistant Director of Conservation Education at the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, was guest lecturer. Host Boris Kvasnika organized a round table discussion on the scientific analytical techniques used for conservation, and the panel included lecturers Tatiana Eichler, Igor Fogas, Marta Botikova, and AFAD faculty member, Jana Krizanova.
The focus of the 2008 workshop was the conservation of cased images, including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes. Workshop participants had high praise for the program and commented that they have come to depend on NEDCC as an important source of specialized training programs. Many of the students have attended all four workshops in Bratislava, benefiting not only from the continuity of the training sessions but also from the strong network the participants have built in the region.
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Faculty member Ralph Wiegandt shows different types of daguerreotype housings at the 2008 Bratislava workshop. |
Photograph: Monique Fischer
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| Milica Djordjevic from Serbia practices making custom tapes for sealing daguerreotype packages during the 2008 workshop in Slovakia. |
Photograph: Monique Fischer |
2008 PHOTOGRAPH CONSERVATION INSTITUTE AT NEDCC
The fifth annual Photograph Conservation Institute was held at NEDCC in Andover from October 14 to November 4, 2008. The participants were: Stefan Belishki, Associate Professor of Conservation, National Academy of Art, Sofia, Bulgaria; Jakub Gulyás, student in the Department of Paper Conservation, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava, Slovakia; Vilja Sillamaa, Conservator of Paper and Photographs, Conservation Centre Kanut, Tallinn, Estonia; Monika Korsak, student in the Department of Paper Conservation, Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, Poland.
The principal faculty members for the training institute were Gary Albright, a photograph conservator in private practice, and NEDCC Senior Photograph Conservator Monique Fischer. The students reviewed the history of photography and studied the deterioration of different types of photographs. They also focused on identification of different photographic processes, a crucial skill in photograph conservation. The all-day sessions provided ample opportunity for hands-on practice of treatment techniques under the close supervision of faculty members.
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| Faculty member Gary Albright demonstrates surface cleaning for student Jakub Gulyas. | Faculty member Monique Fischer reviews a treatment with student Vilja Sillamaa. |
Photograph: Julie Martin |
Photograph: Julie Martin |
The group visited other conservation labs including the labs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Weisman Preservation Center at Harvard University. On a weekend trip to New York City, they were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). They were fascinated to see how different labs were set up and the types of equipment used by American conservators.
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| Nora Kennedy conducts a behind-the-scenes tour of the conservation labs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. |
Photograph: Stefan Belishki |
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| Hosts Ned and Betsy Williams say farewell to the 2008 students as they head to the airport. |
Photograph: Julie Martin |
The Institute students stayed with host families in Andover again this year, making stay very enjoyable. One Saturday, Ned and Betsy Williams took the group on an all-day excursion to antique stores in the area to find old photographs for their collections. They had dinner in an All-American diner, and were treated to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at their farewell party. By chance the students were to travel home on Election Day. Vilja and Monika went to the polls with their host, Monica Morell, and were able to witness the American democratic process first-hand. We received emails from the students the next day describing how all the passengers on the plane burst into applause when the election results were announced as they approached the Frankfurt airport.
Participant Profiles:
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| Stefan Belishki practices making a sink-mat for a mock broken glass-plate negative. |
Photograph: Julie Martin |
Stefan Belishki has been a professor of paintings conservation for fourteen years. Mr. Belishki recently developed an interest in conservation of photographs and hopes to introduce a paper and photograph conservation curriculum at the National Academy of Art in Sofia. Two of the past NEDCC Institute interns were his students, Nikifor Haralampiev and Silviya Ivanova Varadinova-Papandaki (2006), and Mr. Belishki encouraged them to attend the Bratislava workshop and to travel to the U.S. He is very proud of their continued work in the field. “I want to encourage my younger students,” he said, “because they have the time and can develop skills from the beginning.”
While his long-term goal is to develop a new curriculum at the Academy, Mr. Belishki’s
short-term goal is to arrange for his students to attend workshops and short courses in the region
to supplement their current program. He added, “It would also be very beneficial to offer a
three-month internship at NEDCC for a conservator or student from the region. This would enable them to gain experience and improve their hand skills. It would make someone a specialist in the field.” Mr. Belishki is a passionate photographer and hopes to be able to offer professional advice about photograph conservation as a result of his studies. (See also Historic Photo Gallery.)
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| Faculty member Gary Albright demonstrates surface cleaning for Monika Korsak. |
Photograph: Julie Martin |
Monika Korsak is in the last year of her studies in the Department of Paper Conservation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland. “I want to learn about photography because it is my life,” she said during an orientation meeting at NEDCC. During the last semester of her studies she will put her new knowledge to use when she carries out the conservation treatment of a 19th century photograph album as a final project. The most important facet of the training for Ms. Korsak was studying techniques for photograph identification, especially color photography. “And now I know how much more there is to learn,” she added.
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| Jakub Gulyás practices surface cleaning techniques. |
Photograph: Julie Martin |
Jakub Gulyás is in his final year of studies in the Department of Paper Conservation at the AFAD in Bratislava. He plans to open his own conservation studio after graduation. He found it interesting to observe how conservators worked together in the lab, discussing problems and solutions for particular conservation treatments. He was impressed by the visits to the conservation labs at the Boston and New York museums. “Now I have had three courses on the subject. I still need a lot more time and study, and then I hope to specialize in photograph conservation.”
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| Vilja Sillamaa uses a soft Japanese brush to surface clean a photograph. |
Photograph: Julie Martin |
Vilja Sillamaa has worked for twenty years as a paper conservator in Estonia. Over the last five years she has begun to treat historic photographs as well. “In Estonia there is not one person I can ask about a problem with photograph conservation. Everything I know I learned from books.” She said that attending the workshop and the Institute made her realize that “…when working on photographs, I still think like a paper conservator.”
She explained to the group that her training needs are more complicated. “In Estonia, the photograph techniques are not the same as in Europe. Photographers were teachers or farmers who made their own photographs at home with whatever materials they had. (See Historic Photo Gallery.) It is much harder to identify the processes.” The highlight of the Institute for her was the practical work in the lab. “Everything here is so much faster. All the equipment that NEDCC has is much better than in Estonia. Of course, NEDCC is the top of the world!” Ms. Sillamaa was also impressed by the open exchange between colleagues in the lab. “It was much more useful to work in the lab and to see and hear how they worked together.” She plans to write an article on her experiences at the workshop and the institute for the annual RENOVATUM, a conservation periodical in Estonia.
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| Photograph Conservation Institute students practice identification of photographs. |
Photograph: Stefan Belishki |
IMPACT
During the last five years, over 40 conservators, teachers, and graduate students from eleven countries have received training through the NEDCC program. As a direct result of the program, the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava has built a reputation as an international center for advanced conservation training, and has now established a new degree-granting program in photograph conservation that will help train emerging photograph conservators in the region.
Upon returning to Estonia, Vilja Sillamaa organized a round-table discussion on photograph conservation at the Conservation Center Kanut. Participants at the round-table included thirteen curators and other museum specialists responsible for photograph collections and their preservation. At this first meeting, the problems and needs of photograph collections in Estonia were addressed. Issues to be discussed at the next meeting in early 2009 include the study of the history of photography and historic photographic techniques, as well as the need for museums to collaborate on the digitization of their photograph collections and to create a common glossary of terminology.
Ms. Sillamaa’s presentation for her colleagues is an excellent example of the broad impact of NEDCC’s photograph conservation training initiative. The ripple effect of the program will reach far into the future as conservators pass their knowledge along to one another and search out new training opportunities. As a result, important cultural heritage collections will be preserved for generations to come – one photograph at a time.
