Treating pastels is always challenging due to the delicate, crumbly nature of the media. They also present handling and transport issues that must be considered during housing. When two large pastels from the University of Delaware Museums came to CCAHA, conservators had to balance improving their...
The most famous photograph of Sigmund Freud depicts the psychoanalyst standing with his signature cigar in a stark, chiaroscuro contrapposto. Perhaps fittingly for Freud, the portrait was actually taken by a relative: his son -in -law, a man named Max Halberstadt. Halberstadt —who’d married Freud’s...
Nicholas Ferrar was born to a wealthy family in London in 1592. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, he pursued various business prospects in London. Upon losing a substantial amount of money to the Virginia Company, Ferrar moved to Little Gidding, a small town roughly 80 miles north...
The great collectors often desire to leave the world a physical legacy—whether it’s Albert Barnes establishing the Barnes Foundation, Henry Huntington bequeathing his collection to the Huntington Library, or J.P. Morgan amassing the collection that would form the core of the Morgan Library & Museum...
While William Marshall Bullitt (1873-1957) is best remembered as a successful lawyer and outspoken critic of Alger Hiss, he had two private passions: mathematics and book collecting. In 1936, inspired by a discussion with mathematician G.H. Hardy, Bullitt set out to acquire first edition texts by 25...
Born in Warsaw in 1907, Feliks Topolski moved to England in 1935. Topolski is remembered as a talented draughtsman, muralist, and chronicler. He painted the 1959 Coronation murals of Buckingham Palace and ran a serialized publication, Topolski’s Chronicle, for several decades toward the end of his...
Russian artist Ilya Kabakov lived through three tumultuous decades in Moscow during the height of the USSR. From the 1950s to the 1980s, his work spanned a variety of media and subjects as he fell in and out of favor with the Soviet regime. In his capacity as a member of the prestigious Union of...
The name Salvador Dalí often conjures up images completely removed from reality—melting clocks, spindle-legged elephants, or disembodied limbs. But a recent treatment at the Center reminded us that the works of Dalí were far more nuanced than we often think, toying with reality in different and...
