Blog Posts

In conservation, tape can be tricky! This post discusses the conservation treatment of the painting Recess Time at Farm by Akinola Lasekan.

This is an excerpt from the essay Biggers and Boghossian: A Diasporic Voyage to Cultural Consciousness that will be featured in an upcoming exhibition catalogue, available April 2024.

"Christ in the Manger" by Francis Musangogwantamu, along with nine other selected artifacts from other institutions in Virginia, will be featured in an online public voting competition, which will take place from February 20th to March 3rd, 2024. The artifact that receives the most votes will receive the People’s Choice award and a $1,000 grant to be put towards the object’s conservation treatment.

In this post, we will dive into Lasekan’s painting Grandfather’s Pipe, and his political cartoon The Inextinguishable Fire of the Human Soul, to discuss the similarities between these two visually opposing artworks.

Tashae and I recently visited the African Modernism in America exhibition at the Phillips Collection and connected with colleagues at two conservation labs, thanks to funds provided by the Mellon Grant for professional development and research.

This is an excerpt from the essay A Leap of Faith: Akinola Lasekan’s Relationship with the Harmon Foundation that will be featured in an upcoming exhibition catalogue, available April 2024.

Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial fellow, Tashae Smith sat down with Political Cartoonist and lecturer Dr. Ganiyu Jimoh to discuss his work and the influence of artist and political cartoonist, Akinola Lasekan.

This post introduces Angie Lopez, the current Andrew W. Mellon Conservation Fellow, and shares her journey into the art conservation field. She also discusses her experience of working on her first painting from the Hampton University Modern African Art collection, Night Dancer by Miranda “Olayinka” Burney-Nicol, and her examination of the painting's structure, artist’s technique, and condition.

Read this post to learn more about Bria Miller's experience as the Andrew W. Mellon curatorial intern for the Summer of 2023!

NEH fellow in paintings conservation, Katie Rovito, and Andrew W. Mellon curatorial fellow, Tashae Smith, sat down to discuss the Modern Nigerian artist, Afi Ekong and the conservation of her painting Grief.

We are in year two of this Mellon grant funded project! Here is an update on the work that has been done so far and what is to come.

This post goes in-depth on the conservation treatment of the painting Grief by Afi Ekong. Treatment was completed by Katie Rovito, National Endowment for the Humanities Conservation Fellow at the Chrysler Museum of Art. Learn how Katie tackled this treatment, including how she mended tears and inpainted.

For part two of this series, we will analyze Gerard Sekoto’s The Two Women, to present how the title of an artwork, its subject and the artist’s own experience can be used to draw conclusions about an art piece. 

Pests, insects, bugs, creepy-crawlies…whatever you call them, they are not good for art collections! These tiny agents of deterioration can cause lots of damage quite quickly, and they may go unnoticed at first. Learn more about how conservators deal with these vicious vermin here.

With the research and professional development funds provided by the Mellon Grant, we were recently able to view an exhibition of artwork closely related to our own, which opened at Fisk University Galleries at the beginning of October. We also visited Frist Art Museum and other sites around Nashville, connected with colleagues, and explored the fabulous Music City!

At the end of September, I was able to attend the Annual Symposium of the Midwest Regional Conservation Guild (MRCG) in Detroit, Michigan. It was a great opportunity to give a presentation about the Mellon project to a group of friendly and insightful conservators. After lots of networking and nerdy conservation discussions, I made it back home, despite the best efforts of Hurricane Ian! Read more about the trip here.

For Part 2 of Christianity, Art, and the Harmon Foundation, we will be examining artworks from Brother Francis Musangogwantamu and Elimo Njau, to see how they were interpreting their Christian faith through art. 

In celebration of completing our survey, we are sharing some interesting statistics about the collection. In sharing these statistics, we hope to spread more awareness about the composition of this awe-inspiring collection of art. 

Light is an unavoidable element of our environment, but it causes irreversible changes to artworks, and therefore is considered one of the agents of deterioration. Read more about how conservators address this paradox here!

Christianity, art, and the Harmon Foundation. How are these all connected? For Part I of Christianity, Art, and the Harmon Foundation, we will be learning about the Harmon Foundation’s involvement in creating and producing Christian missionary films.

In July, we had the opportunity to participate in Hampton University Museum’s Tree House Summer Camp, which this year was a virtual program for children ages 5-12. We described the basics of what a curator and a conservator do, and conducted several activities to help them practice each role.

Learn more about another of the Ten Agents of Deterioration: water! Its effects on artworks can be quite damaging when they are uncontrolled and unexpected. It can also lead to the growth of mold. But water can also be a useful tool for conservators who need to treat artworks. What’s the difference? Keep reading!

For my first post of the Artist Talk series, I will be sharing information on the prolific artist Chief Lady Constance Afiong Ekong, also known as Afi Ekong. Ekong was a present and influential figure in the Nigerian art scene until her death in 2009. Although we can not talk with Ekong, we can still have a conversation with her paintings.

This collection of Modern African Art has much to teach us, and has led to some very interesting research “rabbit-holes”. Discover more about an important cultural element that is depicted in several of the artworks, and has a very broad history, from prehistoric times to the 21st century.

One of the goals of this grant project is to present outreach programs to the public, both virtually and in-person. So far, we have had the opportunity to participate in two such programs, partnering with The Links, Incorporated and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. In this post, we will be sharing the details of these programs, including feedback we received and our key takeaways.

Physical forces, like drops, scrapes, or bumps, may be what most people think of when it comes to damages to artworks, so this is the first Agent of Deterioration I am covering. There may also be inherent aspects which can cause cracks to form in paintings, and the consequences and treatment options for these can be quite different. Read more to learn why!

For this post we will be taking a closer look at Jimo Bola Akolo’s The Garden of Eden and Peter Paul Rubens’ and Jan Brugehel the Elder’s The Garden and Eden with the Fall of Man to see how the same idea or story can be depicted differently by artists.

Protecting collections starts with understanding the ways that damage can be caused to objects, often called the 10 Agents of Deterioration, as well as how to prevent their effects. Preventive conservation is the term used to describe the actions taken to avoid future interventive treatment and reduce risks. Learn more here about the upcoming conservation blog series!

We will start this series,“ What’s in a Name”, with Emmanuel Owusu Dartey’s, A Market Day to present how the title in conjunction with the subject of the piece, as well as our own personal experience can be used to draw conclusions about an art piece.

The Harmon Foundation was an organization based in New York City, which supported and promoted the work of African and African American artists.