Projects & Publications
The IMA's conservation staff participate in a wide range of collections care activities, perform treatment on our collections, and conduct research in collaboration with the curatorial team, the conservation science department, and external collaborators. Learn more about some featured projects below.
Projects Gallery
Treatment of Red & Black by Sam Gilliam
Recently, our conservation team carefully cleaned and prepped Sam Gilliam’s Red & Black. Now refreshed and ready, this bold piece is back on view in Message is the Medium: Contemporary Art.
National Preservation Week
Conservation Specialist Laura Mosteller shares easy, expert-approved tips for how to hang your artwork at home.
Cleaning Mexican Rose and Aventurine Chandelier by Dale Chihuly
Watch the objects conservation team cleaning each delicate piece of Dale Chihuly’s iconic sculpture.
Analyzing the palette of John W. Hardrick
Newfields conservation team members Roxy Sperber and Greg Smith scan Indianapolis artist John W. Hardrick’s Winter Landscape to study the elemental makeup of the pigments used in the paint.
Stamp Painting
We were honored to a part of history at the unveiling of the 2024 USPS Christmas Stamp, which features a painting from our very own collection, Madonna and Child from the Workshop of Sassoferrato (Italian, 1609-1685).
The Madonna and Child stamp has been a beloved part of the Postal Service's holiday stamp offerings for decades, featuring iconic images of the Virgin Mary and Child from various artistic traditions.
The IMA's painting was featured on the cover of The Indianapolis Star Sunday Magazine in December of 1960. However, it had not been on view in the galleries since 1987, so the conservation stepped in to revitalize this vibrant 17th-century painting.
Mocking-up Corneille de Lyon
Learn how artists transferred drawings to their canvases or panels. Corneille de Lyon (Dutch, 1500 -1575) was said not to have made drawings but we saw evidence that he probably did. So we tried the process ourselves to investigate.
A Day in the Life of a Newfields Conservator
Ever wondered what a day in the Newfields conservation department looks like?
Miller House Rotation
Twice a year, we the Indianapolis Museum of Art team swaps out the pillow at Miller House, continuing a long-standing tradition of the Miller family.
Never Odd or Even
Join the conservation team as they carry out their semiannual maintenance of Newfields' own palindrome!
Preservation Week
Every spring, the American Library Association and the Library of Congress celebrate Preservation Week to highlight what we can do, individually and together, to care for our personal collections and to support preservation efforts in libraries, archives, museums, historical societies and collecting institutions in communities all across the country.
Join Conservator of Works on Paper, Doug Sanders, in the conservation lab at Newfields for a few tips and tricks on how to best mat and store your most cherished works on paper.
"Spa treatment" for a sculpture in The Garden
Watch decades old iron stains be removed from marble outdoor sculptures in the garden by our Objects Conservation team. Using the power of iron-reducing chemical reagents in a carefully formulated poultice recipe, our team was able to reduce irrigation water stains and restore marble sculptures to their original splendor.
Paintings by the Pissarro Family: A Technical Catalogue
Learn about the Pissarro Family paintings at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields though this online catalog which discusses the painting techniques of Camille Pissarro and his sons Lucien and George. Paintings by the Pissarro Family: A Technical Catalogue has been supported by a grant from the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation, funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Joan Mitchell Treatment: Seaweed solutions
Clowes Conservator of Paintings, Roxy Sperber, conserves Diabolo (neige et fleurs) an important abstract expressionist painting by Joan Mitchell.
Roxy is using a special seaweed (called Funori) to consolidate (or glue) the powdering paint back together for future generations. Here at Newfields we love when nature can help us conserve our art!
Francia Treatment: Madonna and Child in a new light
Clowes Conservator of Paintings, Roxy Sperber, removes the varnish from Giulio Francia's Madonna and Child.
You can see Roxy and her team's work on display throughout the IMA Galleries.
Conservation Questions
Fred Wallace, Chief Conservator here at Newfields, answers just a few of your burning questions about art conservation.
Conserving The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (Tapestry): Travel alongside this miraculous tapestry and go behind the scenes in Belgium
Go behind the scenes at De Wit Royal Manufacturers of Tapestry to see how this large-scale tapestry was conserved. This Belgian institution is trusted with cleaning an average of 150 tapestries a year, mostly for museums. Thanks to The Clowes Fund for gifting this splendid tapestry and accompanying conservation and reinstallation funding to the IMA. Thank you to Bank of America for the generous Conservation Project grant funding to make this project possible.
Clowes Catalog: Art historians and conservators share their latest discoveries about the Clowes Collection paintings
The Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields is home to the Clowes Collection of Old Masters, on long-term loan to the IMA since 1971 and given to the museum incrementally beginning in 2000. Assembled by Dr. George H.A. Clowes (1877-1958) with the assistance of his wife, Edith Whitehill Clowes (1885-1967), this collection formed the early cornerstone for the Museum's collection of European art created before 1800, to which much has been added since 1971.
This custom-made online catalogue expands upon, and updates, earlier publications devoted to the Clowes Collection. It allows deep exploration of paintings in this collection on two significant levels —art-historical catalogue entries and technical examination reports-featuring zoomable high-resolution photography, full-screen image viewers for hero images and comparative figures, shareable links, and fully searchable text. Taken together, the essays and technical examination reports published here combine the latest discoveries made by art historians and conservators about the paintings in the Clowes Collection. Published here for the first time (as a PDF) is a manuscript prepared by the art historian Mark Roskill from 1965 to 1968, the first systematic documentation of artworks in the Clowes Collection.
Conservation Investigates: How artworks change over time
Find out how Pere Valle's 15th century artworks have changed over time with conservator Roxy Sperber, using cross-sections to unearth hidden histories.
Conservation Investigates: Artist materials and techniques
Analyze pigments and paint layers to learn about how materials and techniques available to artists during different periods of history influenced their craft with conservator Roxy Sperber.
The Crossroads of Conservation Science and Forensics
In this short video, Dr. Greg Smith, Otto N. Frenzel III Senior Conservation Scientist, speaks about the similarities between cultural heritage chemistry and forensic science at Pittcon 2023.
How to Spot a Fake Painting [Art Forgery Forensics] | Artrageous with Nate
Dr. Greg Smith, Otto N. Frenzel Ill Senior Conservation Scientist, and Dr. Glennis Rayermann, reverse engineer a fake wooden panel painting, suspected to be by the notorious forger Icilio Federico Joni (1866-1946).
The Art of Forensic Science & Crime: What You Need to Know [Art Education] | Artrageous with Nate
In What Lies Beneath: Secrets Under the Surface of Paintings, Newfields' Otto N. Frenzel Ill Senior Conservation Scientist Dr. Greg Smith explains how imaging techniques like radiography and infrared reflectography allow you to peer beneath the painted surface.
The Chemistry of Color | Artrageous with Nate
Dr. Greg Smith, Otto N. Frenzel Ill Senior Conservation Scientist, brings together art and science in telling the history of color. Hear him discuss how the demands of artists, fashion, and designers drove scientists to make new discoveries in color and how these discoveries in science and chemistry, some of which are serendipitous, ultimately led to materials that have benefitted the arts.
Conservation Newsroom
Taking Art Off its Pedestal
Your favorite pair of hiking pants just ripped on a recent excursion. What do you do?
Scrap them? Try your hand at sewing an invisible mend? Or proudly place a patch over the rip?
When our Conservation Team is not busy conserving, maintaining, preserving, and researching the Museum’s collection they’re asking our community these types of questions. They’re having conversations about how the care of the Newfields collection relates to the care of everyday objects.
‘Stamp’ of Approval: The Study and Analysis of Sassoferrato’s Madonna and Child
When Madonna and Child by the Workshop of Sassoferrato (38.7) was selected to be featured on the United States Postal Service’s 2024 and 2025 Christmas stamp, the first thought from the conservation team was How exciting! We will get to share one of our paintings with the world! The second thought was, I’ve never seen this work. I wonder what condition it is in?
Conserving Who’s Your Tree
At nearly 15 feet tall, Nam June Paik’s Who’s Your Tree is a commanding presence in the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, truly living up to its name in evoking a tree. It has long been a favorite piece in the contemporary collection, and it was a must-have for The Message is the Medium: Contemporary Art. However, conserving this complex sculpture was no easy task.
Deep Dive: Conserving Diabolo
Diabolo (neige et fleurs) by Joan Mitchell is a tremendous example of an abstract expressionist painting by a trailblazing female artist, and it’s now on view in Work in Progress: Conversations about American Art. The fluid, colorful brushstrokes overwhelm the viewer with their dynamism. Mitchell painted Diabolo in 1969 after moving to a house in the French countryside that once belonged to Impressionist painter Claude Monet. During this period her paintings became much more brightly colored, and she was inspired by her natural surroundings.
Behind the Seams: Conserving the Sprouse Collection Long Term
The exhibition, Stephen Sprouse: Rock | Art | Fashion, is closed, but it is not forgotten—in fact numerous departments are coming together as you read this newsletter to deinstall the exhibition and prepare each artwork for long term storage as part of our permanent collection. Since most of these activities occur behind closed doors marked “Staff Only,” we thought this article was the perfect opportunity to open these doors and invite you to see behind-the-scenes.
Transparent Conservations
Can I tell you a secret? There are things happening behind the scenes at museums that may seem unimaginable, including at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. One of them is the careful deconstruction and reconstruction of a designer dress in preparation for Stephen Sprouse: Rock | Art | Fashion. My name is Kris Cnossen, I am studying art conservation at the University of Delaware, and this was one of my assignments during my year-long internship at Newfields. For three months, I researched materials and techniques, drew patterns, and made mock-ups of a Stephen Sprouse (1953-2004) velvet and plastic dress until I finally took it apart completely and then hand-stitched the dress back together.
Miraculous Journey of the Raphael Tapestry
Over ten years ago, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes tapestry was deemed too fragile to remain hanging above the limestone staircase in the original Clowes Pavilion inside the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The decision was made to remove it from the galleries, but unlike most artworks that are not on view, the tapestry didn’t quietly wait in storage; this artwork spent the last six years travelling across the world and being examined by experts.
Robots with X-Ray Technology and Big Data Algorithms are transforming the Conservation Science Lab
There is a new robot in the Conservation Science Lab that is transforming the way we understand our collection using big data! Thanks to a generous gift from John and Sarah Lechleiter, Newfields has a new Macro X-ray fluorescence scanning (MA-XRF) instrument. Why is this technology so exciting? By collecting and processing so much data, the robot helps us to answer questions we didn’t even know we had. We have had the robot for a few months, and we have already discovered hidden inscriptions and even paintings under other paintings.
Conservation Station
For many, the first thing that comes to mind when they hear the word ‘conservation’ is environmental conservation, particularly at Newfields which is home to 152 acres of habitat that supports wildlife and the community, but what most people outside of the museum world may not think of is the conservation of our art collection. Both areas of conservation have the same overarching goal, to maintain a vibrant Newfields for current and future generations by being good stewards of our campus, finances, and collection, and both have been at the heart of Newfields for generations. The Indianapolis Museum of Art has maintained an in-house Conservation Department for decades, dating well back into the last century. Still, many members and guests are not familiar with the Conservation Department and the breadth of its responsibilities. What the heck does an art conservator do at the Museum? Read on to find out!
Art and Magic
David Miller has spent 42 years getting up-close and personal with some of the world's greatest paintings - close enough, for example, to find a hidden truth in the underlayers of a Rembrandt portrait, tipped off by an earlier position of the artist's hat. The discovery led to a major victory-dance moment for the IMA.
Art Conservation Publications
Cnossen, Kris, Annika Blake-Howland, and Amanda Holden. "The Role of a Significance Assessment in the Replacement of Plastic on a Stephen Sprouse Dress." In Considering Costume: The Conservation, Apparel, Adornment, and Accessories, edited by Joel Stephenson, Howard Sutcliffe, and Elihttps://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-022-00811-5zabeth Shaeffer, 98-116. Williamsburg, Virginia: NATCC, 2023.
Freese, Emily, Amanda Holden, and Erinn Bessler. “Strike a Pose: The Overhaul of Fiberglass Mannequins and Their Mounts.” In Considering Costume: The Conservation, Apparel, Adornment, and Accessories, edited by Joel Stephenson, Howard Sutcliffe, and Elizabeth Shaeffer, 258-268. Williamsburg, Virginia: NATCC (2023).
Murray, A., K. Biggs, A. Shugar, R. Ploeger, E. Uffelman, M. Stols-Witlox, P. Gonzales, G. Smith, M. Loubser, L. F. Fuster López, G. Di Pietro, A. Sah, A. Nevin, A. Sardarli, S. Wei, and E. Casanova-González. "Heritage Science Education – The Online Resource Conservation Science Education Online (CSEO) and Themes from the Inaugural Conference." Chemistry Teacher International 5, No. 3 (2023): 331-345. https://doi.org/10.1515/cti-2023-0013 [OPEN ACCESS]
Samide, M. J., and G. D. Smith. "A Methodology to Assess Pollution Off-gassing of Museum Construction Materials Using a Pyrolysis Microfurnace." Heritage 6, no. 3 (2023): 2292-2307. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage6030121 [OPEN ACCESS]
Schmidtke Sobeck, S., and G. D. Smith. "Shedding Light on Daylight Fluorescent Artists’ Pigments, Part 2: Spectral Properties and Light Stability." Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 62, No. 3 (2023): 222-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/01971360.2022.2031460
Villalta-Cerdas, Adrian, Gregory D. Smith, Megan Carrison DeSmit, and John V. Goodpaster. 2023. "Room Temperature Evaporation Behavior of Homogeneous Azeotropes Used in Art Conservation Cleaning Treatments" Applied Sciences 13, no. 21 (2023): 11962. https://doi.org/10.3390/app132111962 [OPEN ACCESS]
Smith, G. D., V. J. Chen, A. Holden, N. Haghipour, and L. Hendriks. "Combined, Sequential Dye Analysis and Radiocarbon Dating of Single Ancient Textile Yarns from a Nazca Tunic." Heritage Science 10, No. 1 (2022): 179. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-022-00811-5 [OPEN ACCESS]
Roxane Sperber & Aviva Burnstock. “A History of the Department of Conservation and Technology at the Courtauld Institute of Art.” Studies in Conservation, 68,1 (2021): 102-127, DOI: 10.1080/00393630.2021.1966184
Beckett, Fiona, Amanda Holden, and Gregory Dale Smith. “Seeing the light: Research, conservation and exhibition of a 1980s daylight fluorescent painted leather jacket designed by Sprouse and painted by Castronovo.” Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 58:4 (2019): 233-247, DOI: 10.1080/01971360.2019.1614290
Holden, Amanda, Gregory D. Smith, Mark F. Vitha, and Victor J. Chen. "Everything Old is New Again: Science Unravels a Fake Moroccan Embroidery." In Lessons Learned: Textile Conservation – Then and Now, edited by Howard Sutcliffe and Joel Thompson, 253-267. New York: NATCC, 2019.
Smith, Gregory Dale, Victor J. Chen, Amanda Holden, and Shannon G. Lieb. "Analytical Characterization of 5,5’-dibromoindigo and its First Discovery in a Museum Textile." Heritage Science 7, 62 (2019): 179. DOI: 10.1186/s40494-019-0305-7
Holden, Amanda. "Weaving Wonder: The Science of Fabric." PATTERN 13 (Spring/Summer 2018): 105-109.
Sperber, Roxane. "Deciphering Intention from Aging: The Use of Archival Material in the Study and Treatment of Winifred Dysart by George Fuller." In AIC Paintings Specialty Postprints (2017).
Sperber, Roxane. "The Retouching Practices of John Linnell: Technique, Patronage, and Practice from Two Works in the Yale Center for British Art." In A Changing Art: Nineteenth-Century Painting Practice and Conservation, edited by Nicola Costaras, 116-122. London: Archetype, 2017.
Sperber, Roxane, and Anna Koopstra. "A Saint Jerome after Palma il Giovane: Artistic Invention and the Practice of Painting on Copper in the Age of Printmaking." In Paintings on Copper and Other Metal Plates: Production, Degradation, and Conservation Issues, edited by Laura Fuster López et al., 103-109. Valencia: Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, 2017.
Chen, Victor J., Gregory D. Smith, Amanda Holden, Niloo Paydar, and Kathleen Kiefer. "Chemical Analysis of Dyes on an Uzbek Ceremonial Coat: Objective Evidence for Artifact Dating and the Chemistry of Early Synthetic Dyes." Dyes and Pigments 131: 320-332 (2016). DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2016.04.019
Sperber, Roxane. "A Technical and Historical Investigation of John Linnell’s Retouching Practice and Its Impact on Conservation Treatment Decisions." The Picture Restorer 48 (2016): 39-42.
Sperber, Roxane and Jens Stenger, "Canaletto's Colour: the inspiration and implications of changing grounds, pigments and paint application in the artist's English period," British Art Studies, Issue 2 (2016) https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-02/rsperber-jstenger
Holden, Amanda, Fiona Beckett, and Gregory Dale Smith. "Seeing the Light: Conservation and Exhibition of a 1980s Daylight Fluorescent Painted Leather Jacket." Textile Specialty Group Postprints 25 (2015): 95-110.
Stites Alig, Dorothy, Julie Randolph, and Amanda Holden. "Texture/Color/Surface/Hand: Developments in loss compensation for textiles." AIC News Vol. 28, No. 3 (May 2003): 1, 3-4. https://www.culturalheritage.org/docs/default-source/publications/periodicals/newsletter/03_may_aicnews.pdf?sfvrsn=c436f2a_13
Paintings by the Pissarro Family: A Technical Catalogue, https://pissarro.discovernewfields.org/
Masterpieces from the Clowes Collection: Paintings, https://paintings.theclowescollection.org/
