Preservation Assessment of works from the Hechinger Collection

FAIN: PG-271646-20

International Arts and Artists, Inc. (Washington, DC 20008-1930)
Edward Hayes (Project Director: January 2020 to April 2022)
Anna-Maria Royal (Project Director: April 2022 to February 2023)
Eileen Streeter (Project Director: February 2023 to present)

A preservation assessment of 58 objects from International Art and Artists’ (IA&A) Hechinger Collection, which includes almost 400 works of art primarily from the post-World War II era, including prints, drawings, paintings, and sculptures. Selected works have been included in popular traveling exhibitions around the United States for the past 18 years. The assessment outcomes would ultimately enable the IA&A to continue developing new traveling exhibitions and increasing public access to the collection.

An NEH Preservation Assistance Grant would support International Art and Artists’ (IA&A) engagement of Williamstown Art Conservation Center to perform a three-day preservation assessment of 58 items from IA&A’s historically significant Hechinger Collection. The Hechinger Collection, featuring nearly 400 works of art, was donated to IA&A in 2003 by hardware-industry pioneer John Hechinger, Sr. The collection’s contemporary prints, drawings, paintings, and sculptures represent a wealth of 20th-century art that incorporates tools and hardware by artists such as Berenice Abbott, Arman, Jim Dine, Walker Evans, Jacob Lawrence, Fernand Léger, and Claes Oldenburg, among many others. The Hechinger Collection promotes the exploration of how hardware stores have served American society and how the cultural and societal needs of American communities have shaped hardware stores.