American Paintings Conservation Assessment

FAIN: PG-50285-08

Mint Museum of Art (Charlotte, NC 28207-2012)
Jonathan Stuhlman (Project Director: May 2007 to September 2009)

A conservation assessment of the museum's American paintings, which include works by Thomas Sully, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Cole, George Bellows, and Robert Henri. The museum has recently made American art one of its six primary collecting priorities and has hired a full-time curator for this collection

With the requested $5,000 Preservation Assistance Grant from the NEH, The Mint Museums will contract with conservator James Swope to conduct a conservation assessment of the American paintings collection. The goals of the assessment are to identify the conservation needs of the collection, establish estimates of needed conservation work and the time necessary to complete such work, and use this information to create a prioritized long-range plan for the preservation of works in the collection. This information will enable the Curator of American Art to incorporate conservation plans into the collection's vision statement and to allocate future financial resources for conservation in the departmental budget. There are approximately 160 paintings in the American art collection, with three general areas of strength: Federal portraiture, 19th century landscape, and early 20th century realism. This painting collection has never been subject to a full conservation assessment.