{"id":15953,"date":"2017-03-20T14:24:20","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T14:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/?p=15953"},"modified":"2017-03-20T14:24:20","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T14:24:20","slug":"jobs-in-the-art-world-art-conservator-luca-bonetti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/jobs-in-the-art-world-art-conservator-luca-bonetti\/","title":{"rendered":"Jobs in the Art World: Art Conservator Luca Bonetti"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the second installment of our monthly series, “Jobs in the Art World,”<\/strong> we interviewed Luca Bonetti, who has been working as an art conservator for nearly half a century. From contemporary paintings by Mark Bradford to older pieces by\u00a0Joan Mir\u00f3, Bonetti and his team\u00a0have collectively worked on thousands of paintings\u00a0over the years.\u00a0Conservation is one of the most under-appreciated areas of the visual arts industry, so read on to find out more about this fascinating field from\u00a0one of the best in the business.<\/p>\n

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AZ:\u00a0How long have you been\u00a0an art conservator?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:<\/strong>\u00a0I have been in conservation for about 50 years. I began my apprenticeship in Z\u00fcrich at the Swiss National Museum in 1967.<\/p>\n

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AZ:<\/strong>\u00a0Walk us through a typical day for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:<\/strong>\u00a0My workday begins at 8:30am-9am<\/span>. In the wintertime, I fill the humidifier then I check my emails and anything that wasn\u2019t done the day before to help map out my day. The assistants arrive and together we discuss priorities and plan for the week or weeks ahead. When needed we discuss important details of a challenging aspect regarding a specific conservation.I speak with clients or potential clients to help assess their needs. Often times they request that we examine the work of art on location and provide a condition report\/treatment proposal\/estimate. Approximately 40% of our work is done on location because many paintings are very large or are murals.<\/p>\n

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We rarely skip lunch, as it is important to take a break and nourish our bodies and minds.<\/p>\n

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AZ:<\/strong>\u00a0How did you get into conservation and restoration?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:<\/strong>\u00a0I was immersed into conservation at the young age of 17. The art school I was attending required a summer internship, which I spent assisting a sign painter. For the next two internships, I was fortunate enough to work with a sculpture restorer who was a friend of my parents, mostly cleaning brushes, sharpening scalpels and observing.<\/p>\n

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AZ:<\/strong>\u00a0What’s your favorite tool to work with?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:<\/strong>\u00a0My favorite tools are canvas stretching pliers. I have about a dozen of them. I really enjoy stretching large paintings. Last winter I prepared a stretcher to install two paintings by Mark Bradford that are 22 x 22 feet. The paintings can be seen in the lobby of 1221 Avenue of the Americas at Rockefeller Center. I also like micro tools like spatulas, scissors etc. At times I custom make or modify tools for which we have an immediate need. I have a paintbrush that I purchased in 1968 and it\u2019s as springy as the first day.<\/p>\n

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AZ:<\/strong>\u00a0Most difficult project you’ve worked on?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:<\/strong>\u00a0I would have to say the conservation of 3 large paintings by Mir\u00f3 that had been saturated in the past with an adhesive that was very sensitive to changes in humidity, which in turn made the canvas react by distending when absorbing humidity and contracting when drying. All previous attempts at treating the painting were unsuccessful. My team joined forces with a colleague from Rome who has developed a spring loaded stretcher onto which the canvases are mounted and kept in constant tension without using any fasteners. It was very laborious, but ultimately extremely rewarding.<\/p>\n

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AZ:<\/strong>\u00a0Favorite exhibition from 2016?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:<\/strong>\u00a0I really enjoyed the Frank Stella retrospective at the new Whitney Museum<\/a> as well as the Carmen Herrera show, which was at the Whitney as well.<\/p>\n

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AZ:\u00a0Favorite museum in the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:<\/strong>\u00a0My all time favorite museum is the Uffizi<\/a> in Florence, which is considered to be the first museum ever. Amongst the heavyweight museums, I like the Met and the Louvre<\/a>. Of the smaller museums I always enjoy the Frick collection because of its relaxing environment and very special collection.<\/p>\n

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AZ:<\/strong>\u00a0How many paintings do you think you’ve conserved\u00a0over your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:<\/strong>\u00a0I have conserved over 2,000 paintings, but keep in mind that most have been collaborative team efforts.<\/p>\n

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AZ:<\/strong>\u00a0What advice do you have for someone who wants to work in art conservation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:<\/strong>\u00a0I will say that art conservation is a beautiful profession. It\u2019s like being an art doctor. In my opinion, it is a career best suited for people who are curious and patient as well as have an interest in the preservation of historical artifacts (all artifacts are unique and worth preserving). Helpful attributes are precision and dexterity as well as an inquisitive mind. Broad knowledge of art history, art materials, chemistry and mechanics is a definite plus.<\/p>\n

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AZ:<\/strong>\u00a0What qualities are you looking for in a new hire?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0It is difficult to work in art conservation without proper schooling and training. For more information about the profession please look online at the AIC (American Institute for Conservation<\/a>). The art conservation schools in the US are Buffalo State College, NYU \u2013 Institute of Fine Arts, and University of Delaware \u2013 Winterthur.<\/p>\n

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AZ:<\/strong>\u00a0Are you hiring?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:<\/strong>\u00a0At the moment we are not looking to hire, but if I were to hire someone new I would probably ask colleagues for a word of mouth referral.<\/p>\n

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AZ:\u00a0How can we keep in touch with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LB:<\/strong>\u00a0By e-mail, lucabonetti@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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For the second installment of our monthly series,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15967,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,11,21,12,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}