Now you see it, now you don’t: Conservation of Larry Bell’s Glass Sculpture Shadows
Ellen Moody, Megan Randall, Lynda Zycherman, and Ana Martins
Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York, USA
On a sunny day in 2016, a MoMA visitor turned away from the window overlooking the museum’s garden and walked directly into Larry Bell’s 1967 sculpture, Shadows. The partially mirrored, transparent, glass cube, sitting atop a transparent acrylic pedestal, plummeted to the floor. The impact shattered two sides of the sculpture. This was not the first time the sculpture was damaged. In 1992, it had been knocked off a dolly by a flatbed truck, cracking one side. After that incident, in consultation with MoMA’s Conservation Department, Bell chose to replace the shattered pane with one newly fabricated by his studio, also supplying the museum with two additional panes.
The panes created in 1992 were greyer and lighter than the amber-tinged 1967 panes. At that time, the artist had deemed this difference acceptable, especially since it was minimized when the work was assembled with the replacement pane positioned on the underside. When consulted again in 2018, the artist remained unbothered by this discrepancy of color and value, advising the authors to use the extra two grey replacements for the recently broken panes. However, the authors remained hesitant; replacing two additional panes would change the appearance of the work more dramatically than the previous, single-pane repair. Additionally the cause of the difference was unclear: was it a result of differential aging and oxidation, or of disparate materials? To answer this question, elemental analysis was performed on the works, which showed that the original 1967 panes were coated with pure chromium, unlike the 1992 replacements were coated with an alloy of nickel, iron, tin, and chromium. Upon sharing this discovery with the artist, he proposed creating new replacement panes with the same materials as the original.
This presentation will outline the discussions between curatorial, conservation and artist’s studio in deciding the steps to take in restoring this work, which includes the artist’s evolving opinion and the institution’s reevaluation of the essential qualities of the sculpture, and the approach taken to execute the treatment. This approach includes an evaluation of possible adhesives and handling methods for aligning the miter joins, as well as an assessment of techniques for achieving the low RH interior environment required to prevent condensation from forming on the inside of the sculpture.