Framework IV - Restoring The Boundaries - Exhibition

Framework IV showcases the results of the ongoing work by museum staff and students to conserve frames for SCMA’s painting collection. In this apprenticeship program, now in its fourth year, Smith College and other Five-College students are trained by Chief Preparator William Myers and Associate Director David Dempsey in the techniques of frame conservation. The featured frame in this installation was created in the appropriate period style for Martin Johnson Heade’s New Jersey Meadows (c. 1871-1875). Additional paintings with newly conserved frames will also be on view, including William Hogarth’s Portrait of James Caulfield, 1st Earl of Charlemont (c. 1759-1764) and Jean-Francois Millet’s Portrait of William Morris Hunt (c. 1853-1855). There are twelve students, eleven from Smith and one from the University of Massachussets, Amherst, participating in the frame project during this academic year. This project is an outgrowth of the museum’s long-term effort to study and conserve the frames in its collection, supported, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and by the Friends of the Museum who contributed to a special Annual Appeal, “The Frame Project: Conservation and Restoration of Museum Masterpieces.” Special thanks also go to the J. H. Miller Picture Frame Company, Springfield, and Sepp Leaf Products, New York, for their generous support.

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday to Saturday: 10 to 4 pm