Lecture | What Was I Thinking? Decision-making in the practice of paintings restoration

Thursday, May 1 at 6 PM
In-Person and Virtual Lecture*
Advance registration is required

The Institute of Fine Arts
1 East 78th Street, New York, NY 10075
and Online

One of the joys and terrors of practical work in conservation is the fact that there is rarely a single correct treatment for any given artwork, both in the overall approach and in the granular moment-to-moment decisions made along the way. Each choice made may take into account any number of factors and possible paths, informed by art history, conservation history and ethics, condition issues, and the limits of one's skills. In addition, these choices are affected by the conservator's own biases - whether known or unrecognized - which unavoidably inform the final outcome and appearance of the work of art. This lecture will explore the conservation treatment of a selection of Old Master paintings restored by the author, the options that were discarded and pursued, the thinking behind her decisions, and whether true objectivity can ever be fully achieved.

Karen Thomas is a paintings conservator in private practice, specializing in the treatment of Old Master and nineteenth-century paintings. A 2004 graduate of the Conservation Center at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, she was assistant and associate paintings conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 2004-2012, where she was privileged to work on such artworks as Filipino Lippi's Madonna and Child, the triptych of The Penitence of Saint Jerome by Joachim Patinir, and the Portrait of Mary Edwards by Willian Hogarth from the Frick Collection. In 2013, Karen opened Thomas Art Conservation in New York City, providing conservation expertise to private collectors, galleries, and small institutions. Karen is co-author of the retouching chapter of The Conservation of Easel Paintings (Routledge: 2012, 2022), and author of the technical notes for German Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1350-1600 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013), among other publications. Prior to entering the field of art conservation, she worked for a decade as a graphic designer. Karen holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts and an MA and Advanced Certificate in Conservation from NYU's Institute of Fine Arts.

*The program will be presented onsite at the James