The Dallas Museum of Art opened its new Paintings Conservation Studio in November 2013 as part of the Museum’s initiative to establish a conservation program. The conservation program at the DMA is supported by Associate Objects Conservator Fran Baas, Associate Paintings Conservator Laura Hartman, and Assistant Objects Conservator Elena Torok.

The Paintings Conservation Studio features state-of-the-art technology—including a digital x-ray system—and serves as a center for study and treatment of works of art as well as research into cutting-edge conservation methodologies. The Studio is adjoined by a public exhibition gallery, which highlights the works of art on view from a conservation perspective.

The Objects Conservation Laboratory at the DMA was established in 1981 and is equipped to handle the wide array of three-dimensional works of art found in the museum’s encyclopedic permanent collections.  Treatments and technical studies focus on diverse materials ranging from ancient sculpture, to African art, to textiles, to contemporary works of art.

Paintings Conservation Studio, Dallas Museum of Art

Conservators at the Dallas Museum of Art are collaborating with the O’Donnell Institute and The University of Texas at Dallas on the following projects:

Current Projects

• An investigation of Andean textile dyes involving the development of novel analytical techniques
• Conservation of a contemporary painting: identifying the working methods and materials used by John Wilcox in the creation of Crucifix

Past Projects

• Pigment and medium analysis of Paul Gauguin’s Under the Pandanus
• Understanding “Ultramarine Disease”