One of the most interesting projects undertaken by the studio is the complex conservation procedure performed on the large-format work of Barbara Zbrożyna entitled The Sun. It is one of the most prominent works of Polish sculpture in the postwar period. The relief shaped as a circle of c. 210 cm in diameter and varying in thickness from a few to slightly less than twenty centimetres was originally set in a wooden grille. The technology used led to the destabilization of the structure, resulting in fractures in the cast part. The primary conservation problems therefore included designing and making a new supporting structure and devising an installation system for future exhibition.

A large project, which took several years to complete, was the conservation of over seven hundred historic gypsum casts for the exhibition Krakow within your reach. Compiled at the turn of the 20th century, it is an interesting collection of cast copies of architectural and sepulchral sculptures, as well as fragments of prominent sculptural works – predominantly Romanesque and Gothic. They had been made during conservation works in churches and townhouses, mostly in Krakow, but also in other Polish cities. Some of the casts are the only surviving documentation of the no-longer-extant originals. The collection had never been exhibited as a whole, and it had been stored and unavailable to the public since the 1960s.

Another interesting engagement of the studio was the conservation of an alabaster relief entitled Flagellation of Christ. Dated to the second half of the 17th century, the object was probably created in the Lwów centre of alabaster sculpture, after Dutch models. The relief was in a very bad condition – a number of fragments glued together and extremely soiled. In places, putty and other fillers were visible, as were areas of crumbled and missing substance. The gildings were abraded and partly covered with a layer of gold paint.

In addition to remedial procedures, the studio is involved in preventive conservation, consisting mainly in monitoring the storage and display conditions as well as various work required in connection with loans of artworks, conservators’ supervision over their packing and transport, and over temporary exhibitions at our museum.


Studio team:

• Anna Kłosowska – head
• Sława Jurkowska-Sęk
• Marzena Maślan
• Michał Obarzanowski

Contact:
The Józef Mehoffer House
ul. Krupnicza 26
tel. +48 012 433 58 91