Surface Tension: Modern Japanese Painting Finds New Life

The remarkable 1960 painting "Fuyu 冬" ("Winter") by the Japanese abstract impressionist painter Kumi Sugaï was recently discovered to be in perilous condition. Join us for a unique conservator’s-eye-view with paintings conservation fellow Ruby Awburn, who employed bold techniques to successfully resurrect this dramatic painting, in collaboration with curators Mary Schneider Enriquez and Rachel Saunders. TAKE A CLOSER LOOK: Kumi Sugaï, Japanese, Fuyu, 1960. Oil on canvas. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Samuel M. Kootz, 1972.2. © Kumi Sugaï / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. https://hvrd.art/o/202534. SPEAKERS: Ruby Awburn, Paintings Conservation Fellow, Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies; Mary Schneider Enriquez, Houghton Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art; Rachel Saunders, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Curator of Asian Art. --- 'Art & Ideas' is an annual meeting hosted by the Harvard Art Museums' Division of Institutional Advancement in which the museums’ collections and their innovative role in teaching are explored, both at the university and far beyond, with the museums' advocates, donors, and leaders. Online program details for Arts & Ideas 2020 are available at hvrd.art/artideas. Watch more sessions from Arts & Ideas 2020: vimeo.com/showcase/artandideas2020. --- Recorded October 16, 2020. © President and Fellows of Harvard College. Video: Division of Institutional Advancement. For questions related to permission for commercial use of this video, please contact the Department of Digital Imaging and Visual Resources at am_divr@harvard.edu.