Damage from Sandy Still Having an Impact

I have posted in the past on the amount of damage done by hurricane Sandy also including insurance claims, gallery damage and the increased work loads of appraisers and conservators.  The NY Times recently ran an article that the effects of the storm are still being felt by collectors as well as insurance agents, conservators, appraisers and collectors.  I think the damage, as well as the amount of press, and type of press, such as the need for appraisals and art insurance has been rather positive and increased the awareness of allied professionals within the art world.

The NY Times reports

Across the tristate area, dripping, silt-streaked canvases from galleries had to be parceled out to dry in warehouses in New Jersey and Long Island City, and corralled to contain mold spawned by moisture.

Appraisals had to be drawn up. Restoration costs estimated. Insurance adjustments made.

In cases in which the works’ artists are living, they have to be consulted on repairs. Under a federal law known as the Visual Artists Rights Act, artists retain the right to disapprove any proposed alteration or destruction of their paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures or still photographs, even after they’ve been sold.

And in cases where the works could not be restored, when the insurance company decided they were indeed “totaled,” the paintings had to be discarded in a formal process that was photographed to protect against a work’s resurfacing years later.

More than six months after Sandy, many of the efforts to save artworks are continuing. In Ms. Pitha’s case, on the advice of a family friend she took the Cassatt and 18 other works to conservators at Alvarez Fine Art Services, a midtown company that was, like its peers, racing to keep pace with its client load after the storm.

Alvarez specializes in the conservation of works on paper. When Ms. Pitha’s works were delivered, the company separated those that had gotten wet from those that had stayed dry and assessed the damage, explained Scott Krawitz, who opened the business 30 years ago with Antonio Alvarez.

Conservators at Alvarez prepared a condition report and financial estimate. Ms. Pitha, trusting that her insurer, Champion International Moving, would later provide coverage, signed off on the repair plan and the Cassatt etching was removed from its frame and glass. When the matting was removed, the storm’s watermark and a brown stain could be seen around the perimeter of the image, Mr. Krawitz said.

Jason Marquis, studio manager for Alvarez, said after the Cassatt was cleaned, it was placed on a series of cotton rag paper blotters under weighted glass to remove as much moisture as possible.

Then the stability of the etching’s ink was tested. Mild chemicals were applied and rinsed away to diminish the stain, remove traces of acid from the paper and return it to its original tone, Mr. Krawitz said.

The ways art can be spoiled range from the tragic, like a house fire, to the humorous.

Victor Wiener, an independent art appraiser, remembers a housekeeper who tried to “dry off” a rain-spattered multimillion-dollar canvas with a cleaning rag and smeared the image in the process. Simon Hornby, president of art services for Crozier Fine Arts described cases in which aquariums collapsed and bathtubs overflowed, causing harm.

Source: The NY Times