By Catherine Mott
Muskegon Museum of Art
Is it true that a painting conservator is also a detective? According to acclaimed conservator and art historian Barry Bauman, every painting has its secrets. During his 46 years of experience treating and analyzing damaged paintings, he has uncovered many of them—lost signatures, hidden dates, and entire paintings hidden beneath other works. Two of his discoveries were so phenomenal they landed on the front page of The New York Times. Bauman will uncover answers to mystery surrounding two of the Muskegon Museum of Art’s treasured paintings in a free Zoom presentation, “Solving the Cranach Mystery Surrounding the Portraits of Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora,” hosted by the museum on Thursday, May 6, at 5 p.m.
Those who attend Bauman’s Zoom presentation will share in the joy of one of his most remarkable discoveries. The Muskegon Museum of Art will host the event online. The virtual event is free and open to the general public. Registration is required. To register, visit the www.muskegonartmuseum.org event page at muskegonartmuseum.org/event/zoom-presentation-by-painting-conservator-art-historian-barry-bauman/.
About Barry Bauman
Barry Bauman With Conserved Thomas Sully’s Portrait of George Washington and John Singer Sargent’s Portrait of General Lucius Fairchild
Bauman’s discoveries lectures have been his most popular, especially for a museum audience, where attendees interested in art, art history, chemistry, physics, history, and museum studies all overlap with conservation concerns. Most individuals are not aware of the conservation field and the rewards it has to offer.
At the beginning of his career, Barry Bauman worked for eleven years at the Art Institute of Chicago, departing as the Associate Conservator of Paintings. He then founded and directed the Chicago Conservation Center for 20 years, which was the largest conservation facility in the nation. In 2004, Bauman left the private sector to establish Bauman Conservation, America’s first conservation laboratory dedicated to offering complimentary services to museums and non-profit organizations. When he closed Bauman Conservation in 2018, it was estimated he had contributed more than $6,000,000 in conservation services to museums and nonprofits.
In August 2019, Barry Bauman opened Conservation Ventures (ConservationVentures.org), a company that focuses on presentations and CAP grants to assist museums with recommendations and priorities for long-range collection care. Bauman is an Elected Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation.
