Holyoke Center, Harvard University, ca 1962
Holyoke Center, Harvard University, ca 1962
Detail of human-scale emphasis on pattern, horizontality, and setback from street.
Rothko with Fogg Museum conservators
Photos taken during the initial test installation, February 1963. This photo is often noted to show that Rothko "admired the view".
Mark Rothko and Fogg Art Museum Director John Coolidge
Mark Rothko and Josep Lluís Sert in the Holyoke Center penthouse
Sert was the architect of the Holyoke Center and Director of Harvard's Graduate School of Design.
Fogg Conservators stretching the mural canvases onto frames
Students assisting with the hanging of Panel 1
Panel 5 in place near the skylight window
This painting suffered the greatest exposure to sunlight, and its original pinkish hue has faded to blue-gray.
Initial hanging of the triptych
The triptych in the Holyoke Center penthouse dining room
Mark Rothko in his New York studio
Note the high ceilings, windows, and movable walls for spatial experiments.
Rothko moving a canvas for reconfigutation
Rothko in his studio
A table full of pigments, binding mediums, and hand-mixed paints.
Rothko contemplating a painting
Much of his studio time was spent in observation of the painting's visual (and visceral) effects.
The "restored" Harvard Murals at the Harvard Art Museums, 2014
View of the triptych.
The "restored" Harvard Murals at the Harvard Art Museums
View of panels 4 and 5. Note the mustard-yellow walls, and the careful combination of ambient light (created with theatrical instruments) and light from the projectors seen overhead.
Michaelangelo's Laurentien Library (vestibule)
Rothko claimed that these "blank" windows influenced his mural projects.
Panel 5 in its "restored" colors
Panel 5 with the projection turned off
View of the triptych with the projections turned off
Another view of the triptych with the projections turned off
Detail showing tacking margin with original paint
Note the very thin line of projected color that spills off of the painting onto the wall (caused by a specific constraint in the experimental system).
A conservator demonstrating the effect of the projection with a poster board
A conservator demonstrating the effect of the projection with a poster board
A conservator demonstrating the effect of the projection with a poster board
Cross section of a small paint sample used for material analysis
Example of the spectral analysis used to determine the murals' material composition
Molecular structure of "the fugitive" pigment
Crystal formation of the "fugitive" pigment viewed under a microscope
Additional spectral analysis of paint layers
Model of the technical apparatus used to restore the Harvard Murals
View of the restoration technology in use during exhibit installation
Members of the curatorial and conservation team test the system
Installation of the Harvard Murals, 2014
Original 1964 Kodak slide image used to abduct original colors of the Murals
Due to deterioration and original design, these slides had their own shifts in color that had to be digitally addressed in the conservation process.
