Conservation of the Clyfford Still Museum Collection

In 2004, widow Patricia Still commissioned Artex of Landover, Maryland, to undertake a condition survey of the 825 paintings that had been—in accordance with Clyfford Still’s wishes—completely hidden from public and scholarly view following the artist’s death in 1980. Barbara Ramsay of Artex, Clyfford Still Museum Director Dean Sobel, and Chief Conservator James Squires discuss the discoveries that resulted from the lengthy reporting process and the instances of minimal intervention that followed. Continuing this process until its opening in 2011 and thereafter, the Clyfford Still Museum successfully exhibited more than 500 works by the artist in ten original exhibitions and other regular rotations in its first three years. As of the fall of 2014, more than 2,500 works by the artist remain yet to be displayed.