Jackson Pollock Painting Gets Special Treatment by Getty Conservators

Tags: Abstract Expressionism, Conservation, Jackson Pollock, Los Angeles

The University of Iowa Museum of Art has shipped off its prized possession to the Getty Museum in hopes of restoring it to its original condition. Mural, a 1943 painting by Jackson Pollock, has hung in the university’s museum since it was donated by Peggy Guggenheim, its commissioner, in 1959.

Conservators from the Getty Museum will work in conjunction with the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) to investigate and treat the 20-foot-wide painting during an 18-month period. In an act of reciprocity, the museum will permit the Getty to exhibit the work for three months prior to the preservation.

Mural is seen as one of, if not the, most influential works on the Abstract Expressionist movement, which took place in America in the 1940s and 50s. The work has been the center of controversy in recent months, with state Republicans putting pressure on the museum to sell it: while the value is not known, the museum insures if for a reported $140 million.

Jackson Pollock’s ‘Mural’ heads to Getty for preservation work via LA Times

Photo courtesy of Art Daily.org