Top of page

Archive: February 2010 (5 Posts)

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Burning Bright

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

Art and science, and sometimes art and politics, mirror each other in times of rapid change. Robert Hughes made that case in his history of modern art – noting it moved from straight representation to pointillism, cubism, and abstraction as science checked off its discoveries of the 20th Century, such as X-rays and the structure …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Preserving ‘Herblock’ a Rewarding Job for Conservators

Posted by: Matt Raymond

Ever wonder what goes on before an exhibition is mounted and displayed?  My colleague Donna Urschel takes an in-depth look at the preservation steps that were required for the Library’s “Herblock!” exhibition, on display through May 1: Preserving ‘Herblock’ a Rewarding Job for Conservators by Donna Urschel Shortly after the famous Washing­ton Post political cartoonist …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

New Optical Lab Brings LOC into 21st Century

Posted by: Matt Raymond

(The following is a guest article about new preservation capabilities at the LOC by my colleague Donna Urschel, which was recently published in the the Library’s staff newsletter, the Gazette.) For many decades, details of the 1791 Pierre L’Enfant Plan of Washington, D.C.—one of the many treasures at the Library of Congress—had been obscured. A …