Cultural Heritage Imaging

CHI Executive Director Debra Dooley recently conducted an email interview with James (Jim) Coddington (JC), Chief Conservator at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. CHI is building a custom light array for MoMA’a Conservation Department to help with capturing reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) media of objects in the museum’s collection.

1. How long have you been at the MoMA?

JC: 23 years

2. As Chief Conservator at MoMA, are you constantly searching for new techniques to preserve and restore art?

JC: It is a necessity when conserving contemporary art in particular.

3. What are you doing to digitally document, analyze, and preserve the MoMA collection at present?

JC: We are using standard RGB imaging as well as multi-spectral imaging via a spectral estimation technique using a standard RGB camera with filters. We also maintain written digital documentation of treatments and other reporting.

4. Why have you decided to expand from what you are doing now into reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) techniques?

JC: The importance of 3D information in documenting works of art has been long recognized, mostly in the form of raking light photos. RTI gives us the means to collect substantially more 3D information in a standardized way that also provides data for scientific analysis of surface structure and topography.

4. Why did RTI interest you?

JC: I think mostly the demonstrated ease of use.

5. How will you use RTI?

JC: We will be using it initially to document texture on printed out photo papers but we expect to use it on many different types of objects in our collection.

6. A custom light array is being built for the MoMA. What objects will you capture first?

JC: See Answer #5.