Thursday Seminar: Tony Sigel, "Exploring the Terracotta Sculptural Model—Close-up"

Date: 

Thursday, September 15, 2016, 6:00pm to 7:30pm

Location: 

Gould Hall

In the Renaissance and Baroque, preparatory terracotta models were used by artists to develop their sculptural ideas. Harvard Art Museums Conservator Tony Sigel will discuss his close-up technical examination and documentation of Bernini and other Baroque sculptor's terracotta models.  He will introduce the vocabulary of their individual techniques and tools, how it illustrates their artistic personalities and authorship, and offer an early, speculative glimpse into Michelangelo’s.

 

Tony Sigel is Senior Conservator of Objects and Sculpture at the Straus Center of Conservation, Harvard Art Museums, responsible for three-dimensional art from ancient to contemporary. He was trained as a conservator at the Art Institute of Chicago, and received a BFA from its school.  He has worked five seasons at the archaeological excavations in Sardis, Turkey, most recently as supervising conservator, and has lectured and taught widely on conservation practice and technical art history. A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and the American Academy in Rome, he co-curated the 2013 exhibition,Bernini: Sculpting in Clay, at the Metropolitan and Kimbell Museums.