AIC 53rd Annual Meeting

The British artist Henry Moore is well known for his monumental outdoor sculptures, three of which are installed at the Getty Center in Los Angeles as part of the Stark Sculpture Collection. The fourteen-foot-tall sculpture, Bronze Form, was the artist’s final outdoor work before his death in 1986. A series of six editions, they were cast and finished at Morris Singer Foundry outside of London starting in 1985. Some of the editions were not completed until after his death, as was the case with the fourth edition of Bronze Form, finished and purchased by the collectors Fran and Ray Stark located in Los Angeles, California in 1987. The Getty acquired Bronze Form (1985, 4/6) as a gift from the Fran and Ray Stark Revocable Trust in 2004-2005, and it has since been prominently displayed surrounded by a reflecting pool adjacent to the Tram Arrival Plaza. 

The Museum’s conservators have spent over a decade maintaining Bronze Form and planning for its long-term preservation. In 2010, a major treatment was carried out to remove an aged, clear polyurethane coating that was applied before the Getty’s acquisition, replacing it with an acrylic lacquer. By 2020, the surface developed uneven corrosion that blemished the translucent, golden patina prompting a more extensive treatment. To remove the corrosion, the treatment involved repolishing the surface and repatinating, which prompted another round of research on Moore’s original intent and expectations for the work in an outdoor setting. Even though Moore’s artistic process is well documented, the intent of the artist’s polished finish for these later works is uncertain and a significant departure from his aesthetic norm. The beginning and end of the project was met with unexpected findings resulting in adaptations to the treatment process. Collaboration and consultation with bronze specialists from Bronze et al, Ltd. and the Henry Moore Foundation helped shape the approach. This paper will review the evidence that supported the conservators’ final plan of action to conserve Bronze Form, starting with a description of its original materials and casting method, including comparison with other editions within the series, pre-treatment testing, and will finish with an overview of the final treatment.