Preservation in Progress

Preservation in Progress: Picturing Immigration offers visitors a rare opportunity to witness the restoration of one of the most significant items in the Museum’s collection: Samuel Bell Waugh’s massive painting The Bay and Harbor of New York (1855, 8.25 x 16.5 ft).  

Take a behind-the-scenes look at the challenge of caring for collections objects through both the ongoing preservation work to the painting happening live in the gallery and hands-on opportunities to experiment with conservation tools and processes.  Conservator Gary McGowan will be on-site to work on the painting Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Preservation in Progress delves into this painting’s role as a document that provides a rare depiction of early immigration. The installation considers this historic painting within a larger context of (often politically charged) visual documentation of the individuals and communities who have looked to New York as a beacon of opportunity and arrived seeking freedom, safety, and a new beginning.