{"id":156946,"date":"2014-05-20T18:57:55","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T22:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"\/gazette\/?p=156946"},"modified":"2014-05-20T18:57:55","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T22:57:55","slug":"a-light-touch-for-rothko-murals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/05\/a-light-touch-for-rothko-murals\/","title":{"rendered":"A light touch for Rothko murals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tArts & Culture\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tA light touch for Rothko murals\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\tColleen Walsh\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tVirtual restoration to be unveiled with opening of Harvard Art Museums \t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\t\t

What would the famously exacting abstract artist Mark Rothko think about using a ghostlike technology to recapture the vibrancy of his faded Harvard murals, a virtual restoration that can disappear with the flip of a switch?<\/p>\n

Experts never like to speculate on the original intentions or interests of an artist, but someone intimately close to the late painter is a fan.<\/p>\n

Christopher Rothko, the guardian of much of his father\u2019s work, was initially unsure about the restoration technique, which was developed over several years by a Harvard team with help from experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/a>. But when he saw a test run of the technology at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum last year\u00a0and observed light from a digital projector preserving his father\u2019s vibrant brushstrokes while restoring the faded murals\u2019 rich hues, he was \u201csurprised and thrilled,\u201d said Mary Schneider Enriquez, the Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt to him as real as it possibly could be, and as vivid,\u201d said Enriquez, who helped work on the project. She noted that Christopher Rothko thought his father would have loved seeing the murals reunited as one collective work.<\/p>\n

The renovated and expanded Harvard Art Museums will open in November with the inaugural special exhibition \u201cMark Rothko\u2019s Harvard Murals,\u201d a series of six large panels created for the top floor of Harvard\u2019s Holyoke Center (now the Smith Campus Center) in 1962 and revived after years in storage with minimal handiwork.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\t

\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tRothko at Harvard<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t
\n\t\n
\n\t\"Mark\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Mark Rothko (left) and Josep Llu\u00eds Sert inside the Holyoke Center in 1963. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n

\n\t\"John\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of “Panel Two” and “Panel Three” of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n

\n\t\"Rothko's\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Rothko’s “Panel Five” inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n

\n\t\"Rothko\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Rothko in front of “Panel Two” and “Panel Three” of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n

\n\t\"Rothko's\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Rothko’s “Panel Five” is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n

\n\t\"A\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

A view of Rothko’s “Panel Four.” Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\r\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s appropriate as our major opening exhibition because we\u2019re a University art museum and we are supposed to be about the free exchange of ideas,\u201d said Thomas W. Lentz<\/a>, the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums, who expects the show to generate lively conversation about the new technology. \u201cThis exhibition is fundamentally propositional in nature; it\u2019s really intended to inspire discussion and debate on this new conservation approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many applaud the new technique for its adherence to art conservation\u2019s cardinal rule: it\u2019s reversible. For conservators, any preservation or restoration process that permanently obscures the artist\u2019s hand is anathema. The new method was a perfect fit for the murals, whose delicate surfaces and prominent brushwork made \u201cinpainting\u201d impossible.<\/p>\n

An innovative approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

The idea of using light for art conservation has been around for years and came from \u201cthinking about color perception,\u201d said Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies who, beginning in 2008, helped develop the technique for the murals. \u201cIn human color perception you have a light source, a surface, and a viewer, and the three interact. If you can\u2019t change the surface, you can change the light source to change the color.\u201d<\/p>\n

Light projection as a tool in art conservation was first described and demonstrated by Canadian conservator Raymond Lafontaine using slide projectors in the 1980s. More recently, digital projectors have been used to restore items such as a Henry VIII tapestry in England\u2019s Hampton Court and a Native American vessel at Purdue University. But restoring a large-scale painting, pixel by pixel, was something new.<\/p>\n

To begin, a team of conservators and scientists at the Straus Center spent months determining what kinds of materials Rothko (1903-1970) used to help them better understand the fading process. They built on work done in the 1980s by Harvard conservation scientist Paul Whitmore, who found the abstract artist relied on the light-sensitive pigment lithol red to give his murals their deep crimson. The \u201cfugitive\u201d nature of that pigment combined with the desire to preserve Rothko\u2019s brushwork ruled out the use of conventional restoration techniques. The team turned to a digital solution.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\t

\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tEnlightened technology<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t
\n\t\n
\n\t\"Houghton\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n

\n\t\"A\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n

\n\t\"A\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n

\n\t\"Jens\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\r\n\n

With help from Ramesh Raskar, a computational photography expert at MIT, and two MIT students, they developed a piece of software that could isolate the images\u2019 colors one pixel at a time.<\/p>\n

To determine the murals\u2019 original colors, the team had to rely on another delicate process. While they could consult the sixth panel by Rothko \u2014 which had not been displayed and had never faded \u2014 they also needed to reference a series of Ektachrome photographs of the works taken in 1964. Sadly, those pictures had faded as well. The conservators worked with an expert in Switzerland, Rudolf Gschwind at the University of Basel, who digitally restored the photographs.<\/p>\n

The resulting technology uses a digital camera to shoot pictures of the murals in the new gallery. That image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information the comparison generates is fed to a computer that uses the new software to create a \u201ccompensation image\u201d that is sent to a digital projector, which illuminates the murals to appear as they would have looked more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n

On a recent afternoon, Stenger, now a conservation scientist at Yale University\u2019s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, demonstrated how a projector suspended from the gallery ceiling bathed large sections of the background of Panel Four in a pink beam to restore its crimson hue, while a black swath next to it remained unchanged. When the exhibition opens, five projectors will be used to shine light on each of the faded paintings. The projectors will be turned off periodically during the exhibition to allow visitors see the murals without restoration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it\u2019s important to make this distinction,\u201d said Lentz. \u201cWe are not restoring the paintings, we are restoring the appearance of the paintings. Even in their unconserved state they are really these kinds of magnificent runes. They are very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faded history<\/strong><\/p>\n

The five murals were painted for Harvard in 1962 as commission for a special function and dining room on the 10th floor of the Holyoke Center designed by Josep Llu\u00eds Sert, the dean of the Graduate School of Design. They represented the University\u2019s new embrace of contemporary art and architecture.<\/p>\n

The commission also represented a rare chance for Rothko to create what he always envisioned for his murals, an immersive environment. (The artist famously pulled his series of paintings commissioned for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York, and he never lived to see the installation of his works in the Rothko Chapel that he helped design in Houston.)<\/p>\n

But the Holyoke room posed challenges right away. Rothko insisted on new color for its walls, one that would better mesh with his paintings, as well new lighting. He also requested fiberglass curtains to help block the sunlight that spilled into the room, but the shades were no match for Sert\u2019s floor-to-ceiling windows. As the years passed, the paintings faded. (Panel Five, the mural most dramatically affected, today looks light blue compared with its original deep crimson.) They were also damaged by furniture, and stained with food and graffiti. The murals were removed in the late 1970s and put into storage.<\/p>\n

When the exhibit opens on Nov. 16, visitors will see Rothko\u2019s works restored to their original colors and displayed together as he intended. \u201cIt gives you a sense of what the Holyoke space was like,\u201d said Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, director of Harvard’s Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art and associate director for conservation and research at the Whitney Museum of American Art. \u201cI think you will sense a real aura as well, that\u2019s very much the intent of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on display will be the sixth mural Rothko completed for the series but chose not to install, as well as related studies that offer a window into the creative process behind the Harvard project.<\/p>\n

For experts and art lovers alike, the new exhibition restores the vividness of Rothko\u2019s murals, opens them up to the public, and revives them as a subject for scholarly discourse.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the tragedies is the Harvard murals have not been recognized in art history in the same way they should be because they were taken down and because of the fading,\u201d said Enriquez. \u201cOne of the several things this exhibition will do is to bring them back into the discourse on Rothko\u2019s history and the importance of them within his trajectory as an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMark Rothko\u2019s Harvard Murals\u201d will be on display through July 26, 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abstract artist Mark Rothko\u2019s series of Harvard murals will be displayed in November using a digital technology that casts light on the paintings to restore their faded colors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105622744,"featured_media":156948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gz_ga_pageviews":26,"gz_ga_lastupdated":"2022-02-28 04:22","document_color_palette":null,"author":"Colleen Walsh","affiliation":"Harvard Staff Writer","_category_override":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1360],"tags":[2379,15411,22785,23055,25571,32436,33874,36322],"gazette-formats":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-156946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-humanities","tag-colleen-walsh","tag-harvard-art-museums","tag-mark-rothko","tag-massachusetts-institute-of-technology","tag-news-hub","tag-straus-center-for-conservation-and-technical-studies","tag-thomas-w-lentz","tag-yale-university"],"yoast_head":"\nA light touch for Rothko murals — Harvard Gazette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Abstract artist Mark Rothko\u2019s series of Harvard murals will be displayed in November using a digital technology that casts light on the paintings to restore their faded colors.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/05\/a-light-touch-for-rothko-murals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A light touch for Rothko murals — Harvard Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Abstract artist Mark Rothko\u2019s series of Harvard murals will be displayed in November using a digital technology that casts light on the paintings to restore their faded colors.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/05\/a-light-touch-for-rothko-murals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Harvard Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-20T22:57:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_119_605.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"605\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"403\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"harvardgazette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/05\/a-light-touch-for-rothko-murals\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/05\/a-light-touch-for-rothko-murals\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"harvardgazette\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/person\/78d028cf624923e92682268709ffbc4b\"},\"headline\":\"A light touch for Rothko murals\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-20T22:57:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/05\/a-light-touch-for-rothko-murals\/\"},\"wordCount\":1640,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/05\/a-light-touch-for-rothko-murals\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_119_605.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"\u201d Colleen Walsh\",\"Harvard Art Museums\",\"Mark Rothko\",\"Massachusetts Institute of Technology\",\"News Hub\",\"Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies\",\"Thomas W. 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university"],"dateCreated":"2014-05-20T22:57:55Z","datePublished":"2014-05-20T22:57:55Z","dateModified":"2014-05-20T22:57:55Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"A light touch for Rothko murals\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/gazette\\\/story\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/a-light-touch-for-rothko-murals\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/gazette\\\/story\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/a-light-touch-for-rothko-murals\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/051514_rothko_119_605.jpg?w=150\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/051514_rothko_119_605.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Arts & 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university\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2014-05-20T22:57:55Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-20T22:57:55Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-20T22:57:55Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/news.harvard.edu\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_119_605.jpg","has_blocks":true,"block_data":{"0":{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/article-header","attrs":{"blockColorPalette":"","coloredHeading":"","creditText":"","displayDetails":"","displayTitle":"","categoryId":1360,"mediaAlt":"","mediaCaption":"","mediaId":"","mediaSize":"","mediaType":"","mediaUrl":"","poster":"","title":"A light touch for Rothko murals","subheading":"Virtual restoration to be unveiled with opening of Harvard Art Museums ","className":"is-style-square","backgroundFixed":false,"backgroundTone":"light","centeredImage":false,"coloredBackground":false,"displayOverlay":true,"fadeInText":false,"isAmbient":false,"mediaHeight":0,"mediaLength":"","mediaPosition":"","mediaWidth":0,"posterText":"","titleAbove":false,"useUncroppedImage":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"","innerContent":[],"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-square has-light-background has-colored-heading\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/arts-humanities\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tArts & Culture\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading \">\n\t\tA light touch for Rothko murals\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tColleen Walsh\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2014-05-20\">\n\t\t\tMay 20, 2014\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t9 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tVirtual restoration to be unveiled with opening of Harvard Art Museums \t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t<p>What would the famously exacting abstract artist Mark Rothko think about using a ghostlike technology to recapture the vibrancy of his faded Harvard murals, a virtual restoration that can disappear with the flip of a switch?<\/p>\n<p>Experts never like to speculate on the original intentions or interests of an artist, but someone intimately close to the late painter is a fan.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Rothko, the guardian of much of his father\u2019s work, was initially unsure about the restoration technique, which was developed over several years by a Harvard team with help from experts at the <a href=\"http:\/\/web.mit.edu\">Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/a>. But when he saw a test run of the technology at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum last year\u00a0and observed light from a digital projector preserving his father\u2019s vibrant brushstrokes while restoring the faded murals\u2019 rich hues, he was \u201csurprised and thrilled,\u201d said Mary Schneider Enriquez, the Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt felt to him as real as it possibly could be, and as vivid,\u201d said Enriquez, who helped work on the project. She noted that Christopher Rothko thought his father would have loved seeing the murals reunited as one collective work.<\/p>\n<p>The renovated and expanded Harvard Art Museums will open in November with the inaugural special exhibition \u201cMark Rothko\u2019s Harvard Murals,\u201d a series of six large panels created for the top floor of Harvard\u2019s Holyoke Center (now the Smith Campus Center) in 1962 and revived after years in storage with minimal handiwork.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n\t\t<p>What would the famously exacting abstract artist Mark Rothko think about using a ghostlike technology to recapture the vibrancy of his faded Harvard murals, a virtual restoration that can disappear with the flip of a switch?<\/p>\n<p>Experts never like to speculate on the original intentions or interests of an artist, but someone intimately close to the late painter is a fan.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Rothko, the guardian of much of his father\u2019s work, was initially unsure about the restoration technique, which was developed over several years by a Harvard team with help from experts at the <a href=\"http:\/\/web.mit.edu\">Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/a>. But when he saw a test run of the technology at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum last year\u00a0and observed light from a digital projector preserving his father\u2019s vibrant brushstrokes while restoring the faded murals\u2019 rich hues, he was \u201csurprised and thrilled,\u201d said Mary Schneider Enriquez, the Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt felt to him as real as it possibly could be, and as vivid,\u201d said Enriquez, who helped work on the project. She noted that Christopher Rothko thought his father would have loved seeing the murals reunited as one collective work.<\/p>\n<p>The renovated and expanded Harvard Art Museums will open in November with the inaugural special exhibition \u201cMark Rothko\u2019s Harvard Murals,\u201d a series of six large panels created for the top floor of Harvard\u2019s Holyoke Center (now the Smith Campus Center) in 1962 and revived after years in storage with minimal handiwork.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n\t\t<p>What would the famously exacting abstract artist Mark Rothko think about using a ghostlike technology to recapture the vibrancy of his faded Harvard murals, a virtual restoration that can disappear with the flip of a switch?<\/p>\n<p>Experts never like to speculate on the original intentions or interests of an artist, but someone intimately close to the late painter is a fan.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Rothko, the guardian of much of his father\u2019s work, was initially unsure about the restoration technique, which was developed over several years by a Harvard team with help from experts at the <a href=\"http:\/\/web.mit.edu\">Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/a>. But when he saw a test run of the technology at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum last year\u00a0and observed light from a digital projector preserving his father\u2019s vibrant brushstrokes while restoring the faded murals\u2019 rich hues, he was \u201csurprised and thrilled,\u201d said Mary Schneider Enriquez, the Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt felt to him as real as it possibly could be, and as vivid,\u201d said Enriquez, who helped work on the project. She noted that Christopher Rothko thought his father would have loved seeing the murals reunited as one collective work.<\/p>\n<p>The renovated and expanded Harvard Art Museums will open in November with the inaugural special exhibition \u201cMark Rothko\u2019s Harvard Murals,\u201d a series of six large panels created for the top floor of Harvard\u2019s Holyoke Center (now the Smith Campus Center) in 1962 and revived after years in storage with minimal handiwork.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/image-carousel","attrs":{"heading":"Rothko at Harvard","caption":"","id":"214afe72-f4fa-4766-bfda-41e3965a9e75","headingHidden":false,"layout":"image-carousel","showNumbers":false,"stretch":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[]},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/carousel-slide","attrs":{"creditText":"","mediaAlt":"Mark Rothko (left) and Josep Llu\u00eds Sert inside the Holyoke Center in 1963. Photo by Elizabeth H. 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Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_rothko-and-sert-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Mark Rothko (left) and Josep Llu\u00eds Sert inside the Holyoke Center in 1963. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Mark Rothko (left) and Josep Llu\u00eds Sert inside the Holyoke Center in 1963. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_rothko-and-sert-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Mark Rothko (left) and Josep Llu\u00eds Sert inside the Holyoke Center in 1963. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Mark Rothko (left) and Josep Llu\u00eds Sert inside the Holyoke Center in 1963. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_rothko-and-sert-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Mark Rothko (left) and Josep Llu\u00eds Sert inside the Holyoke Center in 1963. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/carousel-slide","attrs":{"creditText":"","mediaAlt":"John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones","mediaCaption":"John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones","mediaId":"156913","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_coolidge-and-rothko-1963.jpg","mediaHeight":"381","mediaSize":"wide-auto","mediaWidth":"570","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of "Panel Two" and "Panel Three" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_coolidge-and-rothko-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of "Panel Two" and "Panel Three" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_coolidge-and-rothko-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of "Panel Two" and "Panel Three" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_coolidge-and-rothko-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/carousel-slide","attrs":{"creditText":"","mediaAlt":"Rothko's \"Panel Five\" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives","mediaCaption":"Rothko's \"Panel Five\" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives","mediaId":"156914","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_panel-five-1968.jpg","mediaHeight":"381","mediaSize":"wide-auto","mediaWidth":"570","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko's "Panel Five" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_panel-five-1968.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko's \"Panel Five\" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko's "Panel Five" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_panel-five-1968.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko's \"Panel Five\" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko's "Panel Five" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_panel-five-1968.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko's \"Panel Five\" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/carousel-slide","attrs":{"creditText":"","mediaAlt":"Rothko in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones","mediaCaption":"Rothko in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones","mediaId":"156915","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_rothko-1963.jpg","mediaHeight":"381","mediaSize":"wide-auto","mediaWidth":"570","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko in front of "Panel Two" and "Panel Three" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_rothko-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko in front of "Panel Two" and "Panel Three" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_rothko-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko in front of "Panel Two" and "Panel Three" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_rothko-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/carousel-slide","attrs":{"creditText":"","mediaAlt":"Rothko's \"Panel Five\" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko","mediaCaption":"Rothko's \"Panel Five\" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko","mediaId":"156917","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-five-hm_2011-638-5.jpg","mediaHeight":"381","mediaSize":"wide-auto","mediaWidth":"570","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko's "Panel Five" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-five-hm_2011-638-5.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko's \"Panel Five\" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko's "Panel Five" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-five-hm_2011-638-5.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko's \"Panel Five\" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko's "Panel Five" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-five-hm_2011-638-5.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko's \"Panel Five\" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/carousel-slide","attrs":{"creditText":"","mediaAlt":"A view of Rothko's \"Panel Four.\" Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko","mediaCaption":"A view of Rothko's \"Panel Four.\" Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko","mediaId":"156918","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-four-hm_2011-638-4.jpg","mediaHeight":"381","mediaSize":"wide-auto","mediaWidth":"570","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A view of Rothko's "Panel Four." Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-four-hm_2011-638-4.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A view of Rothko's \"Panel Four.\" Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A view of Rothko's "Panel Four." Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-four-hm_2011-638-4.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A view of Rothko's \"Panel Four.\" Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A view of Rothko's "Panel Four." Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-four-hm_2011-638-4.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A view of Rothko's \"Panel Four.\" Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n\t<section class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-image-carousel alignfull carousel carousel--images\">\n\t\t<h2 class=\"carousel__heading wp-block-heading\" id=\"heading-214afe72-f4fa-4766-bfda-41e3965a9e75\">\n\t\t\t<span>Rothko at Harvard<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t<div aria-labelledby=\"heading-214afe72-f4fa-4766-bfda-41e3965a9e75\" class=\"carousel__wrapper splide\"><div class=\"carousel__track splide__track\"><div class=\"carousel__list splide__list\">\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n","innerContent":["\n\t<section class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-image-carousel alignfull carousel carousel--images\">\n\t\t<h2 class=\"carousel__heading wp-block-heading\" id=\"heading-214afe72-f4fa-4766-bfda-41e3965a9e75\">\n\t\t\t<span>Rothko at Harvard<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t<div aria-labelledby=\"heading-214afe72-f4fa-4766-bfda-41e3965a9e75\" class=\"carousel__wrapper splide\"><div class=\"carousel__track splide__track\"><div class=\"carousel__list splide__list\">\n\t","\n","\n","\n","\n","\n","\n\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n"],"rendered":"\n\t<section class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-image-carousel alignfull carousel carousel--images\">\n\t\t<h2 class=\"carousel__heading wp-block-heading\" id=\"heading-214afe72-f4fa-4766-bfda-41e3965a9e75\">\n\t\t\t<span>Rothko at Harvard<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t<div aria-labelledby=\"heading-214afe72-f4fa-4766-bfda-41e3965a9e75\" class=\"carousel__wrapper splide\"><div class=\"carousel__track splide__track\"><div class=\"carousel__list splide__list\">\n\t\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Mark Rothko (left) and Josep Llu\u00eds Sert inside the Holyoke Center in 1963. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_rothko-and-sert-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Mark Rothko (left) and Josep Llu\u00eds Sert inside the Holyoke Center in 1963. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of "Panel Two" and "Panel Three" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_coolidge-and-rothko-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko's "Panel Five" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_panel-five-1968.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko's \"Panel Five\" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko in front of "Panel Two" and "Panel Three" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_rothko-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko's "Panel Five" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-five-hm_2011-638-5.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko's \"Panel Five\" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A view of Rothko's "Panel Four." Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-four-hm_2011-638-4.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A view of Rothko's \"Panel Four.\" Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s appropriate as our major opening exhibition because we\u2019re a University art museum and we are supposed to be about the free exchange of ideas,\u201d said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harvardartmuseums.org\/about\/directors-message\">Thomas W. Lentz<\/a>, the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums, who expects the show to generate lively conversation about the new technology. \u201cThis exhibition is fundamentally propositional in nature; it\u2019s really intended to inspire discussion and debate on this new conservation approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many applaud the new technique for its adherence to art conservation\u2019s cardinal rule: it\u2019s reversible. For conservators, any preservation or restoration process that permanently obscures the artist\u2019s hand is anathema. The new method was a perfect fit for the murals, whose delicate surfaces and prominent brushwork made \u201cinpainting\u201d impossible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An innovative approach<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The idea of using light for art conservation has been around for years and came from \u201cthinking about color perception,\u201d said Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies who, beginning in 2008, helped develop the technique for the murals. \u201cIn human color perception you have a light source, a surface, and a viewer, and the three interact. If you can\u2019t change the surface, you can change the light source to change the color.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Light projection as a tool in art conservation was first described and demonstrated by Canadian conservator Raymond Lafontaine using slide projectors in the 1980s. More recently, digital projectors have been used to restore items such as a Henry VIII tapestry in England\u2019s Hampton Court and a Native American vessel at Purdue University. But restoring a large-scale painting, pixel by pixel, was something new.<\/p>\n<p>To begin, a team of conservators and scientists at the Straus Center spent months determining what kinds of materials Rothko (1903-1970) used to help them better understand the fading process. They built on work done in the 1980s by Harvard conservation scientist Paul Whitmore, who found the abstract artist relied on the light-sensitive pigment lithol red to give his murals their deep crimson. The \u201cfugitive\u201d nature of that pigment combined with the desire to preserve Rothko\u2019s brushwork ruled out the use of conventional restoration techniques. The team turned to a digital solution.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s appropriate as our major opening exhibition because we\u2019re a University art museum and we are supposed to be about the free exchange of ideas,\u201d said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harvardartmuseums.org\/about\/directors-message\">Thomas W. Lentz<\/a>, the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums, who expects the show to generate lively conversation about the new technology. \u201cThis exhibition is fundamentally propositional in nature; it\u2019s really intended to inspire discussion and debate on this new conservation approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many applaud the new technique for its adherence to art conservation\u2019s cardinal rule: it\u2019s reversible. For conservators, any preservation or restoration process that permanently obscures the artist\u2019s hand is anathema. The new method was a perfect fit for the murals, whose delicate surfaces and prominent brushwork made \u201cinpainting\u201d impossible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An innovative approach<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The idea of using light for art conservation has been around for years and came from \u201cthinking about color perception,\u201d said Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies who, beginning in 2008, helped develop the technique for the murals. \u201cIn human color perception you have a light source, a surface, and a viewer, and the three interact. If you can\u2019t change the surface, you can change the light source to change the color.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Light projection as a tool in art conservation was first described and demonstrated by Canadian conservator Raymond Lafontaine using slide projectors in the 1980s. More recently, digital projectors have been used to restore items such as a Henry VIII tapestry in England\u2019s Hampton Court and a Native American vessel at Purdue University. But restoring a large-scale painting, pixel by pixel, was something new.<\/p>\n<p>To begin, a team of conservators and scientists at the Straus Center spent months determining what kinds of materials Rothko (1903-1970) used to help them better understand the fading process. They built on work done in the 1980s by Harvard conservation scientist Paul Whitmore, who found the abstract artist relied on the light-sensitive pigment lithol red to give his murals their deep crimson. The \u201cfugitive\u201d nature of that pigment combined with the desire to preserve Rothko\u2019s brushwork ruled out the use of conventional restoration techniques. The team turned to a digital solution.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s appropriate as our major opening exhibition because we\u2019re a University art museum and we are supposed to be about the free exchange of ideas,\u201d said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harvardartmuseums.org\/about\/directors-message\">Thomas W. Lentz<\/a>, the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums, who expects the show to generate lively conversation about the new technology. \u201cThis exhibition is fundamentally propositional in nature; it\u2019s really intended to inspire discussion and debate on this new conservation approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many applaud the new technique for its adherence to art conservation\u2019s cardinal rule: it\u2019s reversible. For conservators, any preservation or restoration process that permanently obscures the artist\u2019s hand is anathema. The new method was a perfect fit for the murals, whose delicate surfaces and prominent brushwork made \u201cinpainting\u201d impossible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An innovative approach<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The idea of using light for art conservation has been around for years and came from \u201cthinking about color perception,\u201d said Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies who, beginning in 2008, helped develop the technique for the murals. \u201cIn human color perception you have a light source, a surface, and a viewer, and the three interact. If you can\u2019t change the surface, you can change the light source to change the color.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Light projection as a tool in art conservation was first described and demonstrated by Canadian conservator Raymond Lafontaine using slide projectors in the 1980s. More recently, digital projectors have been used to restore items such as a Henry VIII tapestry in England\u2019s Hampton Court and a Native American vessel at Purdue University. But restoring a large-scale painting, pixel by pixel, was something new.<\/p>\n<p>To begin, a team of conservators and scientists at the Straus Center spent months determining what kinds of materials Rothko (1903-1970) used to help them better understand the fading process. They built on work done in the 1980s by Harvard conservation scientist Paul Whitmore, who found the abstract artist relied on the light-sensitive pigment lithol red to give his murals their deep crimson. The \u201cfugitive\u201d nature of that pigment combined with the desire to preserve Rothko\u2019s brushwork ruled out the use of conventional restoration techniques. The team turned to a digital solution.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/image-carousel","attrs":{"heading":"Enlightened technology","caption":"","id":"5ba2969a-276d-4614-a0b1-c1113e238b27","headingHidden":false,"layout":"image-carousel","showNumbers":false,"stretch":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[]},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/carousel-slide","attrs":{"creditText":"","mediaAlt":"Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer","mediaCaption":"Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer","mediaId":"156910","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_487_570new6.jpg","mediaHeight":"380","mediaSize":"wide-auto","mediaWidth":"570","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer\" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_487_570new6.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer\" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_487_570new6.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer\" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_487_570new6.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/carousel-slide","attrs":{"creditText":"","mediaAlt":"A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.","mediaCaption":"A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.","mediaId":"156909","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_414_570new5.jpg","mediaHeight":"380","mediaSize":"wide-auto","mediaWidth":"570","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.\" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_414_570new5.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.\" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_414_570new5.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.\" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_414_570new5.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/carousel-slide","attrs":{"creditText":"","mediaAlt":"A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.","mediaCaption":"A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.","mediaId":"156907","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_366_570new4.jpg","mediaHeight":"381","mediaSize":"wide-auto","mediaWidth":"570","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_366_570new4.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_366_570new4.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_366_570new4.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/carousel-slide","attrs":{"creditText":"","mediaAlt":"Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. ","mediaCaption":"Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. ","mediaId":"156906","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_155_570new1.jpg","mediaHeight":"380","mediaSize":"wide-auto","mediaWidth":"570","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. \" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_155_570new1.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. \" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_155_570new1.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. \" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_155_570new1.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n\t<section class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-image-carousel alignfull carousel carousel--images\">\n\t\t<h2 class=\"carousel__heading wp-block-heading\" id=\"heading-5ba2969a-276d-4614-a0b1-c1113e238b27\">\n\t\t\t<span>Enlightened technology<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t<div aria-labelledby=\"heading-5ba2969a-276d-4614-a0b1-c1113e238b27\" class=\"carousel__wrapper splide\"><div class=\"carousel__track splide__track\"><div class=\"carousel__list splide__list\">\n\t\n\n\n\n\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n","innerContent":["\n\t<section class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-image-carousel alignfull carousel carousel--images\">\n\t\t<h2 class=\"carousel__heading wp-block-heading\" id=\"heading-5ba2969a-276d-4614-a0b1-c1113e238b27\">\n\t\t\t<span>Enlightened technology<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t<div aria-labelledby=\"heading-5ba2969a-276d-4614-a0b1-c1113e238b27\" class=\"carousel__wrapper splide\"><div class=\"carousel__track splide__track\"><div class=\"carousel__list splide__list\">\n\t","\n","\n","\n","\n\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n"],"rendered":"\n\t<section class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-image-carousel alignfull carousel carousel--images\">\n\t\t<h2 class=\"carousel__heading wp-block-heading\" id=\"heading-5ba2969a-276d-4614-a0b1-c1113e238b27\">\n\t\t\t<span>Enlightened technology<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t<div aria-labelledby=\"heading-5ba2969a-276d-4614-a0b1-c1113e238b27\" class=\"carousel__wrapper splide\"><div class=\"carousel__track splide__track\"><div class=\"carousel__list splide__list\">\n\t\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer\" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_487_570new6.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.\" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_414_570new5.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_366_570new4.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. \" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_155_570new1.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>With help from Ramesh Raskar, a computational photography expert at MIT, and two MIT students, they developed a piece of software that could isolate the images\u2019 colors one pixel at a time.<\/p>\n<p>To determine the murals\u2019 original colors, the team had to rely on another delicate process. While they could consult the sixth panel by Rothko \u2014 which had not been displayed and had never faded \u2014 they also needed to reference a series of Ektachrome photographs of the works taken in 1964. Sadly, those pictures had faded as well. The conservators worked with an expert in Switzerland, Rudolf Gschwind at the University of Basel, who digitally restored the photographs.<\/p>\n<p>The resulting technology uses a digital camera to shoot pictures of the murals in the new gallery. That image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information the comparison generates is fed to a computer that uses the new software to create a \u201ccompensation image\u201d that is sent to a digital projector, which illuminates the murals to appear as they would have looked more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>On a recent afternoon, Stenger, now a conservation scientist at Yale University\u2019s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, demonstrated how a projector suspended from the gallery ceiling bathed large sections of the background of Panel Four in a pink beam to restore its crimson hue, while a black swath next to it remained unchanged. When the exhibition opens, five projectors will be used to shine light on each of the faded paintings. The projectors will be turned off periodically during the exhibition to allow visitors see the murals without restoration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that it\u2019s important to make this distinction,\u201d said Lentz. \u201cWe are not restoring the paintings, we are restoring the appearance of the paintings. Even in their unconserved state they are really these kinds of magnificent runes. They are very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Faded history<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The five murals were painted for Harvard in 1962 as commission for a special function and dining room on the 10th floor of the Holyoke Center designed by Josep Llu\u00eds Sert, the dean of the Graduate School of Design. They represented the University\u2019s new embrace of contemporary art and architecture.<\/p>\n<p>The commission also represented a rare chance for Rothko to create what he always envisioned for his murals, an immersive environment. (The artist famously pulled his series of paintings commissioned for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York, and he never lived to see the installation of his works in the Rothko Chapel that he helped design in Houston.)<\/p>\n<p>But the Holyoke room posed challenges right away. Rothko insisted on new color for its walls, one that would better mesh with his paintings, as well new lighting. He also requested fiberglass curtains to help block the sunlight that spilled into the room, but the shades were no match for Sert\u2019s floor-to-ceiling windows. As the years passed, the paintings faded. (Panel Five, the mural most dramatically affected, today looks light blue compared with its original deep crimson.) They were also damaged by furniture, and stained with food and graffiti. The murals were removed in the late 1970s and put into storage.<\/p>\n<p>When the exhibit opens on Nov. 16, visitors will see Rothko\u2019s works restored to their original colors and displayed together as he intended. \u201cIt gives you a sense of what the Holyoke space was like,\u201d said Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, director of Harvard's Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art and associate director for conservation and research at the Whitney Museum of American Art. \u201cI think you will sense a real aura as well, that\u2019s very much the intent of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also on display will be the sixth mural Rothko completed for the series but chose not to install, as well as related studies that offer a window into the creative process behind the Harvard project.<\/p>\n<p>For experts and art lovers alike, the new exhibition restores the vividness of Rothko\u2019s murals, opens them up to the public, and revives them as a subject for scholarly discourse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the tragedies is the Harvard murals have not been recognized in art history in the same way they should be because they were taken down and because of the fading,\u201d said Enriquez. \u201cOne of the several things this exhibition will do is to bring them back into the discourse on Rothko\u2019s history and the importance of them within his trajectory as an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cMark Rothko\u2019s Harvard Murals\u201d will be on display through July 26, 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","innerContent":["\n<p>With help from Ramesh Raskar, a computational photography expert at MIT, and two MIT students, they developed a piece of software that could isolate the images\u2019 colors one pixel at a time.<\/p>\n<p>To determine the murals\u2019 original colors, the team had to rely on another delicate process. While they could consult the sixth panel by Rothko \u2014 which had not been displayed and had never faded \u2014 they also needed to reference a series of Ektachrome photographs of the works taken in 1964. Sadly, those pictures had faded as well. The conservators worked with an expert in Switzerland, Rudolf Gschwind at the University of Basel, who digitally restored the photographs.<\/p>\n<p>The resulting technology uses a digital camera to shoot pictures of the murals in the new gallery. That image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information the comparison generates is fed to a computer that uses the new software to create a \u201ccompensation image\u201d that is sent to a digital projector, which illuminates the murals to appear as they would have looked more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>On a recent afternoon, Stenger, now a conservation scientist at Yale University\u2019s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, demonstrated how a projector suspended from the gallery ceiling bathed large sections of the background of Panel Four in a pink beam to restore its crimson hue, while a black swath next to it remained unchanged. When the exhibition opens, five projectors will be used to shine light on each of the faded paintings. The projectors will be turned off periodically during the exhibition to allow visitors see the murals without restoration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that it\u2019s important to make this distinction,\u201d said Lentz. \u201cWe are not restoring the paintings, we are restoring the appearance of the paintings. Even in their unconserved state they are really these kinds of magnificent runes. They are very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Faded history<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The five murals were painted for Harvard in 1962 as commission for a special function and dining room on the 10th floor of the Holyoke Center designed by Josep Llu\u00eds Sert, the dean of the Graduate School of Design. They represented the University\u2019s new embrace of contemporary art and architecture.<\/p>\n<p>The commission also represented a rare chance for Rothko to create what he always envisioned for his murals, an immersive environment. (The artist famously pulled his series of paintings commissioned for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York, and he never lived to see the installation of his works in the Rothko Chapel that he helped design in Houston.)<\/p>\n<p>But the Holyoke room posed challenges right away. Rothko insisted on new color for its walls, one that would better mesh with his paintings, as well new lighting. He also requested fiberglass curtains to help block the sunlight that spilled into the room, but the shades were no match for Sert\u2019s floor-to-ceiling windows. As the years passed, the paintings faded. (Panel Five, the mural most dramatically affected, today looks light blue compared with its original deep crimson.) They were also damaged by furniture, and stained with food and graffiti. The murals were removed in the late 1970s and put into storage.<\/p>\n<p>When the exhibit opens on Nov. 16, visitors will see Rothko\u2019s works restored to their original colors and displayed together as he intended. \u201cIt gives you a sense of what the Holyoke space was like,\u201d said Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, director of Harvard's Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art and associate director for conservation and research at the Whitney Museum of American Art. \u201cI think you will sense a real aura as well, that\u2019s very much the intent of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also on display will be the sixth mural Rothko completed for the series but chose not to install, as well as related studies that offer a window into the creative process behind the Harvard project.<\/p>\n<p>For experts and art lovers alike, the new exhibition restores the vividness of Rothko\u2019s murals, opens them up to the public, and revives them as a subject for scholarly discourse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the tragedies is the Harvard murals have not been recognized in art history in the same way they should be because they were taken down and because of the fading,\u201d said Enriquez. \u201cOne of the several things this exhibition will do is to bring them back into the discourse on Rothko\u2019s history and the importance of them within his trajectory as an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cMark Rothko\u2019s Harvard Murals\u201d will be on display through July 26, 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>With help from Ramesh Raskar, a computational photography expert at MIT, and two MIT students, they developed a piece of software that could isolate the images\u2019 colors one pixel at a time.<\/p>\n<p>To determine the murals\u2019 original colors, the team had to rely on another delicate process. While they could consult the sixth panel by Rothko \u2014 which had not been displayed and had never faded \u2014 they also needed to reference a series of Ektachrome photographs of the works taken in 1964. Sadly, those pictures had faded as well. The conservators worked with an expert in Switzerland, Rudolf Gschwind at the University of Basel, who digitally restored the photographs.<\/p>\n<p>The resulting technology uses a digital camera to shoot pictures of the murals in the new gallery. That image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information the comparison generates is fed to a computer that uses the new software to create a \u201ccompensation image\u201d that is sent to a digital projector, which illuminates the murals to appear as they would have looked more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>On a recent afternoon, Stenger, now a conservation scientist at Yale University\u2019s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, demonstrated how a projector suspended from the gallery ceiling bathed large sections of the background of Panel Four in a pink beam to restore its crimson hue, while a black swath next to it remained unchanged. When the exhibition opens, five projectors will be used to shine light on each of the faded paintings. The projectors will be turned off periodically during the exhibition to allow visitors see the murals without restoration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that it\u2019s important to make this distinction,\u201d said Lentz. \u201cWe are not restoring the paintings, we are restoring the appearance of the paintings. Even in their unconserved state they are really these kinds of magnificent runes. They are very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Faded history<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The five murals were painted for Harvard in 1962 as commission for a special function and dining room on the 10th floor of the Holyoke Center designed by Josep Llu\u00eds Sert, the dean of the Graduate School of Design. They represented the University\u2019s new embrace of contemporary art and architecture.<\/p>\n<p>The commission also represented a rare chance for Rothko to create what he always envisioned for his murals, an immersive environment. (The artist famously pulled his series of paintings commissioned for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York, and he never lived to see the installation of his works in the Rothko Chapel that he helped design in Houston.)<\/p>\n<p>But the Holyoke room posed challenges right away. Rothko insisted on new color for its walls, one that would better mesh with his paintings, as well new lighting. He also requested fiberglass curtains to help block the sunlight that spilled into the room, but the shades were no match for Sert\u2019s floor-to-ceiling windows. As the years passed, the paintings faded. (Panel Five, the mural most dramatically affected, today looks light blue compared with its original deep crimson.) They were also damaged by furniture, and stained with food and graffiti. The murals were removed in the late 1970s and put into storage.<\/p>\n<p>When the exhibit opens on Nov. 16, visitors will see Rothko\u2019s works restored to their original colors and displayed together as he intended. \u201cIt gives you a sense of what the Holyoke space was like,\u201d said Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, director of Harvard's Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art and associate director for conservation and research at the Whitney Museum of American Art. \u201cI think you will sense a real aura as well, that\u2019s very much the intent of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also on display will be the sixth mural Rothko completed for the series but chose not to install, as well as related studies that offer a window into the creative process behind the Harvard project.<\/p>\n<p>For experts and art lovers alike, the new exhibition restores the vividness of Rothko\u2019s murals, opens them up to the public, and revives them as a subject for scholarly discourse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the tragedies is the Harvard murals have not been recognized in art history in the same way they should be because they were taken down and because of the fading,\u201d said Enriquez. \u201cOne of the several things this exhibition will do is to bring them back into the discourse on Rothko\u2019s history and the importance of them within his trajectory as an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cMark Rothko\u2019s Harvard Murals\u201d will be on display through July 26, 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\r\n\t\n\r\n\r\n\t\n\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\r\n\t","\n\r\n","\r\n\t","\n\r\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t<p>What would the famously exacting abstract artist Mark Rothko think about using a ghostlike technology to recapture the vibrancy of his faded Harvard murals, a virtual restoration that can disappear with the flip of a switch?<\/p>\n<p>Experts never like to speculate on the original intentions or interests of an artist, but someone intimately close to the late painter is a fan.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Rothko, the guardian of much of his father\u2019s work, was initially unsure about the restoration technique, which was developed over several years by a Harvard team with help from experts at the <a href=\"http:\/\/web.mit.edu\">Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/a>. But when he saw a test run of the technology at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum last year\u00a0and observed light from a digital projector preserving his father\u2019s vibrant brushstrokes while restoring the faded murals\u2019 rich hues, he was \u201csurprised and thrilled,\u201d said Mary Schneider Enriquez, the Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt felt to him as real as it possibly could be, and as vivid,\u201d said Enriquez, who helped work on the project. She noted that Christopher Rothko thought his father would have loved seeing the murals reunited as one collective work.<\/p>\n<p>The renovated and expanded Harvard Art Museums will open in November with the inaugural special exhibition \u201cMark Rothko\u2019s Harvard Murals,\u201d a series of six large panels created for the top floor of Harvard\u2019s Holyoke Center (now the Smith Campus Center) in 1962 and revived after years in storage with minimal handiwork.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\t<section class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-image-carousel alignfull carousel carousel--images\">\n\t\t<h2 class=\"carousel__heading wp-block-heading\" id=\"heading-214afe72-f4fa-4766-bfda-41e3965a9e75\">\n\t\t\t<span>Rothko at Harvard<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t<div aria-labelledby=\"heading-214afe72-f4fa-4766-bfda-41e3965a9e75\" class=\"carousel__wrapper splide\"><div class=\"carousel__track splide__track\"><div class=\"carousel__list splide__list\">\n\t\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Mark Rothko (left) and Josep Llu\u00eds Sert inside the Holyoke Center in 1963. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_rothko-and-sert-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Mark Rothko (left) and Josep Llu\u00eds Sert inside the Holyoke Center in 1963. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of "Panel Two" and "Panel Three" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_coolidge-and-rothko-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">John Coolidge and Rothko (right) in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko's "Panel Five" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_panel-five-1968.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko's \"Panel Five\" inside the Holyoke Center, January 1968. Courtesy of Harvard University Archives<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko in front of "Panel Two" and "Panel Three" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/archive-hm-holyoke_rothko-1963.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko in front of \"Panel Two\" and \"Panel Three\" of the Harvard murals inside the Holyoke Center. Photo by Elizabeth H. Jones<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Rothko's "Panel Five" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-five-hm_2011-638-5.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Rothko's \"Panel Five\" is egg tempera and distemper on canvas. Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A view of Rothko's "Panel Four." Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rothko-panel-four-hm_2011-638-4.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A view of Rothko's \"Panel Four.\" Courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\r\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s appropriate as our major opening exhibition because we\u2019re a University art museum and we are supposed to be about the free exchange of ideas,\u201d said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harvardartmuseums.org\/about\/directors-message\">Thomas W. Lentz<\/a>, the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums, who expects the show to generate lively conversation about the new technology. \u201cThis exhibition is fundamentally propositional in nature; it\u2019s really intended to inspire discussion and debate on this new conservation approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many applaud the new technique for its adherence to art conservation\u2019s cardinal rule: it\u2019s reversible. For conservators, any preservation or restoration process that permanently obscures the artist\u2019s hand is anathema. The new method was a perfect fit for the murals, whose delicate surfaces and prominent brushwork made \u201cinpainting\u201d impossible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An innovative approach<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The idea of using light for art conservation has been around for years and came from \u201cthinking about color perception,\u201d said Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies who, beginning in 2008, helped develop the technique for the murals. \u201cIn human color perception you have a light source, a surface, and a viewer, and the three interact. If you can\u2019t change the surface, you can change the light source to change the color.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Light projection as a tool in art conservation was first described and demonstrated by Canadian conservator Raymond Lafontaine using slide projectors in the 1980s. More recently, digital projectors have been used to restore items such as a Henry VIII tapestry in England\u2019s Hampton Court and a Native American vessel at Purdue University. But restoring a large-scale painting, pixel by pixel, was something new.<\/p>\n<p>To begin, a team of conservators and scientists at the Straus Center spent months determining what kinds of materials Rothko (1903-1970) used to help them better understand the fading process. They built on work done in the 1980s by Harvard conservation scientist Paul Whitmore, who found the abstract artist relied on the light-sensitive pigment lithol red to give his murals their deep crimson. The \u201cfugitive\u201d nature of that pigment combined with the desire to preserve Rothko\u2019s brushwork ruled out the use of conventional restoration techniques. The team turned to a digital solution.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\t<section class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-image-carousel alignfull carousel carousel--images\">\n\t\t<h2 class=\"carousel__heading wp-block-heading\" id=\"heading-5ba2969a-276d-4614-a0b1-c1113e238b27\">\n\t\t\t<span>Enlightened technology<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t<div aria-labelledby=\"heading-5ba2969a-276d-4614-a0b1-c1113e238b27\" class=\"carousel__wrapper splide\"><div class=\"carousel__track splide__track\"><div class=\"carousel__list splide__list\">\n\t\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer\" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_487_570new6.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Houghton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Mary Schneider Enriquez and senior conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar discussed the new technology and the importance of Rothko\u2019s works. Photos by Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.\" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_414_570new5.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A computer software program sends information to the digital projector, which then casts light on the faded murals to restore their original color.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.\" height=\"381\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_366_570new4.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">A digital camera shoots pictures of the murals in the new gallery. The image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information is fed into a computer that uses the new software to generate a \u201ccompensation image,\u201d which is sent to a digital projector that then illuminates the murals as they would have appeared more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-carousel-slide carousel__slide splide__slide wp-block-image\">\n\t<img alt=\"Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. \" height=\"380\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/051514_rothko_155_570new1.jpg\" width=\"570\"\/>\n\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Jens Stenger, a former conservation scientist in Harvard\u2019s Straus Center, helped develop the new technology that restores the murals\u2019 original color with light from a digital projector. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\r\n\n<p>With help from Ramesh Raskar, a computational photography expert at MIT, and two MIT students, they developed a piece of software that could isolate the images\u2019 colors one pixel at a time.<\/p>\n<p>To determine the murals\u2019 original colors, the team had to rely on another delicate process. While they could consult the sixth panel by Rothko \u2014 which had not been displayed and had never faded \u2014 they also needed to reference a series of Ektachrome photographs of the works taken in 1964. Sadly, those pictures had faded as well. The conservators worked with an expert in Switzerland, Rudolf Gschwind at the University of Basel, who digitally restored the photographs.<\/p>\n<p>The resulting technology uses a digital camera to shoot pictures of the murals in the new gallery. That image is then compared to the restored photograph of the original. The information the comparison generates is fed to a computer that uses the new software to create a \u201ccompensation image\u201d that is sent to a digital projector, which illuminates the murals to appear as they would have looked more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>On a recent afternoon, Stenger, now a conservation scientist at Yale University\u2019s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, demonstrated how a projector suspended from the gallery ceiling bathed large sections of the background of Panel Four in a pink beam to restore its crimson hue, while a black swath next to it remained unchanged. When the exhibition opens, five projectors will be used to shine light on each of the faded paintings. The projectors will be turned off periodically during the exhibition to allow visitors see the murals without restoration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that it\u2019s important to make this distinction,\u201d said Lentz. \u201cWe are not restoring the paintings, we are restoring the appearance of the paintings. Even in their unconserved state they are really these kinds of magnificent runes. They are very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Faded history<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The five murals were painted for Harvard in 1962 as commission for a special function and dining room on the 10th floor of the Holyoke Center designed by Josep Llu\u00eds Sert, the dean of the Graduate School of Design. They represented the University\u2019s new embrace of contemporary art and architecture.<\/p>\n<p>The commission also represented a rare chance for Rothko to create what he always envisioned for his murals, an immersive environment. (The artist famously pulled his series of paintings commissioned for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York, and he never lived to see the installation of his works in the Rothko Chapel that he helped design in Houston.)<\/p>\n<p>But the Holyoke room posed challenges right away. Rothko insisted on new color for its walls, one that would better mesh with his paintings, as well new lighting. He also requested fiberglass curtains to help block the sunlight that spilled into the room, but the shades were no match for Sert\u2019s floor-to-ceiling windows. As the years passed, the paintings faded. (Panel Five, the mural most dramatically affected, today looks light blue compared with its original deep crimson.) They were also damaged by furniture, and stained with food and graffiti. The murals were removed in the late 1970s and put into storage.<\/p>\n<p>When the exhibit opens on Nov. 16, visitors will see Rothko\u2019s works restored to their original colors and displayed together as he intended. \u201cIt gives you a sense of what the Holyoke space was like,\u201d said Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, director of Harvard's Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art and associate director for conservation and research at the Whitney Museum of American Art. \u201cI think you will sense a real aura as well, that\u2019s very much the intent of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also on display will be the sixth mural Rothko completed for the series but chose not to install, as well as related studies that offer a window into the creative process behind the Harvard project.<\/p>\n<p>For experts and art lovers alike, the new exhibition restores the vividness of Rothko\u2019s murals, opens them up to the public, and revives them as a subject for scholarly discourse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the tragedies is the Harvard murals have not been recognized in art history in the same way they should be because they were taken down and because of the fading,\u201d said Enriquez. \u201cOne of the several things this exhibition will do is to bring them back into the discourse on Rothko\u2019s history and the importance of them within his trajectory as an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cMark Rothko\u2019s Harvard Murals\u201d will be on display through July 26, 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":168009,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2015\/03\/up-for-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":156946,"position":0},"title":"Up for debate","author":"harvardgazette","date":"March 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"During two days of programming at the Harvard Art Museums, scholars, students, and the public explored the significance and innovative conservation of Mark Rothko\u2019s Harvard murals. The events highlighted the murals\u2019 return to public discourse and their new role as potential models for the treatment of aged and damaged art.","rel":"","context":"In "Arts & Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts & Culture","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/arts-humanities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/031315_rothko_024_605_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/031315_rothko_024_605_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/031315_rothko_024_605_1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48137,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2010\/05\/around-the-schools-harvard-art-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":156946,"position":1},"title":"Around the Schools: Harvard Art Museum","author":"harvardgazette","date":"May 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In 1962, American artist Mark Rothko painted five murals to display in a penthouse dining room in the then-new Holyoke Center on Mt. Auburn Street.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/aroundartmuseum_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/aroundartmuseum_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/aroundartmuseum_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":169573,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2015\/04\/a-vivid-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":156946,"position":2},"title":"A vivid life","author":"harvardgazette","date":"April 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The life and art of Mark Rothko are examined in the new play \u201cRed,\u201d to be performed at Harvard Art Museums.","rel":"","context":"In "Arts & Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts & Culture","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/arts-humanities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/rothko_paintingmaking_7254_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/rothko_paintingmaking_7254_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/rothko_paintingmaking_7254_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":171949,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2015\/09\/a-wall-of-color-a-window-to-the-past\/","url_meta":{"origin":156946,"position":3},"title":"A wall of color, a window to the past","author":"harvardgazette","date":"September 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Curious visitors who turn left off the Harvard Art Museums\u2019 elevators on the building\u2019s fourth floor are greeted by the Forbes Pigment Collection, a floor-to-ceiling wall of color compiled from about 1910 to 1944 by the former director of the Fogg Museum.","rel":"","context":"In "Arts & Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts & Culture","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/arts-humanities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/pigment_lead_1120x560-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/pigment_lead_1120x560-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/pigment_lead_1120x560-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/pigment_lead_1120x560-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":162612,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/11\/arts-shining-future\/","url_meta":{"origin":156946,"position":4},"title":"Art\u2019s shining future","author":"harvardgazette","date":"November 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The renovated and expanded Harvard Art Museums reopen on Nov. 16 with a new building designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano that unites the Fogg Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. 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