GETTY CONSERVATION INSTITUTE RECEIVES TOP HONOR

The Getty Conservation Institute—a branch of the J. Paul Getty Trust devoted to improving conservation practices and preserving the world’s cultural heritage—has won the distinguished award for the advancement of the field of conservation, the highest honor bestowed by the American Institute of Conservation. The award was presented yesterday at the national organization’s annual meeting in Century City in Los Angeles, reports the Los Angeles Times’s Suzanne Muchnic.

Eryl Wentworth, executive director of the AIC, praised the Getty Conservation Institute for its work in education, field projects, and scientific research. “Given the broad range of professional development opportunities they continually provide to the conservation profession, it’s very appropriate that the GCI be honored in this way,” she said in a statement.

Active in laboratory projects and far-flung field work, the institute has investigated light damage to works of art, explored the nature of modern paints, and conserved a wide range of historic sites. With more than twenty field projects in process, Getty conservators and their international partners are working on ancient Egyptian and Chinese wall paintings and mosaics made in Tunisia when it was part of the Roman Empire.

Previous winners include the Mellon Foundation, Stanford University Libraries, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.