Recording Changes in Naum Gabo's Plastic Sculptures
Naum Gabo (1890-1977) was a pioneering Constructivist sculptor who experimented with the use of transparent plastic in creating three-dimensional constructions from the early 1920s. Although he emphasised the idea of the work over its physical structure, his use of plastic was important materially, aesthetically and as a signal of modernity. However, the cellulose materials he used have proved unstable and have begun to move and warp.
  Naum Gabo 1890-1977 Model for `Column' 1920-21 © Nina Williams |
Due to Gabo's generosity (through a substantial gift in 1977) and that of his family, Tate holds the largest collection of his work and papers in the world. This position of pre-eminence allows Tate to take a lead in addressing the changes in his materials and - in a collaboration between conservators, curators, conservation scientists and archivists - to develop methods for recording, monitoring and responding to these changes. Gabo experimented first with cellulose nitrate and then with cellulose acetate, which have lasted seventy to eighty years. However, it is now known that invisible chemical and physical changes occur even when no deterioration is evident. As this process continues a threshold is reached and sudden, and sometimes dramatic, changes occur irreversibly. The typical outcomes of deterioration are discolouration, crazing, distortion, sagging and slumping of components, and adhesive failure under excessive load.
Faced with the degradation of part of an important collection Tate is undertaking a multi-disciplinary research project that combines philosophical, museological and conservation elements. Gabo's works will be re-surveyed so that those most at risk can be recorded and modelled three-dimensionally. It has already proved possible to make simple card reconstructions reflecting the original templates used by Gabo. Some of the artist's models are in the Tate Archive awaiting further research in the light of this new approach. New laser modelling techniques will also be employed.
The project will also address the question of replication using a holistic approach, encompassing archival research, new conservation and computer-modelling methods. In this way the project will have implications for how Tate in the future will document the shapes of other sculptures in the collection and monitor changes in their condition. In order to draw upon expertise world-wide to consider these questions, it is planned to stage an international colloquium to review current preservation strategies and all aspects of recording and replication.
Project team:
Stephen Hackney, Head of Conservation Science; Derek Pullen, Head of Sculpture Conservation; Jackie Heuman, Sculpture Conservator; Matthew Gale, Curator (project leader); Sue Breakell, Archivist.
August 2005
