Gallery Talk: Investigating Color at Ancient Dura-Europos

What can people learn from humble fragments of painted plaster walls? A lot, as it turns out! Paintings conservator Kate Smith, Senior Conservator of Paintings, Head of Paintings Lab, Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, and assistant research curator Caitlin Clerkin, Frederick Randolph Grace Assistant Research Curator of Ancient Art, Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art, will discuss a display of wall painting fragments excavated at ancient Dura-Europos, Syria. The collaborative research into materials that underpins this display shows how some answers—and more questions—can be generated by casting a technical lens on forgotten parts of the collections. This talk focuses on a new installation in Gallery 3440. This gallery talk is part of the New on View series, highlighting recent gallery installations and presenting new insights into recent acquisitions or old favorites.