The Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art (CTSMA) investigates the materials and issues associated with the making and conservation of modern works of art. CTSMA serves as a resource for conservators, scholars, and students by collecting, preserving, and presenting relevant research and materials, such as artists’ materials and interviews, documents related to conservation assessments and treatments, and ephemera associated with the creative process. It disseminates this information through teaching, lecturing, and publication.
The center was founded in 2002 in partnership with the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. The unique collaboration o?ers Harvard scholars access to a world-class collection of modern and contemporary art and provides cutting-edge scienti?c technology for investigations of that art by the Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies. Drawing on the strength of each institution, the partnership fosters an interdisciplinary approach to the technical study of modern works through undergraduate teaching, graduate-level training for curatorial and conservation fellows, and innovative research.