Microscopically reweaving a 1907 painting, CONSERVATION STORIES

To ready Paula ModersohnBecker s Self Portrait (1907) for MoMA s reopening in October, conservator Diana Hartman tackles the question of how to repair holes in the paintings canvas. She figures out that a curved needle typically used in eye surgery might allow her to avoid removing the work from its original stretcher. And her inventiveness doesnt end there: Using an adhesive made from a sturgeon bladder, she secures linen thread to the needle to darn the pieces back together with the help of a microsc