Software helps New York's Met preserve art

27.11.2006
For years, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has aided art historians, researchers and other museums around the world by mailing out film-based photographs of artworks from its collection of more than 2 million pieces.

To do that, the museum's staff of photographers has to regularly move priceless artworks into specially-lit studios where the photos are taken, then move the delicate pieces back into storage or to their displays. Each time the works are moved, they are susceptible to damage or other hazards, but since the old-fashioned film-based photos and their negatives deteriorate over time, the process has to be repeated periodically to keep images usable.

That system is now changing. The museum is replacing its outdated film-based photo collection with digital images stored in a centralized catalog maintained with MediaBin Asset Server digital asset management software from Interwoven Inc.

"Our method here for the Metropolitan Images Project is to preserve the photographs of the objects," said Douglas Hegley, deputy chief technology officer at the museum. Being able to take photographs digitally means that prints or negatives will no longer deteriorate over time. As a result, once new digital images are taken, priceless art objects won't have to be moved back and forth to photo studios, he said.

"The act of photographing a work of art involves moving it and lighting it, which increases the risk for damage," Hegley said. "With any art containing [paint] pigment, every time you light it, you begin to deteriorate the pigment."

In addition, the museum will more easily be able to locate and send digital images electronically, avoiding the tedious process of maintaining a huge paper-based photo collection and having to mail out and later refile returned photos.