January 26, 1986

In a New York Times obituary salient facts about the career of Orrin H. Riley, who died January 26 1986 at the age of 63, were outlined:

'Orrin H. Riley, an art conservator and restorer, ...was the founder of the conservation department at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and was the chief restorer there for more than two decades. He left the museum five years ago to head his own conservation and restoration studio, Orrin H. Riley Ltd., with his partner,[business and romantic] Susanne Schnitzer. '

It was in fact the year before that the Times quoted Orrin Riley in an article on new challenges to art conservation.

'When Antoinette King, the chief conservator at the Museum of Modern Art, was asked by a collector how to reattach the peeling label to a soup- can sculpture, she called the soup company to ask what type of adhesive was used to make the 20-year-old can.....

'The soup-can episode, Miss King and other conservators say, reveals the type of ingenuity demanded in conserving contemporary art. The field has been much challenged in recent years because of the proliferation of synthetic chemicals since World War II, resulting in a wide range of new art materials, including acrylic paints, adhesives and polyester resins whose durability is largely unknown.

'While the high price of modern art has focused increased attention on its sometimes fragile state, the use of unconventional materials has been forcing change in the art conservator's craft since the early 20th century, when such artists as Picasso, Miro and Kurt Schwitters began to rummage in the trash for art supplies.....

'''The fast flow of ideas didn't permit classic preparation,'' said Orrin Riley, a New York conservator who was formerly chief conservator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. ''These fellows worked on burlap sacks and waiter's jackets. Bed sheets were a very popular item.''....

'However, most conservators do not blame contemporary artists for their sometimes deteriorating work.....

'Works by such artists as Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning and Jasper Johns, all of whom used materials that present conservation problems, have sold for more than $1 million at auction.

'The highest-priced contemporary artists of recent years, such as Julian Schnabel and Anselm Kiefer, whose paintings frequently sell in the $100,000 range, also produce work that presents special challenges.
....
'Mr. Riley, the conservator, endorses ...[special conservation] measures. ''We've seen Rothkos covered with cat claw marks,'' he said. ''A chauffeur carries a painting through the rain, or a kid throws a basketball into a $400,000 Reinhardt. We're getting a lot of paintings, now, that fell off the mantle and were stabbed by a piece of sculpture.'''

Such were the challenges facing a Manhattan art conservator in the 1980s.