Paul Arthur Messier (born 1962) is an art conservator and head of the Lens Media Lab at the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Education Messier received an A.B. cum laude in Art History from Vassar College in 1984 and a M.A. and C.A.S. in paper conservation from the Art Conservation Department"Art Conservation Department website," State University College at Buffalo, Retrieved on 24 May 2012. of the State University of New York College at Buffalo in 1990.
Career Consulting with private and institutional collections worldwide,"Paul Messier LLC Partial List of Institutional Clients," Retrieved on 20 September 2015. Messier served as a senior advisor for the Museum of Modern Art's Object|Photo initiative to characterize modernist photographs in its collection and is directing a program to establish a photograph conservation department at the State Hermitage Museum."Meeting of International Advisory Board of the program of photography research and restoration at the Hermitage," Retrieved on 24 May 2012.Ireland, Corydon. "Saving Snapshots of History," Harvard Gazette, 7 February 2011. Retrieved on 25 May 2012.Norris, Debra, Martin Jürgens, Nora Kennedy, Bertrand Lavédrine, and Paul Messier. "From Russia to Laos: Building Global Partnerships To Preserve Photographic Heritage," Getty Conservation Institute, Newsletter 27.1 Spring 2012. Retrieved on 9 June 2012. In February 2015, he was named the inaugural head of the Lens Media Lab McDonald, Amy Athey. "Yale to launch Lens Media Lab for photograph research and conservation" Yale Daily News, 19 February 2015. Retrieved on 20 September 2015 at Yale University's "Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage."
The largest authenticity scandal in the fine art photography market, fraudulent prints attributed to Lewis Hine were exposed through his research in 1999.Glueck, Grace. "Authenticity of Famed Photographer's Prints Scrutinized," The New York Times, 12 November 1999. Retrieved on 25 May 2012.Anonymous. "Fake vintage photographs: Prontoprints," The Economist, 5 July 2001. Retrieved on 25 May 2012.Blumenthal, Ralph. "Shadows Cast by Forgery; The F.B.I. Investigates Complaints About Lewis Hine Prints," The New York Times, 16 August 2001. Retrieved on 24 May 2012.Woodward, Richard. "Too Much of a Good Thing: Photography, Forgery, and the Lewis Hine Scandal," The Atlantic, June 2003. Retrieved on 24 May 2012. Other authentication research has focused on the work of Man Ray,Messier, Paul. "Technical Analysis of le Violon d'Ingres," The Long Arm of Coincidence: Selections from the Rosalind and Melvin Jacobs Collection Pace/MacGill Gallery, 2009. Dorothea Lange and Charles-Edouard de Crespy le Prince among others.Adam, Georgiana. "French police investigate allegedly fake early photographs," The Art NewsPaper, Issue 232, February 2012. Retrieved on 26 May 2012.Gratiet-Taicher, Eleonore. "L'un des pionniers de la photo a-t-il été inventé de toutes pièces?," Rue89, 23 January 2012. Retrieved on 25 May 2012.Grimm-Weissert, Olga. "Fiel der Handel auf gefälschte Fotos herein?," Handelsblatt, 21 February 2012. Retrieved on 6 June 2012.Noce, Vincent. "Le vieux cliché était presque parfait," Libération, 10 April 2012. Retrieved on 24 May 2012.
Messier has assembled a reference collection of photographic papers that is considered unique in the world.Doenitz, Amanda "The Demise of an Art Medium," Art On Paper, March / April 2007. Retrieved on 10 September 2015. Ongoing research on this collection has involved numerous partners including the Getty Conservation InstituteGetty Conservation Institute and Paul Messier. " Understanding 20th Century Photographs: The Baryta Layer Symposium," Getty Conservation Institute, 24 January 2006. Retrieved on 26 May 2012.Getty Conservation Institute. "The Baryta Layer Symposium," Getty Conservation Institute, Newsletter 21.1, Spring 2006. Retrieved on 26 May 2012. the Museum of Modern Art,Martins, Ana. "Characterization of Silver Gelatin Fiber-Based Photographic Papers using X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy," Museum of Modern Art, 2–6 August 2010. Retrieved on 27 May 2012. the Art Conservation Research Center at Carnegie Mellon University,Connors-Rowe, Sandra, Paul Whitmore and Hannah Morris. "Optical Brighteners in Black-and-White Photographic Paper: Appearance and Degradadtion," Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 7 January 2008. Retrieved on 26 May 2012. the Department of Surface Metrology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University and the George Eastman House.Notes on Photographs. "Lewis Hine: Materials and Research Analysis with Paul Messier," George Eastman House, September 2008. Retrieved on 26 May 2012. His work to characterize photographic paper was described by ARTnews as advances that “will reduce fraud, influence the marketplace, and even revise art history.”Peterson, Thane. "Setting a Date," ARTnews, March 2008. Retrieved on 24 May 2012. The collection was purchased Buckingham, Amanda. "New photo lab to open on West Campus," Yale Daily News, 27 February 2015. Retrieved on 20 September 2015. by Yale University as part of the formation of the Lens Media Lab.
In 1998 Messier founded the Electronic Media Group"AIC's Electronic Media Group," Retrieved on 24 May 2012. of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC). He was elected to the AIC board for two terms, serving from 2004-2010. While on the board his major initiatives included the publication of the AIC Guide to Digital Photography and Conservation Documentation (2008)Warda, Jeffery ed. "The AIC Guide to Digital Photography and Conservation Documentation," American Institute For Conservation, 2008 the transfer of ConservationOnline"Conservation Online," Foundation of the American Institute For Conservation and the ConservationDislist"ConservationDislist," Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation from Stanford University (2009), and the establishment of the Conservation Catalog Wiki (2009)."Conservation Catalog Wiki," American Institute for Conservation
The New York Times called Paul Messier "the man when it comes to photography and paper restoration."Anonymous. "The Connoisseur: Is There a Bespoke Framer?," The New York Times, 2 December 2007. Retrieved on 25 May 2012.
References
External links Paul Messier official website Reference Collection of Photographic Paper "Development & Research Applications for a Reference Collection of 20th Century Photographic Paper", Library of Congress, Topics in Preservation series (web cast), March 2010 "History of Silver Gelatin Papers, by Paul Messier", New York Public Library (web cast) September, 2010.