John Campbell currently leads the Nasher Sculpture Center’s conservation department, which is essential to the scholarly, educational, and preservation efforts of the institution. The Nasher Collection, numbering over 340 sculptures by many of the most important artists of the 20th century, requires regular care and maintenance, especially the works displayed outdoors. The special technical information gained through conservation and material analysis educates our treatments and enhances the Nasher’s educational programs.
Mr. Campbell is a trained objects conservator specializing in modern and contemporary sculpture. He holds masters level degrees from the New York University Institute of Fine Arts program in Art Conservation and Art History. In addition, he also earned a BA degree in Art History and a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle.
Prior to joining the Nasher Sculpture Center staff Mr. Campbell worked for two years in a private conservation studio in New York City specializing in contemporary art. He also worked at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for three and a half years during the institution’s transition from its temporary space in Queens, New York to its renovated building in Manhattan. Mr. Campbell has conducted special projects for the Whitney Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and SMU’s Meadows Museum.
In addition to his work on the Nasher Collection, Mr. Campbell has conserved sculpture by such artists as Constantin Brancusi, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Barnett Newman, Marcel Duchamp, George Rickey, Sol LeWitt, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Matthew Barney.
Mr. Campbell has a special interest in research in the ethical issues regarding the preservation and treatment of kinetic works of art in addition to research related to the materials and techniques related to the fabrication of modern and contemporary art. While at MoMA, he conducted an important technical study of Matisse’s seminal sculptures, The Backs.
The Nasher conservation department initially began under the leadership of the late Joanna Rowntree. Her focus and passion are still very much felt in the department and she is greatly missed throughout the museum.