Description
Saint Peter’s Church is a unique Lutheran Church in midtown Manhattan dedicated to “creatively shaping life in the city” and serving as a critical bridge across communities. Saint Peter’s art program, begun in the 1960s in the church’s original Gothic Revival home, has operated since 1977 in the late-modernist setting of the complex formerly known as Citigroup Center. Saint Peter’s partners with cultural groups to present free art, music, theatre and cultural programming, in addition to its many social service offerings. During its open hours, the church facility hosts between 500 to 1,000 people daily for meetings, lectures, concerts, care programs, immigration clinics, and personal reflection.
With the growing awareness that the recent past is a critical period in preservation, in 2016, the city’s Landmarks Commission designated Citicorp Center and Saint Peter’s Church Landmark sites. An integral part of the site, Louise Nevelson’s Chapel of the Good Shepherd, expressly commissioned for the building, has operated for 40 years as a contemplative space that Nevelson conceived, in her own words, as “an oasis of silence” and place “to be transformed.” An increasingly rare example of a free and accessible, interior public space, the Nevelson Chapel is also the only one of the artist’s sculptural environments that remains entirely intact and in situ. In acknowledgment of the rarity and profound value of this space, in 2013 the Foundation’s Theology Program awarded a discretionary grant to the church for the publication of the volume, Religion and Art in the Heart of Modern Manhattan: St. Peter’s Church and the Nevelson Chape l. Saint Peter’s is committed to maintaining the environment as the artist intended: open to tens of thousands of Midtown workers and residents, international tourists, and students of the arts and humanities.
Saint Peter’s now seeks funding to support a major project to conserve the Nevelson Chapel sculptures and recondition the environment in which they are installed. Like many of Nevelson’s works, the chapel installation has suffered from her practice of painting unprepared wood with untested paints. Thanks to layers of “restoration paint,” applied over time to conceal discoloration and deterioration, Nevelson’s original alkyd paint has been preserved. The conservation initiative already under way is stabilizing the original wood and paint elements by removing the restoration paint and correcting discoloration caused by their interaction. Before completion, the entire work will be toned and stabilized.
The project will also entail upgrades to the Chapel’s HVAC system which, as part of the Center’s overall environmental systems, was not designed with the preservation of painted wood sculpture in mind. The work will entail the relocation of damaging air ducts, installation of humidity controls, and replacement of heat-producing lighting. Throughout, the plan will include the preservation of the originally intended look of the interior space. Upon completion of the refitting, digital environmental monitoring will be installed and regularly assessed.
Conservator Sarah Nunberg of the Objects Conservation Studio has been engaged in the treatment for two years, with assistance from the conservation laboratory at Pratt Institute for the analysis of materials. She has developed an innovative technique to consolidate Nevelson’s painted surfaces and has already presented her findings at professional conferences.
Saint Peter’s is determined to preserve this rare work of art and the chapel experience for the thousands of visitors who seek peace and inspiration there, including the regular attendees of food service and HIV/AIDS programs. The leaders of the church’s arts program also hope to raise awareness of Nevelson’s life and work, which have receded from prominence in recent decades in spite of the nature of her energetically public and feminist practice. Saint Peter’s is forming an advocacy group to complete the fund-raising for the project and to build an endowment to sustain the restored sculptures and the chapel environment. They plan a series of public programs to build new audiences for both the chapel and the arts program.
Recommendation: That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a two-year grant of $250,000 to Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church for Nevelson Chapel conservation and upgrades.
Approved by the Board: March 7, 2018
