The generators at the New Orleans Museum of Art failed to work for a week after Hurricane Katrina wiped out power in 2005.
Nearly five years later, some 450 frames in the museum’s permanent collection continue to show signs of moisture damage from loss of the museum’s humidity control.
Local artist and gallery owner Alan Shuptrine recently surveyed the damage on a trip to the museum. He said frames hundreds of years old, gilded and surrounding paintings worth millions of dollars, still are cracking and peeling.
With funds raised by the museum finally available, Mr. Shuptrine, an expert in gilding and frame restoration, is single-handedly beginning the painstaking process of restoring the frames to their original brilliance.