Beauty in the Breakdown

Preserving items holding historic and cultural value is a core mission of archives and museums, but the preservation process usually happens behind the scenes. Glass plate negatives used in a dry plate photography process were popular from the 1880s through the 1920s, and the Albuquerque Museum Photo Archives house hundreds of these glass plates – each one of them deteriorating due to the chemical process that created them.

While we can slow the deterioration of a photograph, we cannot stop it. The chemical breakdown of an image on glass is unique but can include flaking, silvering, and breaking. Oftentimes, objects in obvious decay are not on view in museum galleries or archival exhibits. Beauty in the Breakdown, uncovers the reality of preserving a collection in constant decline, while highlighting the beautiful and fascinating ways the deterioration process occurs.

Image: Cobb Studio, “Portrait of a Woman” (detail) ca. 1900, Albuquerque Museum, PA1981.125.072