Art conservation pioneer wrote texts

Caroline K. Keck, 99, a pioneer in art conservation who wrote several important books in the field, died Dec. 17 at her home in Cooperstown, N.Y., the New York Times reported Tuesday. The cause of death was not announced.

According to the Times, Keck and her husband, Sheldon, were instrumental in bringing the ancient craft of art restoration into the modern era using scientific research, modern technology and shared methodological standards. The Kecks also insisted on precise documentation of restoration efforts and that everything done to a piece of art be easily and fully reversible.

In 1960, the couple founded the Conversation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

A decade later, the Kecks established the Cooperstown Conservation training program, where Caroline Keck worked and taught until her retirement in 1981.

Keck was born Caroline Martin Kohn in New York City.

After graduating from Vassar, she earned a master’s degree in art history at Harvard.

She married Keck in 1933. He died in 1993.

After World War II, the Kecks helped establish conservation departments in numerous museums and were consultants at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

She also served as personal conservator for the painter Georgia O’Keefe and the art collection of Nelson A. Rockefeller.

Her books include “How to Take Care of Your Pictures,” (1954), “Handbook on the Care of Paintings” (1965), “A Primer on Museum Security” (1966) and “Safeguarding Your Collection in Travel” (1970).