Our Qualifications

Christopher Augerson, proprietor of Augerson Art Conservation Services is fully accredited:

• Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation
• Accredited by the Institute for Conservation of the UK (conservator of wooden artifacts and decorative finishes)
• Accredited by the Belgian Royal Institute for Artistic Heritage (conservator of polychrome sculpture and interior decoration)
• Accredited by the Ministry of Culture of France (conservator of decorative finishes)
• Certificated Surveyor in Remedial Treatment of buildings (The Institute of Wood Preserving and Damp Proofing, UK)
• Accredited by the United States' National Institute for Conservation as a collections surveyor of the Heritage Preservation Collections Assessment Program (CAP)
• M.A. Art Conservation, SUNY's Buffalo State College (August, 1992).
• B.A. Chemistry and Visual Arts (two majors), Bowdoin College (May, 1986).

Christopher Augerson has conducted conservation projects for private clients and public institutions such as English Heritage, The National Trust for Scotland, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Palace of Versailles. The latter included the conservation of the 18th century paint and gilding on four sleighs of Louis XV and that on the coach of the Dauphin, first son of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI.

Mr. Augerson’s publications describe his conservation of sculpture, decorative arts and horse-drawn vehicles for various museums, work that combines traditional artisan techniques with new technical innovations that have been developed and tested with the assistance of scientists at universities and institutions for heritage preservation.

Publications by Christopher Augerson:

C. Augerson, "The Conservation of 'The Cattails, a Royal Sleigh at Versailles (Circa 1740)," Postprints of the Wooden Artifacts Group, Presented at the 42nd Annual Meeting of AIC, Washington, DC: AIC, 2014, p. 27-36.

C. Augerson, "Carriage Paintng: from Baroque Masterpiece to Understated Lining," World on Wheels: Studies in the Manufacture, Hstory, Use, Conservation and Restration of Horse-drawn Vehicles, 2 (2010) 5-36.

M. Ferrell and C. Augerson, "Concord Ornamental Painter John Burgum and the Artistry of Carriage Painting, Historic New Hampshire, 61:2 (2007) 78-99.

Merri Ferrell and C. Augerson, “Concord Ornamental Painter John Burgum and the Artistry of Carriage Painting," Historical New Hampshire, 61: 2 (2007) 78-99.

C. Augerson, “The Leopard’: Conservation of an 18th Century Sleigh in the Coach Museum, Palace of Versailles,” The Carriage Journal, 43:1 (2005), 3-6, 37-38.

C. Augerson, “An ‘archaeological’ approach to treating the polychrome sleigh The Turtle,” Postprints of the Wooden Artifacts Group, Presented at the 32nd Annual Meeting of AIC (2004).

C. Augerson,  “18th Century  Coach  Finishes  and  New  World Copal Resin,” Chemical Heritage, the Journal of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, 22:1 (2004) 10-11, 38-41.

C. Augerson, A. Texier, P. Hugon, W. Nowik and P. Dal-Pra, “Le carrosse du Dauphin, peintures et textiles: une approche archéologique de la restauration,” Techné: la revue scientifique des Musées de France, 16 (2002) 86-96.

C. Augerson  and  S. Demailly,  “L’étude  et  la  restauration  du  traîneau  royal  ‘le Patineur’,  au  Château de  Versailles,” Conservation et restauration du patrimoine culturel, 11 (2000), 8-14.

C. Augerson, “The  Use of Less Toxic Solvents,  in the Treatment of a  Royal  French  Sleigh,  c. 1720,”   Postprints of the Wooden Artifacts Group, Presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of AIC, Washington, DC: AIC, 2000, p. 2-15.

C. Augerson, "Hydlar ZF, a nylon-Kevlar product, suitable as a reinforcing material for wood repair," Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Wood and Furniture Conservation, Paul van Duin, Dominique van Voosdrecht, and Davis Wheeler, eds.  Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Rijksmuseum/VeRes, p. 1-11, 1999.

C. Augerson, "An Embedding Medium Suitable for the Microtomy and FTIR Microspectroscopy of Fibrous, Brittle, or Moderately Hard Samples," Applied Spectroscopy, 52:10 (1998), 1353-1357.

G. Rager,  H. Boursier,  and C. Augerson,  “Vierge à l’enfant,  seconde moitié du 15ième siècle,“ in the exhibition catalogue, Les Choix de Mémoire, Patrimoine retrouvé des Yvelines, Musée de l’Hôtel-Dieu, Mantes-la-Jolie, 19 October, 1997 – 15 February, 1998.  Paris: Smogy éditions d’art, 1997, p. 104-105.

M. Harpainter and C. Augerson, "The Painted, Wooden Furniture and Decorative Arts of Lucia and Arthur Mathews, San Francisco 1906-1920" chapter in Painted Wood: History and Conservation, Valerie Dorge and Carey Howlett, eds.  Malibu, CA: The Getty Conservation Institute, 1997, p. 268-275.