Paul Messier is an independent conservator of photographs working in Boston Massachusetts, USA. Founded in 1994, Messier’s studio provides conservation services for leading private and institutional clients throughout the world. The sustaining focus of his practice is the conservation treatment of fine art photographic prints. Increasingly authentication research and conservation surveys for clients worldwide are major additional pursuits.
The heart of Messier’s practice is unique knowledge and ongoing research into photographic papers. The Messier Reference Collection of Photographic Papers plays a vital role in this work. The largest resource of its kind in the world, the collection of over 5,000 samples was started in the late 1990s to provide, for scholars and connoisseurs, an objective baseline for dating and authenticating photographic prints. Samples from the 1890’s to the present, from 65 manufacturers and comprising over 360 brands, have been fully catalogued by manufacturer, brand, surface texture and reflectance.
Supplemented by a library documenting materials and techniques, the collection has been used for a number of studies that have significantly expanded the understanding of photographic papers. These studies have been carried out in collaboration with the Getty Conservation Institute, the Museum of Modern Art and the Art Conservation Research Center at Carnegie Mellon University, among others. Along with these research applications, the collection serves the intrinsically valuable function of preserving the materials of 20th century photography.
Formed in response to the most notorious authenticity scandals in the fine art photography market (involving prints attributed to Man Ray in 1998 and Lewis Hine in 1999), the collection is an essential resource for empirically dating fine art photographic prints. In addition, the collection has provided a vital baseline for interpreting the prints of Lewis Hine, Man Ray, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Moholy-Nagy among others. Messier’s research has identified the earliest known prints of iconic works including Lewis Hine’s Powerhouse Mechanic (1920) and Man Ray’s Le Violon d’Ingres (1924). The Messier reference collection and his work characterizing photographic prints were profiled in the March 2008 issue of ARTnews as “… advances (that) will reduce fraud, influence the marketplace, and even revise art history.” Other press accounts include coverage in the, The New York Times (x2), The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly and The Economist.