Edmond de Beaumont at the Worcester Art Museum, 1940's
In 1936, the Museum formally recognized the importance of conservation by hiring its first conservator, Edmond de Beaumont, who trained at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum. During his forty-year tenure at the Museum, de Beaumont documented much of the collection with X-radiographs, infrared and black-and-white photography. The role of conservation broadened under the leadership of George Stout, a pioneer in the development of conservation in the United States, who directed the Museum from 1947 to 1955.
Directed by and starring George Clooney, based on the book by Robert M. Edsel, The Monuments Men (2014) tells the true story of a group of art aficionados charged with rescuing art masterpieces from the Nazis during World War II. The real names of the participants were changed. In real life, the group was led by George Stout, a conservator at Harvard University's Fogg Museum, who later went on to become director of the Worcester Art Museum and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The cast is thoroughly wonderful, including George Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin and Bob Balaban.
"George Leslie Stout (1897 – July 1, 1978) was an art conservation specialist who founded the first laboratory in the United States to study art conservation, as well as the first journal on the subject of art conservation. Actor George Clooney played Stout in the 2013 film The Monuments Men. Stout was born on October 5, 1897, in Winterset, Iowa (also the birthplace of actor John Wayne). He served in a US military hospital unit during World War I. After the war, he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa. Afterwards, he traveled throughout Europe, married and started a family. In 1926, Stout began work on his master’s degree at Harvard University, graduating two years later. He started his museum career in the art conservation department of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard in 1928. Stout, along with his Harvard chemist John Gettens, pioneered three major areas of art conservation: rudiments, degradation, and reparations. This helped bring art conservation work into the world of modern science. A reservist for some time, Stout was placed on active duty with the US Navy in 1943. Stout soon joined the Twelfth Army Group and the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section (MFAA), a.k.a. "The Monuments Men". Stout was subsequently director of the Worcester Art Museum, 1947-1954, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1955-1970. In 1975, he was inducted as an honorary member of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works for his accomplishments." -Wikipedia
