ANNE WANNER'S Textiles in History   /  biographies

In Memoriam Karen Finch by Joanna Marschner Our much loved and greatly admired colleague, Karen Finch, died in April at the age of 96. All of you who knew her were always aware of her early training as a master-weaver, and it was this practical intelligence and creativity, acquired at a young age, that contributed to her becoming one of the foremost pioneering conservators of our era. Equally important was her Danishness – her upbringing in its rural community, and an art education in Copenhagen during wartime occupation, brought deep conviction in the importance of personal freedom and the championing of opportunity for all. Having married her handsome British soldier, and moved to London, she would seek to disrupt the division between museum curators, and conservators historically seen as manual workers. At the Textile Conservation Centre she founded, she bought together ethics, scientific methods, historical understanding and craft knowledge – transforming and professionalising the world of conservation. Her legacy is the community of alumni, who trained at the TCC, and now promote her principles internationally. The Centre for Conservation and Technical Art History at the University of Glasgow, is a magnificent successor to the Centre. Her friends, here in ICOM, and those who encountered her in the course of their work in museums and historic buildings, universities and research institutes, will, I know, never forget her enquiring mind, her enthusiasm and determination to make things happen, and her wonderful smile.

---

home

Last revised October 14 , 2018