Help! I Hate My... Broken Artwork

Every week, The Art Journal’s resident art world Agony Aunt Charlotte Jansen answers your questions about access, gatekeeping and sticky social problems.

Have a burning question for her? Get in touch anonymously here.

I work as an assistant at a top Blue Chip gallery in London. I think I just accidentally damaged an artwork. In fact, I know I've definitely damaged a very expensive artwork. What should I do?

Ouch. This is a sticky situation indeed. Firstly, step away from the artwork. As an accident-prone and butter-fingered person, I can imagine what is going through your mind right now. You are standing next to the artwork, aghast, wondering how you can straighten it out, fix it, wipe it or reattach the fallen piece. This is a mistake. Do not reposition anything – unless your gallery’s emergency protocol calls for it.

If there’s anything around that poses an immediate danger to you or the work – I’m talking about water, coffee, broken glass, exposed wires – deal with the source of that danger if it’s safe to do so, but don’t try to handle the artwork. Leave any repairs to a qualified conservator.

What you need to do now is protect, preserve and tell the right person what has happened. You may have made a mistake – yes, it’s a big one – but if you try to touch it now, you risk turning that accident into a much bigger problem, believe me.

Now, I’m sure you’ve already imagined your career ending over this, imagining yourself being escorted out by security, then the bailiffs knocking at your door saying you owe millions. You end up disgraced and in jail. Take a deep breath – an accident does not automatically mean any of that. There should be a procedure for this. Accidents are far more common than you think. Even very expensive artworks get shunted from place to place, and they don’t always get the care they need.

That brings me to the next thing to do: tell your manager. I know it’s awkward, embarrassing and scary, but you need to report this incident officially. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate or emotive confession; just tell them factually what happened. You haven’t said how it happened, so I hope you weren’t doing something completely bonkers. An email along these lines should be enough to start with:

‘I need to report an incident involving the artwork. I believe I may have caused damage while [explain what happened]. I’ve stopped handling it and haven’t attempted to repair anything. Could you come and assess it?’

Whatever you have done, be honest about it – did you drop something? Did you knock it while moving something? Did you prod it out of curiosity? Did you do something you weren’t supposed to be doing? Say so.

Oh, but don’t try to minimise it (‘it’s probably nothing’), and equally, don’t panic (‘I’ve totally destroyed it’). You don’t yet know the extent of the damage. A tiny-looking mark can be significant, while something that looks horrifying can sometimes be relatively straightforward for a conservator to address.

Accidents happen, but lying is a choice. Your employer needs accurate information to work out what happened, contact the owner or insurer if necessary, arrange conservation and prevent a repeat. If there’s CCTV footage, handling documentation or anyone who witnessed the incident, the truth is likely to emerge anyway. Being the person who immediately reported an accident is infinitely better than being the person who discovered the damage and quietly hoped nobody would notice.

Once you’ve notified the appropriate person, make a factual note of what happened while it’s fresh in your mind: the time, location, what you were doing, what you noticed and who you informed. If your supervisor instructs you to photograph the damage, follow their instructions.

Don’t start taking photographs and sending them to friends or anyone outside the organisation. And absolutely don’t post about it online. I know, it would make great content: ‘OMG, I think I just destroyed a £2 million painting wtf!!!’ Resist. Galleries handle sensitive information about clients and insurance, and even loose speculation can turn one problem into two.

Right now, because the artwork has a terrifying price tag attached to it, you may be thinking that you have committed an unforgivable professional crime. You have damaged an artwork. That’s serious, and you should take responsibility for it. But you are also an assistant working in an environment where artworks have to be installed, transported, stored and displayed by human beings. The possibility of accidents is precisely why professional galleries have procedures and specialists. This needn’t mean your career is over.

What matters now is how you respond. Step back, report it, document it – and whatever you do, don’t google ‘how to repair priceless contemporary artwork in five minutes’.