French preservationists come back to Green-Wood
The gravestone of Brooklyn-born artist Jean Basquiat is one of five that glows in the sunlight, thanks to four French volunteers who focused on preservation and restoration in Green-Wood Cemetery at the end of July. For two of the three employees typically responsible for the 478 acres, it was not a typical scorching Thursday afternoon.
In their second week in New York City, the volunteers visited the Brooklyn Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art — visits Manager of Restoration and Preservation Neela Wickremesinghe said were meant to “show connections between people.”
Partnered for the 16th consecutive year with an exchange program, this year’s preservationists ranged between the ages of 18 and 53. This year’s theme was American painters who grew to fame in New York City, including Basquiat, Asher B. Durand, Eastman Johnson, George Bellows and William Merritt Chase.