Conservation DistList Archives [Date] [Subject] [Author] [SEARCH]

Subject: A death--addendum

A death--addendum

From: Walter Henry <whenry<-a>
Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Robin Tichane--artist, art conservator, and champion of AIDS
awareness

Robin Tichane, who adopted San Francisco for his art and art
conservator careers, died Sunday, February 27, 2005 in New York from
complications of AIDS. He was one of the longest AIDS survivors in
the United States. He resided in San Francisco from 1976 to 1996
before he returned to New York City. Robin was an expert Art
Conservator and Art Historian who had a fundamental expertise in
chemistry. With a Master's in Art History from Columbia University
and a Certificate in Conservation from New York University, he
ultimately became a conservator in private practice in Sam Francisco
and later an Assistant Conservator at the Asian Art Museum in San
Francisco. As one friend put it:

   "If he were a musician, I would say he has perfect pitch - as a
    conservator---he has perfect pitch in color. I have never seen
    anyone with such a unique talent."

He was awarded Honorary Fellow status by the Bay Area Art
Conservation Guild in 1990.

After retiring from the art conservation field in 1988, Mr. Tichane
brought his talent and energies to the awareness of AIDS as" the
world's pre-eminent post modern disease". He spoke widely on the
subject of AIDS in the context of a series of 12 woodblock prints he
created entitled "AIDS' Dark Terrain: Twelve Stations from a Yankee
Pilgrim". He viewed AIDS as a passage not of external appearance,
but rather as an internal development and exploration of self. Mr.
Tichane's artworks can be found in over 100 museums and archives in
the United States and abroad. In addition, he participated in over
24 solo and juried exhibitions from 1991-1996.

In an interview with the Visual Aid News in November 1994, Mr.
Tichane was very concerned that AIDS would fall from public
attention as the epidemic was prolonged and he used his work to
increase awareness of the disease. His outreach to communicate the
understanding of AIDs as one of the 8 to 10 defining events of the
20th century was global.

He is survived by his parents, Drs. Margene and Robert Tichane of
Painted Post, New York, his brother David Tichane of Sunnyvale, and
sister Eileen Tichane of Sunnyvale, as well as his circle friends
around the world. Information about donations in his memory can also
be found at <URL:http://www.robintichane.com>


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:46
                   Distributed: Sunday, April 3, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-18-46-001
                                  ***
Received on Wednesday, 23 March, 2005

[Search all CoOL documents]