New York is still mourning a great cultural loss. Thousands of works of art—each with its own story to tell—became entangled in Superstorm Sandy's salt-tinged waters. Some paintings and materials housed in galleries and storage facilities were completely submerged, never to resurface. The fate of many more is still largely unknown, as restoration professionals, artists, gallery owners, private collectors, and museums are still enmeshed in the onerous (and ongoing) task of restoration and damage assessment.
Experts currently peg insured art losses stemming from Sandy somewhere between $400 and $600 million, but those figures could change drastically when several sizeable claims are settled. Meanwhile, one question weighs heavily on the minds of conservators, policyholders and insurers: "What will summer bring?" Certain types of art are particularly susceptible to mold, which doesn't always make its presence known immediately. This means that even those works initially believed to have been spared from Sandy's wrath may display vulnerabilities when temperatures heat up.
The state's famed Chelsea art district was hit especially hard in October, along with neighborhoods such as DUMBO, Greenpoint and Red Hook. Art-loving residents in these areas surveyed the devastation first-hand and willingly bundled themselves in Tyvec suits to wade through waters contaminated with sewage and an amalgam of hazardous chemicals. The claims adjusters working alongside them encountered the same slush and potential health risks, from which insurance professionals can deduce valuable lessons about guarding one's own safety while triaging insured items damaged during a catastrophe.
Fortunately some larger art institutions observed fewer losses than originally anticipated and have therefore been able to channel energy and resources to those affected, including (but certainly not limited to) directing them to qualified conservators while enumerating prudent retrieval and salvage practices. One particularly interesting—and vital—aspect of this education extended to policyholders is how to foster successful interactions with insurance adjusting professionals, from proper documentation to preventing future harm to damaged articles. During a consortium held by MoMa the Monday following Sandy, for example, fine arts restoration experts stressed the importance of prioritizing items in "good condition" over those that would likely be deemed unsalvageable. They also detailed the facets of documenting art work and other collectibles to ensure a smooth claims process.
From both the fine arts and insurance industry perspectives, it is evident there will be changes in how to store, document, appraise, and restore works of art and other unique items. For the larger picture, I invite you to visit the Claims channel of PropertyCasualty360.com and select "Education & Training." There, you'll find a summary of IMUA's recent seminar, "Sandy and Chelsea Art Losses," along with data about preparing for the modern storm and acclimating to new adjusting realities and contents claims.
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