James Hamm has taught paintings conservation in the department since 1986. He earned his M.A. degree and Certificate of Advanced Studies in Art Conservation from this program in 1978, when it was part of the Cooperstown Graduate Program, SUNY College at Oneonta. Between graduate school and the beginning of his tenure at Buffalo State, James and his wife Patricia Hamm (’75) operated a successful private practice near Albany, New York.

Professor Hamm has an ongoing interest in authentication issues and the detection of fakes and forgeries in paintings. Working closely with colleagues in the department, he regularly examines paintings using modern imaging techniques and sophisticated methods of materials analysis, in conjunction with an educated eye, to address questions of age and authenticity, and to distinguish between original paint and later additions. He also applies the knowledge gained from the study of art materials and the processes of their degradation, to the improvement of materials and techniques available to modern artists. As a part of this work, he was awarded a U.S. patent in 1994 for a rigid painting and drawing support for artists.

In 2007, Professor Hamm was honored with the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has supervised students who have become conservation professionals at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and The Art Institute of Chicago, among many others.

Service to the Western New York community is incredibly important to Professor Hamm. He has been instrumental to numerous conservation projects in the area, involving students and promoting awareness of our department. During the summer of 2008, Professor Hamm and three students treated nine paintings from the James Joyce collection at the University of Buffalo in preparation for an exhibition at the North American James Joyce Conference at UB in June 2009. He conserved two Margaret Evans Price murals at the Aurora Theatre in East Aurora, NY as well as conserving a twelve part Alexis Jean Fournier mural originally installed in 1905 in the main salon at the Roycroft Inn. Professor Hamm also supervised the treatment of two large Josef Albers murals located on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology. In addition, he regularly participates in ongoing preventive consultancies and individual paintings treatments for the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society and Burchfield-Penney Art Center.

Professor Hamm has been a reviewer for the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, the Getty Grant Program, and the Institute for Museum Services as well as serving on the American Institute for Conservation's Certification Task Force. He is a long standing elected Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation. Professor Hamm is also a consultant for the New York State Museum on the care of the World Trade Center collections, and a conservation consultant for the University of Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, the Roycroft Revitalization Corporation, and the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in Kinderhook, NY.

Recent Publications:
“A Method of Reinforcement Using Aluminum Bars” and “Tack Removal Methods to Minimize Damage” American Institute for Conservation Paintings Specialty Group Stretcher/Strainer Chapter (2008)

“What’s Wrong with this Picture? The Analysis of a Known Forgery” with G. Smith, D. Kushel and J. DiJoseph, American Institute for Conservation - Paintings Specialty Group Postprints, American Institute for Conservation pp. 562-66 (2008)

“Josef Albers’s Monumental Homage to the Square” International Institute for Conservation: Modern Art, New Museums, contributions to the Bilbao Spain Congress pp. 179-184 (2004)

Recent Presentations:
2008 Garrett Club, Buffalo, NY Madonna and Child: A question of Attribution and Authenticity

2007 Monhegan Historical Society Conference, Monhegan Island, ME Connoisseurship, Provenance and Materials Analysis: Investigating Four Paintings Attributed to Rockwell Kent

2007 American Institute for Conservation annual conference, Richmond, VA What’s Wrong with This Picture?: the Investigation of Known Forgery by Robert Trotter

2006 Modern Paints Uncovered Tate, London Analyzing Visual Change in a Painting by Josef Albers (poster)

2005 Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY The Real Dirt on Conservation

2004 International Institute for Conservation Congress, Bilbao, Spain Josef Albers’s Monumental Homage to the Square” International Institute for Conservation Congress, Bilbao, Spain

2004 Association of North American Graduate Programs in Conservation, meeting in Ottawa Preventive Conservation at the Art Conservation Department