LUCA BONETTI
Art Conservation
FOUNDER
LUCA BONETTI (1947–2023)
Luca Bonetti was a renowned New York art conservator specializing in the conservation and restoration of old masters, modern and contemporary paintings and sculpture. Luca began his career in 60s, volunteering to conserve works of art damaged during the 1966 flood of the Arno in Florence. After having worked in various museums and private conservation studios, mostly in Italy and Switzerland (where he was the first apprentice at the Swiss National Museum in Zürich), he settled in New York City in 1983 and opened Luca Bonetti Corp. His contributions to the field of art conservation include the co-design and manufacture in the U.S. of Starofix; a stretcher with continuous tension, and numerous publications on the methods and techniques of conservation. Luca has been awarded two Awards for Excellence in Design from the Art Commission of the City of New York for the conservation of a mural/collage by Romare Bearden on view at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, and two murals by Florence Lundberg located at Curtis High School in Staten Island.
OWNER
MAHEN BONETTI
Mahen Bonetti is the owner of Luca Bonetti Corp., and the spouse of the late Luca Bonetti. She has succeeded Luca and oversees the studio and the conservation team. Born in Sierra Leone, she moved to New York and founded the New York African Film Festival in 1993. Today she serves as the Executive Director of the festival, curating and facilitating all AFF programming and events. Additionally Mahen is the recipient of the French government's award Chevalier De L'Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres. She has served on both national and international panels for the arts and film, and continues to maintain Luca’s memory and support his team of conservators in the work and research they do.
SENIOR CONSERVATOR
MARIA SCARPINI
Maria earned her Artistic License in 1978–1979 and subsequently received her Diploma in Conservation and Restoration Theory from Università Internazionale dell’Arte in Florence, Italy. She also studied Iconology, Contemporary Art History, Modern Art History, Venetian Art History, Modern History, and History of Religions at Università degli Studi La Sapienza in Rome. Her advanced training continued at Studio Parma in Milan, Italy, where she completed an internship in the conservation and restoration of paintings and frescoes. She has also pursued professional study and training at museums in Europe and the United States, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Since 1988, Maria has worked extensively in the conservation of paintings, frescoes, murals, monuments, bas-reliefs, and mosaics.
ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER
DOREEN MCCARTHY
Doreen McCarthy is the administrative manager for Luca Bonetti Studio and a visual artist based in New York City. She received her MFA from Hunter College and has exhibited widely with numerous solo and survey expeditions in the United States, Europe, China, and Japan since 1985. In addition to residencies in Berlin & Cologne, Germany, Peru, Santa Fe Art Institute, and Edward Albee’s “The Barn”, she has received grants from The West Collection, Foundation for Contemporary Art, and The Joan Mitchell Foundation and The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Her exhibitions have been reviewed in Sculpture Magazine, The New York Times, Hyperallergic, Flash Art, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Sylter Spiegel, NY Arts Magazine and Kölner Stadt Anzeiger.
STUDIO MASCOT