19 April. ICCROM regrets to announce that Agnes Ballestrem, a long-time colleague of ICCROM, died on 14 April 2007 at the age of 71.

Agnes Ballestrem was born in Germany in 1935, but her work and life took her to many parts of the world. Her career in the conservation of polychrome sculpture started under the teaching of Johannes Taubert and Ernst Willemsen in Germany. Later she moved to the the Institut Royal de Patrimoine Artistique in Brussels where she became the head of the polychrome sculpture workshop.

In 1973 she succeeded Ernst Willemsen as head of conservation at the Rheinisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege in Bonn. In 1984 she was appointed the director of the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science in Amsterdam, which later became the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage. She retired in 2000 as the deputy director of the institute.

Throughout her career Agnes was deeply interested in the ethics and theory of conservation and restoration and the shaping of the professional identity of people working in this area. She was a respected thinker in international debates on this theme, and the leading force behind the work that lead to the ICOM-CC definition of Conservator- restorer in 1984, today a key reference for the profession.

Early on in her career she discovered the importance of working with colleagues from different parts of the world. Not only did she instruct younger colleagues, especially from Latin America, in her area of specialization (polychrome sculpture), but was always willing to participate in events and activities the world over that addressed different aspects of the development of the profession. Her approach was characterized by deep respect for people and opinions from different professional and cultural backgrounds, and a holistic understanding of the interdependence of different areas. Theory was never far from practice, science from daily decision making, and education from development of institutional frameworks for conservation. She contributed greatly to the development of both ICOM-CC and IIC as key venues for development of international conservation community.

She was given the Award of ICOM-CC in 1999, and named an Honorary Fellow of IIC in 2003. She was appointed 1999 as ‘Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ of the Republique Française and in 2000 as ‘Officier in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau’.

ICCROM benefited greatly from the commitment and insight of Agnes Ballestrem over several decades. She was a member and vice-chairman of the ICCROM Council from 1977 to 1985, and sat on the Standards and Training Committee. Her contribution to the development of the organization was recognized with the ICCROM Prize in 1995. Colleagues of the ICCROM network will have a lasting memory of the way in which discussions with Agnes could open up your mind to see further and deeper.

updated on: 2 August, 2007