AIC/NU - Art Conservation Science

Research Projects

Building on the strengths of the participating Institutions and on the needs of the Art Institute of Chicago in terms of fundamental - but still unresolved - questions in conservation, scholarly publications, and planned exhibitions for the next three to five years, research is being conducted in several areas.

Efforts are carried out through a combination of faculty, conservation and curatorial supervision of graduate and undergraduate research. Senior honors students and summer interns participate in developing databases of artists’ materials, and graduate and post-graduate students are engaged in advanced research on specific problems in one or more of the active research areas.

Currently our projects focus on the following areas of interest: I) technical studies of Asian art materials; II) characterization of modern artists’ materials; III) artistic metals: archaeological to modern; IV) development of innovative analytical techniques for art materials.

Follow the links below to learn more about selected projects.