Seminar Series in
  Conservation Science 2006 - 2007 		 

 

Sixth Seminar
 Photochemical Processes in Art and Other Standards
Participants to the Seminar, held in the new Ford Motor design center at NU
The program focused on photochemical processes in art and other standards. The keynote address, “Understanding and Managing Light-induced Changes to Artifacts,” was given by Paul Whitmore of Carnegie Mellon University. Other speakers included Kimberly Gray, Northwestern University, who presented a paper entitled “Probing the Effects of Light, Humidity and Acidity on the Deterioration of a Zinc Potassium Chromate Pigment”; Allen Zielnik, Atlas Material Testing Solutions LLC (a company that manufactures weathering chambers widely used in the conservation science field as well as the automotive, aerospace, paint, and consumer products industries), presented a paper titled “Considerations in the Environmental Exposure Testing of Archival Materials.” Finally, Graham Swift, GS Polymer Consultants, discussed the fascinating topic of “Environmentally Degradable Polymers.”

Prof. Katherine T. Faber (center), Prof. Kimberly Gray (left), and Dr. Paul Whitmore (right) engage in discussion
More than 50 people registered for the June event.  In addition to Chicago museum professionals and private conservators, NU faculty and students, and AIC staff (who now constitute a solid base of attendees to the seminar series), the seminar attracted conservation scientists  from the Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., among others.

 

Agenda of the day
Abstracts and Bios

Seventh Seminar

 Crossing Boundaries: The Impact of House Paints on the Artist’s Palette

AIC Director and President James Cuno greets the participants at the beginning of the day
This seminar was held October 19, 2006 at the Art Institute. The program included lectures by Prof. Stuart G. Croll, Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials, North Dakota State University, who provided an overview of the evolution of paint technology in the decades from 1900 to 1950, with a description of the analytical challenges facing scientists when they attempt the reverse engineering of paint formulations. His talk was entitled “Changes in Paint Technology from 1930 to 1950.”

Christopher McGlinchey, the Sally and Michael Gordon Conservation Scientist at The Museum of Modern Art, discussed the influence of early consumer paints (1880-1940) on artist’s technique and thought. At this point, Gwenaelle Gautier and Kimberly Muir from the Art Institute shared with the audience preliminary results of the”Ripolin” project that combines correlation of visual observations with scientific analysis in the investigation of Ripolin paints.

Speakers Marilyn McCully (far right), Prof. Stuart Croll (center) and Michael Braeburn (left) continue discussions over lunch
Finally, independent scholar and well-known Picasso expert Dr. Marilyn McCully delivered the keynote address entitled “Gloss,” discussing a survey of art historical documentation concerning Picasso’s use and knowledge of the properties of Ripolin in his work, beginning in 1912 and continuing into the 1930s, as well as the mutual influence between Picasso and fellow artist Francis Picabia, who had used non-artists’ paints since a visit to New York in 1915.

A panel discussion concluded the public part of the seminar, with panelists Ann Hoenigswald (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), who discussed questions that emerged during her several years of examination and treatments of Picasso’s paintings; Jan Marontate (Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada), who presented some thought-provoking ideas in her talk entitled “Beyond Aesthetics: Paint Choices as Ideology & Contacts between Art Worlds & the Paint Industry”; and Narayan Kandekhar (Senior Conservation Scientist, Straus Center for Conservation, Harvard University Art Museums), who reported on some examples of correlating scientific analysis of artifacts with interviews of artists who created them.

The lively scholarly exchange continued in a private program, which took place in the Paintings Conservation studio at AIC  and was dedicated to visiting conservators who took part in the AIC “Ripoli”survey as well as speakers and panelists.

Kimberly Muir describes details of Picasso’s Still Life, in the AIC collection
Participants engage in lively panel discussion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This seminar attracted an unprecedented number of enquiries and registered extremely high attendance exceeding 80 participants. The different perspectives and backgrounds of the speakers as well as the seamless integration of the talks appealed to a broad spectrum of scholars, including conservators and scientists from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Worcester Art Museum, Phillips Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the Victoria and Albert Museum ; participants from the private sector ( researchers from the McCrone group and Orion Analytical); as well as staff from other Chicago-area museums, universities, and cultural institutions.

 

 

  
     

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