American artist Sam Francis (1923-1994) brought vivid colour and emotional intensity to Abstract Expressionism. He was described as the "most sensuous and sensitive painter of his generation" by former Guggenheim Museum director James Johnson Sweeney, and curator Howard Fox called him "one of the acknowledged masters of late-modern art." Francis's works, whether intimate or monumental in scale, make indelible impressions; the intention of the artist was to make them felt as much as seen. At the age of twenty, Francis was hospitalised for spinal tuberculosis and spent three years virtually immobilised in a body cast. For physical therapy he was given a set of watercolours, and, as he described it, he painted his way back to life. The exuberant colour and expression in his paintings celebrated his survival; his five-decade career was an energetic visual and theoretical exploration that took him around the world. Francis' idiosyncratic painting practices have long been the subject of speculation and debate among conservators and art historians. Presented here for the first time in this volume are the results of an in-depth scientific study of more than forty paintings from the late 1940s to early 1990s, which reveal new discoveries about his creative process, inventive techniques, and specially formulated paints and binders. The data provides a key to the complicated evolution of the artist's work and informs original art historical interpretations.

"Collecting the New" is the first book on the questions and challenges that museums face in acquiring and preserving contemporary art. Because such art has not yet withstood the test of time, it defies the traditional understanding of the art museum as an institution that collects and displays works of long-established aesthetic and historical value. By acquiring such art, museums gamble on the future. In addition, new technologies and alternative conceptions of the artwork have created special problems of conservation, while social, political, and aesthetic changes have generated new categories of works to be collected.

Following Bruce Altshuler's introduction on the European and American history of museum collecting of art by living artists, the book comprises newly commissioned essays by twelve distinguished curators representing a wide range of museums. First considered are general issues including the acquisition process, and collecting by universal survey museums and museums that focus on modern and contemporary art. Following are groups of essays that address collecting in particular media, including prints and drawings, new (digital) media, and film and video; and national- and ethnic-specific collecting (contemporary art from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and African-American art). The closing essay examines the conservation problems created by contemporary works--for example, what is to be done when deterioration is the artist's intent?

The contributors are Christophe Cherix, Vishakha N. Desai, Steve Dietz, Howard N. Fox, Chrissie Iles and Henriette Huldisch, Pamela McClusky, Gabriel Perez-Barreiro, Lowery Stokes Sims, Robert Storr, Jeffrey Weiss, and Glenn Wharton."

This book provides practical information on the use of infrared spectroscopy for the analysis of materials found in cultural objects. Designed for scientists and students in the fields of archaeology, art conservation, microscopy, forensics, chemistry, and optics, the book discusses techniques for examining the microscopic amounts of complex, aged components in objects such as paintings, sculptures, and archaeological fragments.

Preservation and restoration techniques are essential in maintaining the integrity of historic artifacts, including textiles, and specifically, the materials of the textile industry in Egypt. The technologies, methods, and advancements in preserving these ancient artifacts are growing areas of research and important factors in increasing knowledge of the conservation process. By offering and increasing the knowledge field with practical applications of preservation and restoration techniques both old and new, the industry will continue to advance. Preservation and Restoration Techniques for Ancient Egyptian Textiles provides critical research on the history, technology, and materials of the textile industry in Egypt through the ages. It includes the integration of scientific examinations and digital precise documentation in the preservation of Ancient Egyptian textiles, the deterioration aspects and their effect on historical textiles and novelty preservation methods, and the preventive conservation of historical textiles in museums. The book deals with the restoration methods of historical textiles such as documentation; various cleaning processes; fixing, supporting, display, and storage methods; as well as incorporating modern science techniques such as nanoscience, enzymes, plasma, lasers, and more. It is essential for historians and archeologists, conservators, specialists in art history, museum specialists, restoration professionals, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the latest conservation and restoration techniques specifically focused on ancient Egyptian textiles.

An exploration of heritage practice in Turkey at the intersection of academia, policy, and practice.  The papers published in this volume were among those presented at the 14th International ANAMED Annual Symposium (IAAS), held at Istanbul’s Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations in 2019. Bringing together archaeologists and heritage professionals from diverse backgrounds engaged in the conservation of archaeological and natural sites, the symposium focused on topics of heritage conservation and development in Turkey, with a particular focus on World Heritage Sites.  The papers in this volume explore the conservation and future of archaeological and natural heritage, including but not limited to the World Heritage Convention and its application in Turkey, site conservation and financing of conservation work, community engagement during archaeological research, and public perceptions of archaeology. Providing reflection on and critical assessment of their own work, the authors discuss both achievements and problems to create a clearer picture of what works and what does not work in certain conditions.

Almost every museum in the world is confronted with plastics in their collections. Research initiatives and knowledge concerning the conservation of heritage objects made of plastics have proliferated over the last twenty-five years, necessitating this up-to-date, comprehensive resource. Intended as a highly practical guide for the conservation community, this authoritative book offers information essential to understanding plastics, polymers, and rubber/elastomers and their behaviors in the cultural heritage context. Numerous graphs, diagrams, and illustrations allow readers to compare the mechanical, physical, thermal, and optical properties of these substances during conservation. Aimed at the hands-on museum practitioner, this book will assist professionals in choosing the appropriate materials for cleaning, adhering, and consolidating plastic objects-with the result that collections will benefit from a longer lifespan. Complementing the main chapters, fifty-six illustrated "fact sheets" summarize, at a glance, the properties of those plastics most commonly found in museum collections. Six informative case studies present real-world examples of current conservation approaches to works of art and design made of plastics and rubber/elastomers. Under the expert authorship of Thea B. van Oosten, conservation scientist, educator, and internationally regarded authority on the behavior and properties of plastics, this instructive volume is destined to become an invaluable resource for the field.

A volume considering questions of conservation that arise with new artistic mediums and practices. Much of the artwork that rose to prominence in the second half of the twentieth century took on novel forms-such as installation, performance, event, video, film, earthwork, and intermedia works with interactive and networked components-that pose a new set of questions about what art actually is, both physically and conceptually. For conservators, this raises an existential challenge when considering what elements of these artworks can and should be preserved. This provocative volume revisits the traditional notions of conservation and museum collecting that developed over the centuries to suit a conception of art as static, fixed, and permanent objects. Conservators and museums increasingly struggle with issues of conservation for works created from the mid-twentieth to the twenty-first century that are unstable over time. The contributors ask what it means to conserve artworks that fundamentally address and embody the notion of change and, through this questioning, guide us to reevaluate the meaning of art, of objects, and of materiality itself. Object-Event-Performance considers a selection of post-1960s artworks that have all been chosen for their instability, changeability, performance elements, and processes that pose questions about their relationship to conservation practices. This volume will be a welcome resource on contemporary conservation for art historians, scholars of dance and theater studies, curators, and conservators.

This is an indispensible volume for creators, curators, and conservators of installation art. Installation art is an evolving, often ephemeral medium that defies rigid categorization. It has also radically transformed the concepts of space, time, and the experience of art. The conservation field is faced with unique challenges over how best to manage and preserve the essence of these works. How detailed can documentation get? When does the replacement of original components become acceptable? How does the field cope with the obsolescence of certain technologies? By exploring the questions and dilemmas facing those who care for art installations, this book intends to raise awareness and promote discussion about the various conservation approaches for these works.

This fourth volume in the Readings in Conservation series aims to promote critical thinking about the concepts and practices of textile conservation and to encourage engagement with new issues. Recognizing conservation as a dynamic social force, the volume draws attention to the cultural significance of textiles and dress and to the importance of textile conservation in fostering understanding and use of collections.

The eighty-one readings illustrate not only the intellectual foundations but also the important changes in conservation practice and contribute to the growing historiography of textile conservation. In addition to papers from America, Australia, Canada, England, and Scotland, the book includes many significant texts translated into English for the first time, reflecting practice in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and The Netherlands.

This book presents the surprising collection of Venetian glass donated by spouses Carla Nasci and Ferruccio Franzoia to the Carlo Rizzarda Modern Art Gallery in Feltre. A collection of over 800 pieces ranging from the 18th century to today, allowing the viewer to marvel, in particular, at the Murano production and its great glassmakers. A first nucleus includes the elegant Liberty and Deco glasses produced by Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Cappellin Venini & C. in the twenties: the artistic director of the company was Vittorio Zecchin, one of the most fascinating personalities working in Venice between the First World War and the decade later, who with his elegant, transparent blown glass inspired by the Renaissance, marked a decisive turning point in contemporary Murano production. A second group is represented by the artifacts produced between 1925 and 1960 referable to the figure of Carlo Scarpa, creator of highly successful, innovative glass shapes and fabrics, who collaborated respectively with the Cappellini company since 1926 and with Venini since 1932, together with a mix of products from other companies and authors active in the lagoon. The third type of documented artifacts is that of table glasses: consumer objects destined for ephemeral use and therefore an important testimony of taste and customs.

Dioramas are devices on the frontier of different disciplines: art, anthropology, and the natural sciences, to name a few. Their use developed during the nineteenth century, following reforms aimed at reinforcing the educational dimension of museums. While dioramas with human figures are now the subject of healthy criticism and are gradually being dismantled, a thorough study of the work of artists and scientists who made them helps shed light on their genesis. Among other displays, this book examines anthropological dioramas of two North American museums in the early twentieth century: the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the New York State Museum. Sites of creation and mediation of knowledge, combining painting, sculpture, photography, and material culture, dioramas tell a story that is always political.

We all have a stake in the past and in its tangible preservation, and we trust professionals to preserve our cultural heritage for the future. However, restoration in all its forms is entangled in many contemporary theoretical debates and problems. This book is the first concerted effort to examine together the linked philosophies of the different arts of preserving and uncovering the past: the restoration of buildings, conservation of works of art, and editing of literary works to retrieve their original or intended texts. By investigating a series of recent crises in each of these areas, Securing the Past shows how their underlying justifications relate closely to one another. Paul Eggert shows how they have been philosophically undermined by postmodern theories and charts another, richer way forward to a new future for the past.

The nineteen papers in this volume stem from a symposium that brought together academics, archaeologists, museum curators, conservators, and a practicing marble sculptor to discuss varying approaches to restoration of ancient stone sculptures.
Contributors and their subjects include Marion True and Jerry Podany on changing approaches to conservation; Seymour Howard on restoration and the antique model; Nancy H. Ramage's case study on the relationship between a restorer, Vincenzo Pacetti, and his patron, Luciano Bonaparte; Mette Moltesen on de-restoring and re-restoring in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek; Miranda Marvin on the Ludovisi collection; and Andreas Scholl on the history of restoration of ancient sculptures in the Altes Museum in Berlin.
The book also features contributions by Elizabeth Bartman, Brigitte Bourgeois, Jane Fejfer, Angela Gallottini, Sascha Kansteiner, Giovanna Martellotti, Orietta Rossi Pinelli, Peter Rockwell, Edmund Southworth, Samantha Sportun, and Markus Trunk. Charles Rhyne summarizes the themes, approaches, issues, and questions raised by the symposium.

This volume on paintings conservation includes more than seventy texts ranging from the fifteenth century to the present day. Some are classic and highly influential writings; others, although little known when first published, in retrospect reflect important themes and issues in the history of the field. Many appear here in English for the first time, including translations of D. Vicente Polero y Toledo's 1855 essay "Arte de la Restauracion" (The Art of Restoration), and Victor Bauer-Bolton's treatise from 1914, "Sollen fehlende Stellen bei Gemalden erganzt werden?" (Should Missing Areas of Paintings Be Made Good?).
The book is divided into six sections: An Historical Miscellany, History of the Profession, Study of Artists' Materials and Techniques, Structural Interventions, Philosophical and Practical Approaches to Cleaning and Restoration, and Cleaning Controversies.
This is the second volume to appear in the Getty Conservation Institute's Readings in Conservation series, which publishes texts considered fundamental to an understanding of the history, philosophies, and methodologies of conservation.

A Closer Look is the new series title for the updated and refreshed National Gallery Pocket Guide range. The series has been enhanced with a stronger format, attractive design, new photography, and additional information. The philosophy of modern conservation is different from that of previous eras: the emphasis now is on long-term stabilization by methods that alter the structure of a painting as little as possible. Nevertheless, if paintings are obscured by discolored varnishes and old repaints, they are cleaned, and this has often led to anxiety and debate as long-admired images are transformed. A Closer Look: Conservation of Paintings discusses the material nature of paintings and the ways that they have changed, both naturally and at the hands of previous restorers. It also describes the main types of conservation treatment carried out on panel and canvas paintings and some of the complex issues involved in cleaning and restoration. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

The acclaimed author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts introduces us to the extraordinary keepers and companions of medieval manuscripts over a thousand years of history The illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages are among the greatest works of European art and literature. We are dazzled by them and recognize their crucial role in the transmission of knowledge. But we generally think much less about the countless men and women who made, collected and preserved them through the centuries, and to whom they owe their existence. This entrancing book describes some of the extraordinary people who have spent their lives among illuminated manuscripts over the last thousand years. A monk in Normandy, a prince of France, a Florentine bookseller, an English antiquary, a rabbi from central Europe, a French priest, a Keeper at the British Museum, a Greek forger, a German polymath, a British connoisseur and the woman who created the most spectacular library in America - all of them were participants in what Christopher de Hamel calls the Manuscripts Club. This exhilarating fraternity, and the fellow enthusiasts who come with it, throw new light on how manuscripts have survived and been used by very different kinds of people in many different circumstances. Christopher de Hamel's unexpected connections and discoveries reveal a passion which crosses the boundaries of time. We understand the manuscripts themselves better by knowing who their keepers and companions have been. In 1850 (or thereabouts) John Ruskin bought his first manuscript 'at a bookseller's in a back alley'. This was his reaction: 'The new worlds which every leaf of this book opened to me, and the joy I had in counting their letters and unravelling their arabesques as if they had all been of beaten gold - as many of them were - cannot be told.' The members of de Hamel's club share many such wonders, which he brings to us with scholarship, style, and a lifetime's experience.

This is a fascinating re-examination of the importance and legacy of provenance in the history of art. This book goes beyond the narrow definition of the term provenance, which addresses only the bare facts of ownership and transfer, to explore ideas about the origins and itineraries of objects, consider the historical uses of provenance research, and draw attention to the transformative power of ownership. The result is a volume of essays that makes a strong case for recuperating provenance - what contributing author Anne Higonnet calls "so many epic tales compressed into such dry lists" - for the history of art. Provenance attends to the social life of art, a work's biography subsequent to the moment of its origin. "Provenance" offers a broad perspective, ranging from ancient archaeology to conceptual art, that encompasses Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and considers a variety of media. The essays demonstrate in myriad ways how an owner's relationship with a work of art or, in varying degrees, with the object's previous owners can change irrevocably the way the work will be perceived and understood by future generations.