Earthquakes pose myriad dangers to heritage collections worldwide. This book provides an accessible introduction to these dangers and to the methodologies developed at the Getty and other museums internationally for mitigating seismic vulnerability. Conceived as a primer and reference, this abundantly illustrated volume begins with an engaging overview of explanations for earthquakes from antiquity to the nineteenth century. A series of chapters then addresses our modern understanding of seismic events and approaches for mitigating the damage they cause to heritage collections, covering such subjects as earthquake measurement, hazard analysis, the response of buildings and collections to seismic events, mount making, and risk assessment; short sections by specialists in seismic engineering complement the main text throughout. Readers will find a range of effective seismic mitigation measures, from simple low-cost approaches to complex base-isolation techniques. In bridging the gap between seismologists and seismic engineers, on the one hand, and collections care professionals, on the other, this volume will be of interest to conservators, registrars, designers, mount makers, and others involved in the management and care of collections in museums and other cultural institutions. "

The art and science of audiovisual preservation and access has evolved at breakneck speed in the digital age. The Joint Technical Symposium (JTS) is organized by the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations and brings experts from around the world to learn of technologies and developments in the technical issues affecting the long-term survival and accessibility of audiovisual collections. This collection of essays is derived from presentations made at the 2016 JTS held in Singapore and presents an overview of the latest audiovisual preservation methods and techniques, archival best practices in media storage, as well as analog-to-digital conversion challenges and their solutions.

Discover the extraordinary stories behind the world's missing works of art.

New, small-format impulse-buy books make the perfect self-purchase or gift. Travel back in time to discover works of art that have vanished from the record, as well as those that went missing and have since been reclaimed or recovered.

From the treasures of Tutankhamun to the altarpiece of Ghent, a missing Fabergé egg, and Vincent van Gogh's majestic Sunset at Montmajour, numerous masterpieces have disappeared throughout history as a result of theft, looting, natural catastrophe, or conflict... And some have resurfaced decades or even centuries later. Lost Masterpieces examines the unique story of the most significant of these artworks, the artists who created them, and those thought to be involved in their loss. It explores the various means by which museum curators and international crime investigators have unearthed missing treasures. It highlights the moral dilemma of museums that have profited from looted works of art and examines the recent "heists" made by some nations in an effort to regain their nation's stolen works of art.

Delve into the mysteries of ancient Egyptian tombs, marvel at the hoards unearthed by archaeologists, and discover the skulduggery behind the disappearance of priceless Rembrandts and Vermeers. And see the world of art and antiquities in a whole new light.

Building-related art commissioned by the state brings politics, society, architecture, and urban design together in a unique way. In the German Democratic Republic (GDR), it was initially given the function of propagating political contents and idealized images of society. Artists increasingly emancipated themselves from government guidelines and developed their own forms of expression in interplay with their surroundings. Until today, many people identify numerous artworks with their home country. The publication documents the symposium "Building-related Art in the German Democratic Republic" on the occasion of the anniversary "seventy years of building-related art in Germany" in 2020. Renowned experts examine building-related art in the GDR from the perspective of aesthetics and contents and discuss this internationally unique stock of artworks in detail.

In recent years, interest in old photographs has grown significantly among a broad public, from collectors, conservators, and archivists to amateurs seeking to preserve precious family albums. Although the medium of photography is barely 150 years old, its relatively brief history has witnessed the birth of a wide range of photographic processes, each of which poses unique conservation challenges.
Photographs of the Past: Processes and Preservation provides a comprehensive introduction to the practice of photograph preservation, bringing together more information on photographic processes than any other single source. Introductory chapters cover issues of terminology; the rest of the book is divided into three parts: positives, negatives, and conservation. Each chapter focuses on a single process--daguerreotypes, albumen negatives, black-and-white prints, and so on--providing an overview of its history and materials and tracing the evolution of its technology. This book will serve as an irreplaceable reference work for conservators, curators, collectors, dealers, conservation students, and photographers, as well as those in the general public seeking information on preserving this ubiquitous form of cultural heritage.

The first history of the deaccession of objects from museum collections that defends deaccession as an essential component of museum practice. Museums often stir controversy when they deaccession works-formally remove objects from permanent collections-with some critics accusing them of betraying civic virtue and the public trust. In fact, Martin Gammon argues in Deaccessioning and Its Discontents, deaccession has been an essential component of the museum experiment for centuries. Gammon offers the first critical history of deaccessioning by museums from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century, and exposes the hyperbolic extremes of "deaccession denial"-the assumption that deaccession is always wrong-and "deaccession apology"-when museums justify deaccession by finding some fault in the object-as symptoms of the same misunderstanding of the role of deaccessions in proper museum practice. He chronicles a series of deaccession events in Britain and the United States that range from the disastrous to the beneficial, and proposes a typology of principles to guide future deaccessions. Gammon describes the liquidation of the British Royal Collections after Charles I's execution-when masterworks were used as barter to pay the king's unpaid bills-as establishing a precedent for future deaccessions. He recounts, among other episodes, U.S. Civil War veterans who tried to reclaim their severed limbs from museum displays; the 1972 "Hoving affair," when the Metropolitan Museum of Art sold a number of works to pay for a Velazquez portrait; and Brandeis University's decision (later reversed) to close its Rose Art Museum and sell its entire collection of contemporary art. An appendix provides the first extensive listing of notable deaccessions since the seventeenth century. Gammon ultimately argues that vibrant museums must evolve, embracing change, loss, and reinvention.

MAXIMIZE PROFITS...NEVER SAY NO...FOCUS ON YOUR CORE PRODUCT...There are plenty of myths and empty phrases commonplace in the business world. This book attacks and reformulates ten of the most common myths about how to build and run a business.This short book is laid out as a guidebook with illustrative case studies, based on interviews with organizations such as Acne, Filippa K, Funcom, Lazy Town, Murlyn Music and Odd Molly. Anyone who is thinking about starting up or investing in a small business can learn something from this book, but the case studies are from the cultural and creative industries.It shows how you can run a business, get the financials right, and be creative all at the same time.The book is a result of extensive research funded by the Nordic Innovation Centre. The authors are Tobias Niels n, CEO and senior analyst Volante QNB Research, Dominic Power, Professor Uppsala University, and Margr t Sigr n Sigur ard ttir, Ph.D. Iceland University.

Donna White-Davis Collection "Children" and additional collections of her Art for exhibits.

Making Livable Places explores the history and politics of the issues and places that shape Boise's metropolitan growth.

In 1943, while the world was convulsed by war, a few visionaries--in the private sector and in the military--committed to protect Europe's cultural heritage from the indiscriminate ravages of World War Two.
And so the Allies appointed the Monuments Officers, a motley group of art historians, curators, architects, and artists, to ensure that the masterpieces of European art and architecture were not looted or bombed into oblivion. Often working as shellfire exploded around them, the Monuments men and women of Italy shored up tottering palaces and cathedrals, safeguarded Michelangelos and Giottos, and even blocked a Nazi convoy of stolen paintings bound for Goring's birthday celebration. Sometimes they failed. But to an astonishing degree they succeeded, and their story is an unparalleled adventure with the gorgeous tints of a Botticelli as its backdrop.

On August 23, 1939, with World War II looming, the National Gallery, London, was forced temporarily to close its doors to the public to evacuate the bulk of its collection to secret locations in Wales for safe-keeping. By May 1940, the collection had been transferred to Manod Quarry, a slate mine in the mountains, beneath 200 feet of solid rock. The Gallery, meanwhile, remained "open for business" despite being bombed several times during the Blitz. This enthralling and richly documented book recounts for the first time the story of how the National Gallery functioned during this eventful period. With extensive archival photographs, many of which are published here for the first time, alongside press accounts and Gallery correspondence, it discusses the preparations to move the pictures; the Gallery's decision to keep the building open for temporary exhibitions and lunchtime concerts fronted by internationally renowned pianist Myra Hess; director Kenneth Clark's role as chairman of the War Artists Advisory Committee, whose aim was to commission and exhibit pictures recording the war; and the institution of the Picture of the Month, which exhibited in succession 43 of the Gallery's best-known pictures during the war, and which continues today. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

This unique book is the first comprehensive introduction to Marxist approaches to art history. Although the aesthetic was a crucial part of Marx and Engels's thought, they left no programmatic statements on the arts. In meeting this gap, succeeding Marxists have inevitably devised a wide variety of approaches to both aesthetics and the writing of art's history. Although there is an abundant scholarship on Marxist approaches to literature, the historiography of the visual arts from a Marxist perspective has been largely neglected - despite the large impact it has had within academic art history since 1970. This book encompasses a range of influential thinkers and historians from the period of the Second and Third Internationals down to the heyday of the New Left. Among the individuals it covers are: William Morris, Mikhail Lifshits, Frederick Antal, Francis Klingender, Max Raphael, Meyer Schapiro, Walter Benjamin, Henri Lefebvre, and Arnold Hauser.

Whether antiquities should be returned to the countries where they were found is one of the most urgent and controversial issues in the art world today, and it has pitted museums, private collectors, and dealers against source countries, archaeologists, and academics. Maintaining that the acquisition of undocumented antiquities by museums encourages the looting of archaeological sites, countries such as Italy, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, and China have claimed ancient artifacts as state property, called for their return from museums around the world, and passed laws against their future export. But in "Who Owns Antiquity?," one of the world's leading museum directors vigorously challenges this nationalistic position, arguing that it is damaging and often disingenuous. "Antiquities," James Cuno argues, "are the cultural property of all humankind," "evidence of the world's ancient past and not that of a particular modern nation. They comprise antiquity, and antiquity knows no borders."

Cuno argues that nationalistic retention and reclamation policies impede common access to this common heritage and encourage a dubious and dangerous politicization of antiquities--and of culture itself. Antiquities need to be protected from looting but also from nationalistic identity politics. To do this, Cuno calls for measures to broaden rather than restrict international access to antiquities. He advocates restoration of the system under which source countries would share newly discovered artifacts in exchange for archaeological help, and he argues that museums should again be allowed reasonable ways to acquire undocumented antiquities. Cuno explains how partage broadened access to our ancient heritage and helped create national museums in Cairo, Baghdad, and Kabul. The first extended defense of the side of museums in the struggle over antiquities, "Who Owns Antiquity?" is sure to be as important as it is controversial.

Reste fordern die Institution des Museums heraus. Es sind Kippfiguren, die Zuschreibungen oeffnen und damit an UEberschreitungen der taxonomischen, disziplinaren, architektonischen und institutionellen Grenzen des Museums mitarbeiten. Sie sind uberall anzutreffen - im Ausstellungsraum genauso wie im Depot, im Labor genauso wie in der Verwaltung. In jedem dieser Kontexte stehen jeweils andere Formen des professionellen Selbstverstandnisses, des Wissens und des praktischen Umgangs zur Verfugung, die den Status von Resten determinieren. Der Band tragt dazu bei, Begriffe wie Rest, Abfall, Spuren, Rander im Kontext des Museums zu prazisieren und fur Debatten in Konservierung, Kuration, Kunstgeschichte und Museumsanthropologie neu zu bewerten.

The world's art heritage is under attack from the very people charged with its preservation, argues this important book, which has ignited controversy among art historians, curators, and restorers. In the world's museums and in towns and cities throughout Europe, misguided restoration efforts are having irreversible, often tragic effects on masterpieces by Piero della Francesca, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and many other artists. What roles do aesthetic, institutional, and commercial factors play in the decision to restore a work of art? How can we prevent or halt projects in which a work of art is not restored but irreparably damaged? James Beck and Michael Daley explore these questions in the context of restoration projects in Florence, at the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and in museums in France, England, and the United States. They sound an alarm that must be heeded if we are to preserve the world's art for future generations.

The Museum Environment is in two parts; Part I: intended for conservators and museum curators and describes the principles and techniques of controlling the environment so that the potentially damaging effects of light, humidity and air pollution on museum exhibits may be minimised. Part II: the author brings together and summarises information and data, hitherto widely scattered in the literature of diverse fields, which is essential to workers in conservation research.
Since the timely publication of the first two editions of this book in hardback, interest in preventive conservation has continued to grow strongly making publication of this paperback edition all the more welcome. Those whose responsibility it is to care for the valuable and beautiful objects in the world's collections have become increasingly aware that it is better to prevent their deterioration, by ensuring that they are housed and displayed in the best possible environmental conditions, than to wait until restoration and repair are necessary. The changes for the second edition have been mainly concentrated in the sections on electronic hygrometry, new fluorescent lamps, buffered cases, air conditioning systems, data logging, and control within historic buildings. A new appendix, giving a summary of museum specificiations for conservation, provides a useful, quick reference.
* New paperback edition of successful text
* Now at lower price
* Essential reading for conservators and museum curators and scientists

The latest in this annual bulletin based on research carried out at the National Gallery, London, draws on the combined expertise of scientists, conservators, and curators, bringing together a wealth of information about artists' materials, practices, and techniques. The cleaning and restoration of The Adoration of the Kings by Botticelli and Filippino Lippi reveals its unusually complex physical and attributional history. The relining of Van Dyck's equestrian portrait of Charles I is described, an operation that posed certain challenges due to its large size; at the same time the records of conservation of this painting offer a potted history of lining at the National Gallery. The recent cleaning of Jan van Eyck's Portrait of a Man ("Leal Souvenir") has shown that it retains an original surface coating that may explain its excellent condition. And finally, Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks offers new discoveries from macro XRF scanning and hyperspectral imaging, which extend our knowledge of the evolution of the painting during its production. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

In 2005, the Institut National du Patrimoine of Tunisia played host to the ninth Triennial meeting of the International Committee for the Conservation of Mosaics (ICCM). The meeting focused on assessing past practices of mosaic conservation, both in situ and in museums."Lessons Learned" is a richly illustrated volume that provides readers with a comprehensive record of the conference proceedings.The fifty-three papers - with contributions from more than 80 leading professionals in the field - reflect the conference's principle themes: Evaluating Mosaic Practice, Caring for Mosaics in Museums, Documenting and Assessing Sites at Risk, Managing Sites with Mosaics, Sheltering Mosaics, and Training of Conservation Practitioners.