Art, Conservation and Authenticities

Art, Conservation and Authenticities
Author: E. Hermens (ed.)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2009
Genre: Art
ISBN:

"The papers presented in this volume focus on a series of conservation 'flashpoints'-- painted works, drawings, sculpture, installations, new media, performance, interiors and historic houses, cultural objects-- and revolve around three key areas considered vital in establishing or vouchsafing an artwork's 'authenticity': material, concept and context. A wide range of approaches, some object-based, some more conceptual and philosophical, demonstrate that although the term authenticity is generally employed in the singular, the values associated with it are multiple, multilayered and often competing. The papers, each in their own way, evaluate the critical potential of the pluralised form, 'authenticities', creating a platform for a continuous discussion on this important and fascinating theme"--P. [4] of cover.

The Painted King

The Painted King
Author: Glenn Wharton
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2011-11-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0824861086

The famous statue of Kamehameha I in downtown Honolulu is one of the state’s most popular landmarks. Many tourists—and residents—however, are unaware that the statue is a replica; the original, cast in Paris in the 1880s and the first statue in the Islands, stands before the old courthouse in rural Kapa‘au, North Kohala, the legendary birthplace of Kamehameha I. In 1996 conservator Glenn Wharton was sent by public arts administrators to assess the statue’s condition, and what he found startled him: A larger-than-life brass figure painted over in brown, black, and yellow with “white toenails and fingernails and penetrating black eyes with small white brush strokes for highlights. . . . It looked more like a piece of folk art than a nineteenth-century heroic monument.” The Painted King is Wharton’s account of his efforts to conserve the Kohala Kamehameha statue, but it is also the story of his journey to understand the statue’s meaning for the residents of Kapa‘au. He learns that the townspeople prefer the “more human” (painted) Kamehameha, regaling him with a parade, chants, and leis every Kamehameha Day (June 11). He meets a North Kohala volunteer who decides to paint the statue’s sash after respectfully consulting with kahuna (Hawaiian spiritual leaders) and the statue itself. A veteran of public art conservation, Wharton had never before encountered a community that had developed such a lengthy, personal relationship with a civic monument. Going against the advice of some of his peers and ignoring warnings about “going native,” Wharton decides to involve the people of Kapa‘au in the conservation of their statue and soon finds himself immersed in complex political, social, and cultural considerations, including questions about representations of the Native Hawaiian past: Who should decide what is represented and how? And once a painting or sculpture exists, how should it be conserved? The Painted King examines professional authority and community involvement while providing a highly engaging and accessible look at “activist conservation” at work, wherever it may be found.

Authenticity in Architectural Heritage Conservation

Authenticity in Architectural Heritage Conservation
Author: Katharina Weiler
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2016-07-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3319305239

The book contributes to a recontextualization of authenticity by investigating how this value is created, reenacted, and assigned. Over the course of the last century, authenticity figured as the major parameter for the evaluation of cultural heritage. It was adopted in local and international charters and guidelines on architectural conservation in Europe, South and East Asia. Throughout this period, the concept of authenticity was constantly redefined and transformed to suit new cultural contexts and local concerns. This volume presents colonial and postcolonial discourses, opinions, and experiences in the field of architectural heritage conservation and the use of site-specific practices based on representative case studies presented by art historians, architects, anthropologists, and conservationists from Germany, Nepal, India, China, and Japan. With more than 180 illustrations and a collection of terminologies in German, English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Nevari and Nepali, classical Chinese and standard Mandarin, and Japanese, these cross-cultural investigations document the processual re-configuration of the notion of authenticity. They also show that approaches to authenticity can be specified with key analytical categories from transcultural studies: appropriation, transformation, and, in some cases, refusal.

The Restoration of Paintings in Paris, 1750-1815

The Restoration of Paintings in Paris, 1750-1815
Author: Noémie Étienne
Publisher: Getty Publications
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2017-02-21
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1606065165

The decades following the 1973 publication of Alessandro Conti’s Storia del Restauro have seen considerable scholarly interest in the development of restoration in France in the second half of the eighteenth century. A number of technical treatises and biographies of restorers have offered insight into restoration practice. The Restoration of Paintings in Paris, 1750–1815, however, is the first book to situate this work within the broader historical and philosophical contexts of the time. Drawing on previously unpublished primary material from archives in Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Venice, Noémie Étienne combines art history with anthropology and sociology to survey the waning decades of the Ancien Régime and early post– Revolution France. Initial chapters present the diversity of restoration practice, encompassing not only royal institutions and the Louvre museum but also private art dealers, artists, and craftsmen, and examine questions of trade secrecy and the changing role of the restorer. Following chapters address the influence of restoration and exhibition on the aesthetic understanding of paintings as material objects. The book closes with a discussion of the institutional and political uses of restoration, along with an art historical consideration of such key concepts as authenticity, originality, and stability of artworks, emphasizing the multilayered dimension of paintings by such important artists as Titian and Raphael. There is also a useful dictionary of the main restorers active in France between 1750 and 1815.

Installation Art and the Museum

Installation Art and the Museum
Author: Vivian van Saaze
Publisher:
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2013
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9789089644596

Installation art has become mainstream in artistic practices. However, acquiring and displaying such artworks means that curators and conservators are challenged to deal with obsolete technologies, ephemeral materials, and other issues concerning care and management of these artworks. By analyzing three in-depth case studies, the author sheds new light on the key concepts of traditional conservation--authenticity, artist's intention, and the notion of ownership--while exploring how these concepts apply in contemporary art conservation.

Authenticity and Replication

Authenticity and Replication
Author: Rebecca Gordon
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781904982999

The concept of authenticity is one of the core factors driving decision making. Papers in this volume examine five key areas of discussion.

Collecting and Conserving Net Art

Collecting and Conserving Net Art
Author: Annet Dekker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2018-05-08
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1351208616

Collecting and Conserving Net Art explores the qualities and characteristics of net art and its influence on conservation practices. By addressing and answering some of the challenges facing net art and providing an exploration of its intersection with conservation, the book casts a new light on net art, conservation, curating and museum studies. Viewing net art as a process rather than as a fixed object, the book considers how this is influenced by and executed through other systems and users. Arguing that these processes and networks are imbued with ambiguity, the book suggests that this is strategically used to create suspense, obfuscate existing systems and disrupt power structures. The rapid obsolescence of hard and software, the existence of many net artworks within restricted platforms and the fact that artworks often act as assemblages that change or mutate, make net art a challenging case for conservation. Taking the performative and interpretive roles conservators play into account, the book demonstrates how practitioners can make more informed decisions when responding to, critically analysing or working with net art, particularly software-based processes. Collecting and Conserving Net Art is intended for researchers, academics and postgraduate students, especially those engaged in the study of museum studies, conservation and heritage studies, curatorial studies, digital art and art history. The book should also be interesting to professionals who are involved in the conservation and curation of digital arts, performance, media and software.

The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics

The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics
Author: Jerrold Levinson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 844
Release: 2005-01-27
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780199279456

'The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics' has assembled 48 brand-new essays, making this a comprehensive guide available to the theory, application, history, and future of the field.

Innovative Technology in Art Conservation

Innovative Technology in Art Conservation
Author: W. (Bill) Wei
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2024-01-29
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1003832989

Innovative Technology in Art Conservation provides one of the first ever critical assessments of innovation in conservation science and questions what role it should play in conservation and conservation ethics. Written in language understandable for the non-technical reader, the book begins with a brief history of so-called science-based conservation, which is based on chemistry, physics and engineering, and examines how it influences conservation ethics and conservation decisions. It considers the concepts of originality and original appearance, and how people see and perceive objects, looking in particular at the results of the relatively new technology of eye-tracking. Wei then moves on to critically examine advanced technologies such as colour modelling, hyperspectral imaging, texture mapping, virtual retouching and digital reproductions and considers what they offer for determining original appearance of artworks and other cultural heritage objects. The book concludes with some reflections on the future of conservation and science-based conservation, calling for more thoughtful consideration of what it is that conservation scientists are offering, and why and for whom it is being offered. Innovative Technology in Art Conservation is essential reading for academics and students working in conservation and conservation science. The book will also be of interest to the international community of conservators and cultural heritage professionals who must make decisions about whether to use advanced technologies in their practice.

Culture Strike

Culture Strike
Author: Laura Raicovich
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2021-12-14
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1839760524

A leading activist museum director explains why museums are at the center of a political storm In an age of protest, cultural institutions have come under fire. Protestors have mobilized against sources of museum funding, as happened at the Metropolitan Museum, and against board appointments, forcing tear gas manufacturer Warren Kanders to resign at the Whitney. That is to say nothing of demonstrations against exhibitions and artworks. Protests have roiled institutions across the world, from the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim to the Akron Art Museum. A popular expectation has grown that galleries and museums should work for social change. As Director of the Queens Museum, Laura Raicovich helped turn that New York muni- cipal institution into a public commons for art and activism, organizing high-powered exhibitions that doubled as political protests. Then in January 2018, she resigned, after a dispute with the Queens Museum board and city officials. This public controversy followed the museum’s responses to Donald Trump’s election, including her objections to the Israeli government using the museum for an event featuring Vice President Mike Pence. In this lucid and accessible book, Raicovich examines some of the key museum flashpoints and provides historical context for the current controversies. She shows how art museums arose as colonial institutions bearing an ideology of neutrality that masks their role in upholding conservative, capitalist values. And she suggests ways museums can be reinvented to serve better, public ends.