Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Program organized an advanced course, "The Consolidation of Painted Ethnographic Objects," to address this problem. In anticipation of the course, Institute staff evaluated existing technical literature, surveyed over one hundred ethnographic conservators in the United States and Canada, and implemented a program of scientific research focusing on specific material and methodological problems. One result of this research was the development of a low cost, "low tech" kit for the identification of binding media. Based on analytical kits originally used for medical purposes, the "Binding Media Identification Kit" does not require the use of sophisticated chemical or physical instrumentation, and can be assembled and resupplied with materials available from laboratory supply houses. Subsequent to the 1990 course, the Institute's in-house scientific research on the subject was further refined. This research indicated that the treatment method (and factors affecting the treatment method) were more important in matte paint conservation than the consolidant chosen for a specific application. Specifically, new methods were explored that promoted the distribution of the consolidant throughout the paint surface in the initial application. A description of this technique will appear in an article to be published in the Spring 1993 issue of the Journal of the American Institute of Conservation. Details regarding the GCI's "Binding Media Identification Kit" were provided in an article in the Journal's Fall/Winter 1992 issue. While the methods described in both articles grow out of research on ethnographic artifacts, they are applicable to treatment problems in areas of conservation other than ethnographic ones. Another addition to the literature will appear this year when Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts (a publication of the Getty Conservation Institute, in association with the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works) publishes a supplemental bibliography titled Matte Paint: Its History and Technology, Analysis, Properties, Deterioration and Treatment (With Special Emphasis on Ethnographic Objects). The bibliography brings together material from a number of areas including anthropology, archaeology, ethnobotany, artists' notes and interviews, contemporary art journals, organic chemistry, coatings science, analytical chemistry, and the conservation literature. As recognition of the importance of ethnographic collections grows, concern over the state of their preservation will likely increase. The conservation community will need to continue exploring new techniques if we are to protect this essential part of our collective cultural heritage. Eric Hansen is an Associate Scientist in the GCI's Scientific Program. Mitchell Bishop is a Research Assistant in the GCI's Documentation Program.