The marriage of art and science
[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 5, No. 3
8 June - 12 July 2009 ] By Genevieve Costigan.
Conservators across the world are increasingly using cutting-edge science to reveal the hidden secrets of artworks and to assist them with the restoration and preservation of irreplaceable art.
Associate Professor Robyn Sloggett, Director at the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne believes conservators need now to be able to engage not just with artists but scientists who are developing cutting-edge programs.
She is heading a large project examining the movement of art materials and techniques in the 20th century from Europe across to Asia and Australia.
The research team is using the Australian synchrotron to examine new media, pigments, dyes and additives that led to the creation of revolutionary works of art in the 20th century in both Australia and South-East Asia.
The research project brings together expertise from across the University, Australia and internationally especially focusing on the Asia-Pacific region and it involves scientists, curators, conservators, art historians and artists from 12 public institutions and six universities on four continents.
“We are looking at how these materials impact on modern art’s paint handling, performance and permanence and the results will inform the preservation of modern art in Australia and throughout the region,” Associate Professor Sloggett says.
“Little has been understood about the materials used by Australian and South-East Asian artists and you would expect these materials to react differently from ones used by European artists because they were sourced from local materials or have been affected by very different climates from those found in Europe and North America.”
Associate Professor Sloggett stresses that the benefits of using the synchrotron over more traditional benchtop infrared x-ray is that the synchrotron beam is more focused, much faster and gives much clearer detail of a sample. It also requires less material which is important when it comes to artworks.
The information gleaned will also help in the development of the best methods of restoring deteriorating paintings and the ways they should be stored.
The first work the team examined was a deteriorating 1924 portrait of Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer by W.B. McInnes from the University of Melbourne Collection.
Cross-sections of paint were taken to analyse the way the artist constructed the painting, to identify the presence of glazing layers and resinous layers and to give some indication of the pigments used by the artist.
“This sort of analysis will assist with treatment decisions including how much cleaning the painting can be subjected to, whether there are discoloured layers between the resin/varnish layers that may be making the painting look more dirty than it actually is and help us to decide on the types of solvents that are most suitable,” Associate Professor Sloggett explained.
“The synchrotron analysis provided information for conservation and restoration efforts and also on the artist’s techniques which will help with the restoration of the portrait. We needed to understand how the artist applied each layer of paint and then whether there were resinous layers and dirt layers that might be affecting the stability of the paint.”
The team also worked on a paint sample from the National Gallery of Malaysia. This painting is being used as part of an investigation into possible modifications of materials by artists in Asia, particularly during the Second World War when Western materials from Europe may have been difficult to access.
“We also examined a paint sample from the Provincial Hotel in Fitzroy to test the methodology of using the synchrotron. It comprises a number of distinct layers and we have analysed these already using a number of different techniques so it is a good standard sample for us,” she said.
When the team use the synchrotron they are locked in for 48 hours from an early Friday morning start to Sunday morning; the synchrotron is so large it takes about 10 minutes to walk its perimeter.
“Conservators need to know their art history to establish authenticity and increasingly they also need scientific knowledge,” she said.
“This sort of work is also very important in the Indigenous art sector and can help with establishing verifiable links back to the artist. We are interested in investigating the take up of different resins and mediums in Indigenous communities from the time PVAs became common (early 1960s) and also to characterise traditional resin use. Artists such as Rover Thomas used a range of mediums and PVA started to be used in Arnhem Land in the 1970s.”
The other scientific tool which assists in this project is the Optiportal which has a 96 megapixel display which allows the user to view a number of images simultaneously and to visualise images in 3D. The display unit consists of 24 ultra-high definition computer monitors and 13 high-powered PCs which are linked so one large image can be seen across all the screens combined.
“This technology means we can now beam high resolution artworks and samples from the synchrotron in real time across to other partners in Australia and overseas so we can view the same data simultaneously,” she said.
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