|
Most presentations were
in English with only few exceptions such as the one of Eduardo Nery, an
established Portuguese artist specialised in decoration of public
spaces. His presentation focused on the importance of colour in the
city. The artist gave several examples of his work, from colourful
tiles in buildings to decoration of unusual objects, such as an
aeroplane.
A special addition to the event was the multimedia presentation on the research project presented by Milene Gil, Ana Isabel Seruya and José Aguiar from the New University of Lisbon (UNL) and the Technical University of Lisbon (UTL), respectively. This exhaustive project focused on the study of colours, materials and painting techniques of traditional buildings of Alentejo region. The original presentation consisted in a motion picture of the research following the TV documentary style, which was an interesting and appealing form to present scientific work to the public. Remarkable was the presentation of Geert van der Snickt, from the University of Antwerp, who presented a study of a hidden painting by Van Gogh. The portrait was first seen in radiographies taken to the painting although the quality of the image was not good enough for a visual analysis. His research team used synchrotron X-Ray Fluorescence spectroscopy to perform elemental analysis to the paint layers and revealed the hidden portrait from beneath a landscape that the artist painted over. This result was achieved by creating an image pixel by pixel from each analysis. This technique requires an intensive use of a synchrotron facility, which is not easy to access, and thus the use of such technology is far from being widespread. Nevertheless, the high quality of the image obtained and the usefulness of the technique applied to works of art is impressive. The scientific paper titled "Visualization of a Lost Painting by Vincent van Gogh Using Synchrotron Radiation Based X-ray Fluorescence Elemental Mapping" by Joris Dik, Koen Janssens, Geert Van Der Snickt, Luuk van der Loeff, Karen Rickers, and Marine Cotte is available online in the journal Analytical Chemistry. Other lectures were made by invited speakers: Marco Zerbinatti, who approached the relationship between colour, architecture and preservation; Francisco Ferreira, who made a review of the principles and techniques of spectral imaging systems in paintings; and Patrícia Monteiro, who has been studying the pigments mentioned in Portuguese art treatises. A presentation that made me think on the large access to technology that we have nowadays and the need to apply known solutions to conservation purposes was made by Luís Bravo Pereira. This researcher from the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP) introduced the audience to the application of high dynamic range to radiographies digitalisation. These are characterised by areas of different density that require different light intensities in order to maximise the images read-ability. The explained process uses different levels of exposure of common digital cameras and commercial imaging software to merge pictures. The result is a digital homogeneous image where highlights and details are visible and easy to analyse. Among many other interesting presentations, it is worth mentioning some of special relevance such as the one of José Pestana and Sara Valadas about the recent conservation intervention performed on the wall paintings of the Convent of the Order of Christ in Tomar (Portugal), listed as World Heritage by UNESCO. PhD candidates had also a strong presence showing active research in conservation. Among these we can mention, for example, the presentation of Leonor Loureiro, a PhD candidate at the University of the Arts (London), who is researching 19th century coated papers; Sónia Barros dos Santos, PhD candidate at UCP, who is studying the introduction of new pigments in Portugal in the 19th century; and Ana Cudell, PhD candidate at UCP, who is characterising the technique and materials from Júlio Pomar, a well-known Portuguese 20th century painter. From the organisation committee, Milene Gil has shared her experience and personal opinion about this event: speaking about colour is one of the most complex and hard task that exist, that is why it is also a challenge. As Lars Sivik (1997) wrote using S. Augustine’s sentence about time: "Everybody knows what time is - until you ask him to explain what it is. It is the same with color". Each discipline interprets and explains differently what is, in the end, a visual sensation. So for fully understanding its multidisciplinary nature, what best than a seminar which unites several branches of knowledge? That was the main objective of Colours 2008: the gathering of experts dealing with colour and especially colour studies and treatments in Conservation and Restoration of cultural heritage. Final conclusions? Personally, as a mural painting conservator, I was extremely glad to notice that the gap that sometimes is felt between science and art, between conservators-restorers and scientific researchers, is being successfully overcome. As a member of the organising committee and a team member of the FCT project (Historical Colour Traditions and Pigments on Mural Paintings: Materials and Technology Characterization of the Alentejo Urban Heritage - POCI/HEC/59555/2004) that have promoted this initiative, I congratulate once again all the participants and I wish that what began in France in 2006 with 'Couleur & Temps' and now in Portugal with Colours 2008 shall continue next year and further on. Conference papers can be submitted for publication in X-Ray Spectrometry, Pedra& Cal, Conservar Património - the journal of ARP, the Portuguese Association of Conservator-Restorers – and possibly in ARTIS - the magazine of the Institute of Art History of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon.
Images
▲TOP
To save this article or see images in maximum quality please
Permanent link to this resource: http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/625 |
|||
