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When dealing with contemporary art, conservators have to address not only the material aspects of the artwork but also other highly complex issues. The Argentinian artist Leon Ferrari is a representative example. He created avant-garde art installations but also worked with traditional techniques. His works raise dilemmas over concepts such as authorship, authenticity, legitimacy of art. Some of his artworks only interested him as a means to express his opinions and he was not concerned about alterations in their appearance. Therefore, what should be kept in them is not in an area of certainty for conservators. An essential key for achieving a responsible and respectful conservation result, is to understand the ideology involved in each ‘art piece’ created by Ferrari. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 2014 exhibition of Meriç Algün Ringborg at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, exploring identity and belonging involved the making of facsimiles. The installation included a sound work, booklets to be taken, and a book to be read. Exhibition copies were created of personal letters for open display which were not to be touched. Contrary to the artist's wishes, the work was constantly handled. Made for this one installation, the facsimiles transcended the exhibition and were returned with the work to the artist. The paper examines issues of authenticity and control from a conservation standpoint, and details discussions surrounding reproduction in contemporary art museum conservation practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Japanese painting on paper, in the form of a horizontal scroll from the Stibbert Museum in Florence, is being treated at the ISCR Paper Conservation Laboratory. The scroll, entitled Bamo Dōi-zu represents 33 different types of horses. Although there is no author's seal, it has been attributed to the famous Japanese artist, Kanō Sansetsu (1589-1651). Before conservation treatment, the artefact underwent technical and scientific examination in order to identify its materials and determine its conservation condition. As sampling paint layers from paintings on paper is extremely invasive, non-destructive techniques such as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and spectrophotometry were employed. Several points from the paper support were analysed: the metal-leaf decorations, the seals and calligraphy, as well as the painted horses. Results detected and revealed a very simple palette: cinnabar (or its synthetic equivalent vermillion), shell white, carbon black, and the organic yellow gamboge. Pure gold and silver leaves were used for decorating the frontispiece. Useful information was obtained from the paper support and on its conservation conditions. Micro-destructive analyses were also performed on a few paper fragments for microscopic and scanning electron microscope equipped with an X-ray probe analysis. Results showed that materials and techniques are consistent with the Kanō School period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1941 and 1968, Marcel Duchamp produced a series of roughly 300 boxes, or Boîtes, containing, in his words, 'everything important that I have done' (Sargeant,W. 1952. Dada's Daddy: A New Tribute is Paid to Duchamp, Pioneer of Nonsense and Nihilism. Life, 32(17): 102). Over the course of 30 years and seven editions, Duchamp and his assistants filled these 'portable museums' with miniature reproductions of his most significant works. The materials used included leather, paper, cloth, metal, glass, ceramic, cellulose acetate, gouache, varnish, and wood. The variety of the constituent materials, and the complex physical and conceptual ways in which they interact, make conservation treatment of the Boîtes unusually challenging. The conservator must consider both the condition of the specific Boîte being treated and its relationship to the dozens of other Boîtes still in existence. After an overview of the history and manufacture of Duchamp's miniature museum, the results of a pilot survey of the condition of 19 Boîtes will be presented, and treatment solutions to the most common condition problems proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rusty-red, irregularly shaped areas known as foxing or fox spots are prevalent on rag paper used in books from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Foxing may vary in size from just visible spots to large areas covering most of a page, and in some cases the stain migrates through successive pages. The present study investigated the role of fungi in foxing, and the location and cause of the discoloration in these spots. Using light microscopy and staining with aqueous aniline blue, it was observed that the initial cause of the foxing was a group of separated conidia (spores) which had been deposited on the surface of the paper prior to printing and had germinated in situ during the slow drying of the paper. The colour in the foxed areas is due to an alkaline-soluble rusty-red material and an insoluble straw-coloured stain in the paper fibres. Observations of migrated stains support the theory that fox spots are part of three-dimensional stain structures which are generated in stacks of paper either during the manufacturing process or after binding. Papermakers' felts are suggested as the source of contamination, and autoxidation of lipids from the conidia is a possible cause of the discoloration of the fungal material and paper fibres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]