Tate

ABSTRACT This study investigates suitable retouching systems for unvarnished acrylic dispersion paint films. The research, conducted in 2021 (phase 2), builds on and is compared with a study undertaken in 2007 by Shelly Sims (phase 1). In phase 1, conservators were surveyed to determine which materials they used to retouch unvarnished acrylic dispersion paintings. In phase 2, a different cohort of conservators was surveyed to ascertain which materials remain commonly used and whether options and opinions have changed since 2007. The retouching systems selected by Sims in 2007 informed by the phase 1 survey included Lascaux Aquacryl™ paints, Lascaux® Water Re-Soluble Medium, Aquazol® (50, 200, and 500), Golden MSA Conservation colours, Regalrez® 1094, and JunFunori®. The phase 2 study reviewed the same samples from the 2007 study, with the additions of Watercolours which were not available in 2007, in addition to Schmincke Gouache and Aquarell Watercolours, which broaden the study. The selected retouching systems in phase 2 were evaluated for handling and aesthetic properties on aged and damaged mock acrylic dispersion paintings. Solubility tests were also conducted on artificially and naturally aged samples from the 2007 study and on a range of newly prepared and light aged Watercolour samples to determine their long-term solvent-reversibility and ageing properties. Overall, watercolour, gouache, Aquazol®, and the Watercolours possessed the best aesthetic properties, offering close matches in colour, saturation, and gloss, with their reversibility and long-term ageing properties rendering them most suitable as retouching materials for use on acrylic dispersion paints.

ABSTRACT This study provides an evaluation of MS3, a reduced polycyclohexanone resin, with key considerations for use as a picture varnish including solubility, removability, colour, and gloss and the stability of these factors. MS3 was first produced in 2016 as a replacement for the discontinued MS2A resin which was widely used as a conservation-grade picture varnish. Films of MS3 resin were artificially aged using UV-containing and UV-filtered light, representing the effects of daylight filtered through glass, and indoor museum lighting conditions respectively. Changes in colour and gloss of light-aged samples vs. control samples were measured, and solubility/removability was evaluated using selected solvents applied by hand-rolled swabs. FTIR spectroscopy was used to explore chemical changes of the varnish films following light ageing with respect to control samples. Empirical observations were made regarding the handling properties of MS3 dissolved in Stoddard solvent, and its behaviour as a retouching medium and varnish. The results suggest that MS3 exhibits a slight yellowing and a moderate increase in the polarity of solvent required for removal. No significant colour or solubility changes were observed in MS3 varnish films artificially aged using non-UV light. The results suggest that MS3 is a good substitute for MS2A resin for use as a picture varnish or retouching medium, based on the parameters measured.

Abstract The development of the documentation and conservation of performance-based artworks has been a key priority for Tate’s Conservation department. The rise in complexity of the relationship between the institution and the artworks entering the collection prompted the development of current practices relating to the documentation and conservation of performance within the time-based media conservation team. This chapter explores the development of the current documentation strategies for the conservation of performance at Tate, by highlighting not only the impact of collecting practices in the development of knowledge, but also how the process results on the creation of both theoretical and practical forms of practice. The chapter will focus on the development of core documentation tools and theoretical models for understanding performance art and how it relates to the museum.

Cold snare polypectomy (CSP) is safe and effective for the removal of small adenomas (≤10 mm); however, reported incomplete resection rates (IRRs) vary. The optimal CSP technique, where a wide margin of normal tissue is resected around the target lesion, and snare design have both been hypothesized to reduce the IRR after CSP. We sought to investigate the efficacy of a thin-wire versus thick-wire diameter snare on IRR, using the standardized CSP technique. This was an international multicenter parallel design randomized trial with 17 endoscopists of varying experience (NCT02581254). Patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to the use of a thin-wire (0.30 mm) or thick-wire (0.47 mm) snare for CSP of small (≤10 mm) colorectal polyps. The primary end point was the IRR as determined by the histologic assessment of the defect margin after polypectomy. Over 52 months to January 2020, 1,393 patients were eligible. A total of 660 patients with polyps (57.4% male) were randomized to a thin-wire (n = 339) or thick-wire (n = 321) snare. The overall IRR of the cohort was 1.5%. There was no significant difference in the IRR between the thin- and thick-wire arms; relative risk-0.41, 95% CI (0.11-1.56), P = 0.21. No significant differences were observed in the rate of adverse events. In this multicenter randomized trial, CSP is safe and effective with very low rates of incomplete resection independent of the diameter of the snare wire used. This suggests that the optimal operator technique is more important than the snare design alone in minimizing residual adenoma after CSP.

This paper discusses the need for conservators to be in a position to evaluate scientific research to inform their conservation practice. A range of methods and approaches to research in selected recent studies is highlighted together with suggestions about how the results of molecular level material studies may be used by conservators to guide more specific and appropriate treatment choices. The advantages and compromises of case study research and the use of aged reconstructions is highlighted in relation to ethical and practical criteria with evaluation of treatment options for cleaning modern oil paintings. A case study highlights the issues and an approach for treatment of a modern partly varnished oil painting with sensitive passages of paint containing epsomite.

The annals of art history can readily be reduced to a catalogue of names, but salient examples of group effort are never hard to find. In London, the example of the Independent Group (IG) need only be adduced, but its immediate successors are less obvious. Between the dissolution of the IG in 1956 and the founding of Art & Language (A&L) a decade later, there appeared one far less heralded alliance, its subsequent obscurity balanced by its remarkable prescience. Terry Atkinson, later an A&L founder, had earlier been instrumental in creating a collective artistic entity among fellow students at the Slade School of Fine Art—Roger Jeffs, Bernard Jennings, and John Bowstead—who called themselves the Fine-Artz Associates. By the time of the 1964 Young Contemporaries exhibition, the four submitted their work under this name alone, but their ambitions had already expanded beyond the studio into the orbit of radically more extensive collectives.

In the 1970s, Arte Inglese Oggi (Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1976) was one of the major exhibitions organized by the British Council in partnership with foreign institutions towards the presentation of British art abroad. Covering the period 1960–76, the selectors aimed to represent contemporary developments while attempting to hold on to the categories of painting and sculpture, the latter divided into sculpture proper and the splinter section “alternative developments”.

This paper is based on a study of UK daily newspaper representations of contemporary art and artists. The most common types of story could be said to both reflect and inform public attitudes. A one-month sample of five national newspapers was analysed and a total of 115 relevant news stories were identified and categorised. Sixteen themes occurred three or more times, and the most frequent of these indicate the current paradigmatic attitudes and beliefs about contemporary art. The five dominant narratives are discussed and analysed: celebrity, unusual images, the use of unusual materials, freedom of expression, and financial value. In each case the underlying assumptions are related back to traditional stereotypes of the artist as a uniquely free and self-expressive individual, somehow different from normal society. It is suggested that the idea of art as a generator of wealth is a relatively new development, and that these stories also reflect existing themes within the art world’s own discourse. The great rise in popularity of contemporary art in the UK since the millennium might suggest that public attitudes have undergone a shift, and that further research into newspapers from the early 1990s and earlier is necessary.

After traumatic brain injury (TBI) and emergence from coma, the majority of people experience posttraumatic amnesia (PTA), characterized by confusion, disorientation, retrograde and anterograde amnesia, poor attention, and sometimes agitation and delusions. An international team of researchers and clinicians developed recommendations for assessment and management of PTA. The experts met to select recommendations, then reviewed literature to ensure they were current. The team then prioritized recommendations for implementation and developed audit criteria to evaluate the adherence to the best practice recommendations. Evidence in support of assessment and management strategies during PTA is weak. It is recommended that duration of PTA be assessed prospectively using a validated tool. Consideration should also be given to use of a delirium assessment tool. No cognitive or pharmacological treatments are known to reduce PTA duration. Recommendations for environmental manipulations to reduce agitation during PTA are made. Minimizing use of neuroleptic medication is supported by animal research and 1 retrospective study. The duration of PTA is an important predictor of late outcome after TBI and should be monitored prospectively with a standardized tool. Neuroleptic medication should be avoided. There is a significant need for controlled studies evaluating the impact of therapy during PTA.

The mechanical properties of latex paint films containing different volume fractions of TiO2, CaCO3 and kaolin were measured in uniaxial tension over a broad range of temperatures and crosshead speeds. Young’s modulus results in the glassy region are first compared with several micromechanics theories for particle-filled composites containing elastic phases. It was found that the Mori-Tanaka theory [1, 2] slightly under-predicted the modulus enhancement, while the Lielens approach [3, 4] provided very accurate results. A nonlinear viscoelastic material model involving a Prony series and the neo-Hookean hyperelastic function was used to represent the tensile data up to relatively small strains (3-4%). Using the experimental data, the material model was calibrated and the parameters of the model were determined. The derived parameters were then used to re-construct time dependent shear modulus plots which were compared with the approximations given by Clements and Mas [5, 6] for the viscoelastic Mori-Tanaka theory in the time-domain. It was found that the experimentally observed modulus enhancement was much stronger than the predicted values in the rubbery region. This is attributed to the small particle size, the high level of constraint posed on the latex matrix at the particle interface or possibly the formation of a particle network.