Gertrude Jekyll was perhaps the most important British garden designer of the 20th century. She famously argued that gardening ought to be considered a Fine Art, highlighting that it becomes a point of honor to be always striving for the best. This volume examines Jekyll’s work at Manor House, Upton Grey in Hampshire, offering an insight into her eclectic, imaginative, and inspiring art. Designed between 1908 and 1909, and once maintained by as many as nine gardeners, the garden fell into disrepair by the second half of the twentieth century, before a full and accurate restoration was carried out in the early 1980s. Gertrude Jekyll: Her Art Restored at Upton Grey presents a visual record of the garden’s plants and layout, with original plans and photographs, as well as beautiful images of the garden taken since its restoration. There is also a fascinating chapter about Miss Jekyll’s discovery, admiration and use of Mediterranean plants. The book succeeds in illustrating exactly why Jekyll was so admired in her lifetime and why she continues to inspire and influence gardeners today. Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: The Garden from 1902 to the Start of its Restoration in 1984 Chapter 2: The Rose Garden Chapter 3: The Dry-Stone Walls Chapter 4: The Main Herbaceous Borders Chapter 5: The Pergola, the Rose Arbour and Surrounding Garden Chapter 6: Miss Gertrude Jekyll’s mediterranean travels and plant discoveries and their use at Upton Grey Chapter 7: The Wild Garden Chapter 8: The Art Completed Also available: The English Garden Through the Twentieth Century ISBN: 9781870673297

The conference papers in this volume give an overview of current requirements, practice and innovation in the use of adhesives and consolidants in paintings conservation. They include case studies, complex structural treatments, materials testing, etc.

Each civilization devised its own solution for manufacturing the color blue. The names of the different pigments often reflect this geographic diversity: from Egyptian blue to copper phthalocyanine, ranging through Maya and Han blues, smalt, Prussian blue and artificial ultramarine. This book does not intend to account for the taste of Man for the color blue, but only to show to what extent ingenuity was deployed to artificially realize these blue materials which he lacked. Many of the natural blues were the object of international commerce and exported far away from their production sites. For instance lapis-lazuli accompanied silk along its slow path toward the Mediterranean Sea. However these prized pigments were very expensive and substitutes were sought. With the 18th century came the introduction of new substitutes for ultramarine, Prussian blue, indigo from the West Indies and cobalt blue and yet none proved fully satisfactory. The demand for blue was driven by the growing paper and dyeing industries.

This volume focuses on both the theoretical and technical aspects of conservation in the nineteenth century, as well as their impact on the profession today. It examines the evolution of documentation and its impact on the professionalization of conservation, nineteenth-century treatment methods and the use of nineteenth-century technology in the conservation of cultural heritage.

The conservation profession has its roots in the intellectual movements of the first half of the nineteenth century. Scholarly study of objects made available by important archeological excavations and discoveries gave birth to the first debates on theoretical issues of preservation. Additionally, playing a significant role in conservation practice were nineteenth-century technical inventions brought about by the industrial revolution and political events disrupting Europe in the first decades of the nineteenth century. This volume will explore the development of conservation in the nineteenth century.

The conservation of ships and boats is a monumental task which can take up to thirty years to complete, as it involves impregnating waterlogged timbers with an inert substance to prevent shrinkage. Once stablized, even drying can take more than five years. Therefore, these are not projects to be undertaken lightly. Conservation of ships and boats outlines the pitfalls to avoid and the strategies to adopt in order to successfully preserve archaeological ships and boats. The volume also covers safe disposal of waste, health and safety, energy-saving measures and engineering related to the conservation of these vessels.

Ajami paintings are almost universal in the interior decoration of Damascene houses, and this study, done from the stylistic, historical – as well as the technical – points of view, has resulted in a unique and valuable document on the history of Damascus decoration since the 17th century.

The incredibly beautiful interiors of these houses bear silent witness to a bygone and almost-forgotten era of urban life in the Near East each one an impressive masterpiece of the artisan’s craft.

Painted and gilded stone reliefs, tinted plaster and patterned paste work decoration, elaborately painted wood embellished with metal leaf, mother-of-pearl inlays, and mirrors were combined in ever-varying and beautiful ways. Luxurious carpets, cushions, mattresses, small tables and stands, and porcelain and metal objects d’art ensured that the reception rooms were also comfortable living spaces.

In Artists’ Footsteps explores the technical study and reconstruction of Old Master paintings and pigments from the medieval to the modern period. The contributions from experts in the fields of technical art history and conservation reflect a broad spectrum of current research and investigation worldwide. The authors address the making of historically informed reconstructions as a way of informing the conservation process, assisting in the training of conservators and understanding historical artistic processes. The undertaking of reconstructions, carried out in tandem with the study of artists’ treatises and historical sources, is further supported by the technical study of physical works of art – which is also explored in this volume. These essays are brought together to celebrate the work of Renate Woudhuysen-Keller, who retired from the Hamilton Kerr Institute, Cambridge, in 2011. Among the contributions are a number devoted to reconstructions of paintings made at the Hamilton Kerr Institute under the tuition of Dr Woudhuysen-Keller, for whom this topic was a primary area of research and interest.

The papers in this volume were presented as papers or posters at the ninth meeting dedicated to the use of lasers in the conservation of artworks (LACONA), hosted by the British Museum and University College, London. They focus not only on the fundamental scientific research behind the use of laser technology, but also on the application of lasers in the treatment and analyses of cultural heritage in a way that is directly applicable to conservation practice. The papers illustrate three broad themes that have recurred throughout the well-established series of LACONA meetings, presenting advances in: the use of laser technologies in conservation treatments for cultural heritage; laser-based methods for imaging, 3D documentation and modelling; and laser-based techniques for analysis, diagnostics and monitoring.

The origins of metalpoint (silverpoint, goldpoint, etc.) drawing are widely thought to lie in classical antiquity. The Luminous Trace investigates the artefactual and literary evidence for the use of metalpoint through the ages from earliest times up to its revival, particularly in the United States, in the later 20th and early 21st centuries, reviewing the history and historiography of metalpoint and its use for drawing and writing. Metalpoint drawings are the central objects of this study and their physical features are the prime consideration, juxtaposed with the written evidence which may suggest why artefacts look as they do.

The conference papers in this volume look back over the people, places and occurrences which shaped the first 50 years of painting conservation practice and development – particularly in the UK and the USA. Thirteen authors reflect on a variety of topics including: the historic and on-going debates surrounding the notion of patina; the influence of science and technology on conservation practice; developments in aqueous cleaning methods; the importance of archives, oral history and film, and the role of replicas. The texts in this volume were presented at the BAPCR conference: Paintings Conservation: The Picture so Far on September 2013.

This publication contains papers from the 2013 conference Public Paintings by Edvard Munch and his Contemporaries: Change, Conservation, Challenges. The conference theme drew more than 100 European and American paintings conservators, cultural heritage scientists, collection specialists, art historians and students as well as an archaeologist and an artist. Together they discussed how and why the appearances of these paintings have changed and addressed preservation challenges.

The papers in this volume were presented as papers or posters at a meeting dedicated to the subject of the Renaissance workshop, which was organized as part of the networking activities of the EU FP 7 CHARISMA project. They illustrate the ways in which various types of technical evidence can contribute to the understanding of workshop practices and inter-relationships between different artists and artisans: from the role of scientific examination and analysis in determining the nature and use of materials, through the detailed examination of tool marks and imperfections, to the material or documentary evidence for practices, economic driving forces and trading of works of art. Each of these themes is explored in more detail, focusing either on the examination of groups of objects from one period or those related by style or technique, and covering a broad range of materials, from paper and manuscripts to bronze and wooden sculpture.

The conference papers in this volume explore the use of painted cloths in religious ceremony, pageantry, domestic interiors and scenic art, focussing on their change of context and significance from the fourteenth to the twenty-first centuries and examining their different function, materials, and method of creation.

The potential for large sizes, portability, and versatility for religious objects including banners, hangings, altarpieces, and palls was the impetus for the emergence of fabrics as a painting support in Western art in the Middle Ages. The functionality of the works explains the survival of relatively few examples.

One of the most common forms of interior decoration for centuries, painted cloths have received less attention from art historians and historians than they deserve in part due to their poor survival. Scenic backcloths were once commissioned for court functions, part of an elaborate display of royal power and magnificence. The same methods and materials continued to be used for theatrical cloths.

Since the two Giant Buddhas at the Bamiyan site in Afghanistan were tragically ravaged in March 2001, international specialists from Japan, Germany and Italy, under the coordination of UNESCO, have continuously cooperated in support of conservation projects to preserve the cultural heritage in Bamiyan.

Following conservation work on mural paintings and archeological research commenced on the Buddhist caves in 2005 to understand and document the current situation of the caves and their architectural features.

This monograph reports on these field studies which aim to further understanding of and support for Japanese conservation activities on international cultural properties.

This book sets out to present the basic information for the professional safekeeping of textile collections. Aimed at curators and owners of textile collections, collection management staff, conservators and students, the general thrust of the book has global relevance but much of the experience has been drawn from Northern Europe.

The World of Iron is a collection of conference papers which present the latest research concerning the inception, adoption, expansion, and impact of prehistoric iron production, specifically outside Europe. The book is in several sections including, Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, West and Cental Asia, Scientific Approaches and Environmental Considerations.

Annelies Strba is undoubtedly one of the most significant and interesting contemporary photography and video artists. Whilst her early works in the 1980s and 1990s took the form of a kind of personal diary, her work experienced its actual artistic emancipation in the middle of the 1990s. From 1997 Strba started using only the video camera, isolating individual film stills as artistic prints and independent works of art. She is moving towards ‘fantastical images’ with her current work. Owing to the extreme intimacy of her shots, her ‘family portraits’ succeed in bringing viewers face to face with their own memories and emotions. Intimate and trance-like qualities are a constant feature of her works. The method behind her depictions and their transposition into new realities are a thoroughly unique concept, which she has been pursuing since 2009 and which is virtually unparalleled. Her group of works entitled My Life Dreams, a composition inspired by the world of artificially created stories, appears as the pinnacle of her work so far, but at the same time it is a consistent continuation of all her previous work.

Text in English & German.

In this book Hartmut Esslinger – one of the most influential designers and thinkers, as well as the founder of frog design – explains how ‘strategic design’ in business and society can and must bring about positive change through innovative creativity. A key component is the strategically extended definition of design as a convergent and humanistic amalgamation of technology, the environment and the economy. For Esslinger, design has always been a key strategic discipline, which he has practised successfully in cooperation with companies such as Wega, Louis Vuitton, Sony, SAP and especially Apple, collaborating directly with Steve Jobs. Therefore in this book he sets out to establish a wide range of creative innovators as top executives, who are equally influential and occupy leading positions in economics, education and politics. Every future projection is always based on history, Design Forward also shows relevant and richly illustrated case studies taken from Esslinger’s career, as well as selected works by his students at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Contents: A New Culture of Design Shaping the Design Revolution Leading by Design

Fashion is fascination, cult, protection and adornment. We experience it daily on our own bodies and we notice it in our surroundings. The manifestations of fashion in magazines, advertisements and the Internet are never ending: sophisticated, erotic, provocative or overly aesthetic pictures create specific images, carrying the beholder off into their own world. To inspire such an eye-catching sensation requires a concept, an idea, which takes shape in an illustration. In the fast-moving age of digital photography, this art is disappearing from the everyday life of the fashion designer and media. In doing so it affords illustration great additional value: it bears witness to individuality, it conveys the zeitgeist and mood.

Text in English and German.

Glass is a threshold material, serving as both a divider and an opening, for one can always see what is behind it. This is a unique phenomenon and it is confounding, as well as being alluring and enhancing, making the space breathe. Florian Lechner has dedicated himself to this unique material. He explores its substance and formal possibilities through architectural works and sculptural objects. He also experiments with it in combination with the media of light, sound and movement. For him it is essential to forge his work single-handedly, because only unrestricted personal creative input and the development of one’s own, often innovative ways of working can ensure an authentic result. However, the concepts behind his works and their spiritual roots are always more important to him than the process of their creation. Intellectual significance defines Florian Lechner as an artist. He takes an intellectual and philosophically motivated approach, but the result is always a sensory experience and never dominated by dry theory. Contents: Foreword Glass, Light, Space, Sound – Transparency and Transcendency Traversant: “En traversant un objet du regard, on peut aussi le parcourir mentalement.” Spaces and Places The Sculptural Work Bowl, Cosmos, Vessel, Sound The School of Fluxus Biography Appendix Text in English & German.

Heinz Siery was one of the most important personalities in the field of ceramics design in the 1950s and 1960s. His design forms significantly shaped the style of the products of companies such as Fohr, Scheurich, Carstens and Ruscha. Ingrid Siery also began her artistic career in the ceramics industry. She designed decorative objects for Georg Schmider and Carstens and oversaw the design department at the Wächtersbach earthenware factory. Since 1969, the artist couple have been working independently in their own Syré atelier. Apart from commissioned work such as designing tiled stoves and ceramic wall decorations, they also create their own works, such as figural sculptures made of bronze, whose simplicity and elegance have fascinated the couple from the beginning. They have created sleek sculptures with a minimalist, classical form and clear lines that are reminiscent of Henry Moore and Joannis Avramidis. Their atelier near Euskirchen houses a sculpture park and more than 300 of the couple’s works – it is in itself a work of art reflecting the artistic life of Ingrid and Heinz Siery.

Text in English and German.