Expression and Sensibility. Art Technological Sources at the Rise of Modernity

The 7th symposium of the ICOM-CC working group Art Technological Source Research will be held at the State Academy of Fine Art and Design in Stuttgart. The focus of this meeting will be to reflect on the artistic process as manifested in visual and written sources between 1850 and 1940, the time of Early Modern Art. This period is characterized by completely new artistic ideas and conceptions as well as the introduction of a wide range of new products such as tube paints, synthetic organic pigments, etc. Artists and art academies reacted to these developments by creating innovative artistic techniques and by re-introducing technical concepts, some of which came from non-European civilizations or were considered obsolete by established institutions. The reflection on art technological sources from the medieval period or Antiquity and the introduction of technical departments at the academies are typical implications of this development. Papers presented at the symposium will investigate sources that deal with the process of making Early Modern Art, asking what the studio practice may tell us with regard to the artists’ concept. These sources include artist’s treatises, letters, workshop notes, catalogues and journals as well as visual sources such as photographs, architectural plans and other representations of studios or production sites.

Conference Programme

Thursday, 10 November 2016

8:30–9:30
Registration

9:30–9:40
Official opening, Volker Schaible, Director of Institute of Conservation Science Stuttgart

9:40–10:00
Introduction
Sigrid Eyb-Green and Christoph Krekel

Session I
Artists in the early Age of Industrialization and the Academies

10:00–10:30
Isabelle Nové
Feeling the techniques of the past. A look at the sources for establishing a link between 19th century techniques and historical predecessors

10:30–11:00
Sally Woodcock
'The golden age of the living painter 1860-1914'? How debt, default and London's declining art market affected painters in the second half of the nineteenth century

11:30–12:00
Fiona Mann
‘Shilling vade-mecums’: Watercolour painting manuals and the advancement of watercolour practice in England 1850-1880

12:00–12:30
Margherita D’Ayala-Valva
Paint for Painters, a Gap in Italian turn-of-the-century Academic Training, and Artists’ Self-Taught ‘Compensation Strategies’

Session II
Developing and Establishing New Concepts and Techniques

13:30–14:00
Elisabeth Woolley
The formative role of The Ecclesiologist journal in the manifestation of mid-nineteenth century English church wall painting

14:00–14:30
Ângela Ferraz
Pigment use in Portuguese nineteenth century oil paintings: a comparative study between documentary sources and artists' practice

14:30–15:00
Wibke Neugebauer
Color and form – painting materials and technique as artistic means of expression in the working process of Arnold Böcklin and Hans von Marées

15:30–16:00
Sandra Zetina
The Revival of Encaustic and other uses of Wax in Early Mexican Modern Painting

16:00–16:30
Silke Beisiegel
An introduction to a questionnaire concerning painting technique at the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wroclaw

16:45–17:45
Guided Tour to the Weissenhof Estate
Guided Visit of the Conservation Department of the Academy

19:30
Reception /Conference Dinner (upon previous registration)

Friday, 11 November 2016

9:30–10:00
Micaela Mander
Painting as Expression: technical knowledge and theoretical thinking in Marianne Werefkin

10:00–10:30
Stefanie Meyer/ Jenny Nieberle
Evaluation of selected written sources of Heinrich Campendonk and Heinrich Nauen on aspects of their painting technique

11:00–11:30
Ellen Hansbach Bernal
Between Chance and Choice. Max Ernst’s Frottages and Grattages on Canvas

Session III
New Materials

11:30–12:00
Eva Eis
Geranium lake, Bismarck brown and Anticarmine ? the colourful world of paint manufacture around 1890

12:00–12:30
Indra Kneepkens
Boiling Oil: investigating historical recipes including boiling of linseed oil for use as a binding medium in panel painting

13:30–14:00
Jilleen Nadolny
Poisonous and unstable: the 19th century "pigment" lead iodide and other colourful mistakes

14:00–14:30
Maria Kokkori
Metallic paints and modernism: artists’ writings and documentary sources

Session IV
Concepts, Networks and Collections

14:30–15:00
Kathrin Kinseher
Showing the technical Development of painting. The Collection of Painting technology at the Deutsches Museum in Munich 1906 – 1940

15:30–16:00
Albrecht Pohlmann
Chemist Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932) and the network of contemporary art technologists, reconstructed from unpublished letters and diaries.

16:00–16:30
Stephanie Dietz
„Die Wiedergeburt der Farbe” – Bruno Taut’s understanding of colour

16:30 –17:00
Andreas Burmester
The Struggle for Art. Max Doerner and his "Reichsinstitut" for Painting Technique

17:00–17:15
Q&A and Closing remarks

17:15–17:30
Farewell

Sigrid Eyb-Green, Coordinator of the ATSR working group