International Symposium Paul Coremans. A Belgian Monuments Man and his Impact on the Preservation of Cultural Heritage Worldwide

The Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) organizes an international symposium in honour of its founder and first director Paul Coremans (1908-1965). Fifty years after he passed away, it is a unique opportunity to look back at his extraordinary career. The impact of his innovative ideas and vision on the conservation and restoration of works of art has been of paramount importance on both a national and international level. His views, thoughts and achievements in the field will be the focus of this international event.

REGISTRATION
http://org.kikirpa.be/coremans2015/registration.php

PROGRAM

15 June 2015, MONDAY EVENING

15:00 Guided visit to the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (optional)

17:00 Registration in the KIK-IRPA and coffee time

18:00 KEYNOTE LECTURE
Hendrik Deelstra and Duncan Thorburn Burns
Paul Coremans (1908-1965): a pioneer chemist in the application of scientific techniques to the visual arts

18:30 Personal statements by former colleagues and relatives of Paul Coremans

19:00 Reception


16 June 2015, TUESDAY

9:00 Registration in the Royal Library of Belgium

9:30 Welcome by Christina Ceulemans

9:40 Liliane Masschelein-Kleiner
Personal memories

9:50 Keynote Lecture
Geert Vanpaemel
Early museum laboratories and the pursuit of objectivity

10:35 Arie Wallert and Michel van de Laar
The first ‘Research Project’ (Coremans and the case van Meegeren)

10:55 Friso Lammertse and Arjan de Koomen
The crusade against Coremans of D.G. van Beuningen

11:15 Questions

11:25 Coffee break

11:55 Hélène Dubois and Dominique Deneffe
Construction of a vision: Coremans’s approach to the study of Flemish Primitives before the Mystic Lamb

12:15 Marie-Christine Claes, Hélène Dubois and Jana Sanyova
Le quotidien d’un idéal : L’Agneau mystique catalyseur de l’interdisciplinarité

12:45 Questions

12:55 Lunch break

14:10 Christina Kott
Paul Coremans et l’inventaire photographique du patrimoine artistique belge, 1940-1944

14:30 Dahlia Mees and Marjolijn Debulpaep
Paul Coremans, pioneer in preventive conservation

14:50 Mark Van Strydonck
50 jaar 14C dateringen aan het KIK

15:10 Questions

15:20 Coffee break

15:50 Jens van de Maele
The KIK-IRPA building (1955-1962). A remarkable example of state-sponsored architecture in 1950s Belgium

16:10 Gertjan Madalijns
The KIK-IRPA building (working title)

16:30 Questions

16:40 KEYNOTE LECTURE
Jenny Graham
Paul Coremans as Monuments Man: The cultural patrimony of the Ghent Altarpiece in the twentieth century

17:25 Questions

19:00 Conference Dinner (by prior inscription)


17 June 2015, WEDNESDAY

9:20 Ilona Hans-Collas
Paul Coremans et ses actions en faveur de la sauvegarde des peintures murales

9:40 Elsje Janssen and Karen Bonne
Museum policy concerning the conservation and restoration of art works and the Rubens and Ensor Research Projects at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA): how Paul Coremans’ ideas still live on

10:10 Erling S. Skaug
Technical art history as an offspring of conservation

10:30 Questions

10:40 Coffee break

11:10 Francesca G. Bewer
Weaving transatlantic bonds: Coremans and the Fogg Museum’s Conservation Department (working title)

11:30 Yao-Fen You
Paul Coremans, Edgar Richardson and the 1960 Flemish Show

11:50 Jean D. Portell
Paul Coremans and Sheldon & Caroline Keck, a collegial Friendship that influenced the development of conservation education in North America

12:10 Questions

12:20 Lunch break

13:40 Camille Bourdiel
Le rôle de Paul Coremans dans la restructuration du Laboratoire du musée du Louvre dans l’après-guerre

14:00 Jan Piet Filedt Kok
Arthur van Schendel (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; 1910-1979) : companion in the world of museums and conservation

14:20 Rick Hartmann
The Amsterdam X-rays for Coremans and Van Schendel

14:40 Questions

14:50 Coffee break

15:20 Diogo de Souza Brito
Paul Coremans, un expert de l’Unesco au Brésil: sa mission, son rapport, son legs

15:40 Nicole Gesché-Koning
Borobudur: the alchemy of a World Heritage Site. The expert and the student: shared Views

16:00 Questions

16:10 Keynote Lecture
Stefano De Caro
Coremans and the ICCROM (working title)

16:40 Closing remarks