The Unification of The Unification of Restoration Work within Restoration Work within Conservation Activities Conservation Activities

– Croatia's Example– Croatia's Example

Ivana Nina UnkovićPhD candidate, Researcher NEWFELPRO Marie Curie FellowUniversity of LjubljanaFaculty of Arts

ConservationConservation - - Direct action on cultural heritage with the goal of inhibiting further degradation.

ConservatorConservator - Art Historian, Architect or Archeologist who specialized in the preservation of monuments.

RestorationRestoration – Direct action on the item of cultural heritage

which is decaying or has been damaged. RestorerRestorer - Painters, sculptors (from the 1920-ties until 1945).

Conservator-restorerConservator-restorer – new expression, symbiosis of both professions.

DECLINEDECLINE► Large number of paintings from Dalmatia was restored from the late 19th century and in the first decades of 20th century at the Academy of fine arts and in painting atelier Belvedere in Vienna

► Two painters restored: Hermann Ritschl (1865-1935) and Eduard Gerisch (1853-1913)

► Unsystematic restoration work, insufficiently descriptive restoration reports, overpainting

Dorothea Westhpalart historian (1937.):

I could not haveconducted art historical analysis with certainty due to the amount of “greasiness”

Poliptych from Ugljan (restored in Vienna 1893-1902)

► ANTON ŠVIMBERSKY (1908)Teacher at the vocational school

(Bohemia)

IMPREGNATION MIXTURE RECIPE:vinnegar, garlic, red onion, salt,

absinthe andcrushed pepper!

Not usable for restoration purposes – it only facilitated further decay

► No other impregnation and consolidation methods were known in these regions (until 1940-es)

► Zvonimir Wyroubal (first educated Croatian restorer) 1958:

„… the worms exposed to that mixture might have only suffered diarrhea…”

The wooden gates by ANDRIJA BUVINA (1214), cathedral in Split

METAMORPHOSISMETAMORPHOSIS► After the fall of Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918, Regional Conservation Department for Dalmatia is established in Split

► Besides architects, Department also urgently required expert restorers for old paintings, wooden carvings and church attires

► Shipping artworks abroad for restoration was not an option, for political and financial reasons

Ljubo Karaman (1886-1971)Art historian and conservator

A student of Vienna school of art history (Alois Riegl, Max Dvořák, Josef Strzygowski)

1919 assistant conservator1926 head conservator in Split1941 head conservator Zagreb

1920 „…caring for monuments and antiquities, in most cases, translates as keeping the pace with modern conservation principles, in turn making the demand for educated restorers a challenge...“

Paintings and sculptures in Dalmatian region were preserved in small number because, according to him, “preservation of antiquities in Dalmatia” stood as a synonym for only maintaining antique churches and palaces

Ferdo Goglia, Croatian restorer

► Professor of chemistry and lecturer of painting technology at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Studied painting restoration in Budapest, Vienna and Munich

► Formed the restoration documentation in Croatia

► 1916-1941 accumulated data for a total of 1388 paintings

► Artwork “record sheet“

Goglia used to make a sketch of damaged parts or marked the restored sections

Matej Sternen, Slovenian restorer► Karaman in June 1925 contacts

France Stelè (head conservator in Slovenia; Spomeniški Ured u Ljubljani ) for assistance in solving restorer shortage problems

► Stelè replies that in Slovenia they also do not have a full-time employed restorer for paintings and sculptures, but advises him to collaborate with painter Matej Sternen

► He refers to all others as “artisans”, emphasizing that: „...More or less all our gilders and statue and altar carvers perform restoration work, but mostly amateurishly and without true appreciation...“

► Sternen arrives for the first time in Dalmatia at the beginning of April 1926 and then together with Karaman, in the period of 15 days, examines the state of artworks in Split, Dubrovnik, Lopud, Ston, Hvar and Šibenik

► On this occasion they wrote down suggestions and recommendations in situ, separating emergency interventions from those less urgent and photographed artworks (they made approximately 70 photos, which was considerable having in mind technical capabilities of the time)

Poliptych of Virgin Mary from 15th century (by Nikola Vladanov, Šibenik, church of St. Barbara, originally from the church of St. Gregor)

Before restoration procedure in 1927 After restoration

procedure

REBIRTHREBIRTH► „Modern“ conservation, just before the 2nd WW

► This new era of restoration, or its “new beginning”, significantly emphasizes the monument’s definition (its natural context)

► Crucial questions that every art historian, conservator and restorer must answer before the procedure:

1. What needs to be restored?2. Why does it need to be restored? What is the purpose of restoration?3. What method can be used and benefit from during restoration procedure?

Ljubo Karaman in August 1941 becomes head conservator in Zagreb

► First restoration workshop, established in 1942.

► Workshop managed by ZVONIMIR WYROUBAL (1900–1990) academy painter, obtained basic restoration knowledge abroad, between 1922 and 1925

► Since the workshop’s beginnings Wyroubal maintained detailed restoration records

1948 - Department of Conservation in Zagreb1954 – Restoration workshop in Split within Department of Conservation for Dalmatia1958 – Yugoslav Academy of Science and Arts (JAZU) - Department of Zadar1966 – Croatian Conservation Institute (central)1997 – Department of artwork restoration within Croatian Academy of Science and Arts (HAZU) and Croatian Conservation Institute

TODAY► Epistemology of conservation-restoration practice tries to demystify the unadjusted international terminology and reevaluate the position of practice in society in regards to art and science

► The conservator/art historian can do the work of the restorer and vice versa

► Restoration has become a scientific work that in colaboration with the conservator/art historian can make better art historical analysis of the artwork