Bibliography on the Conservation of Modern and Contemporary Art

I am very please to draw your attention to a significant
bibliography, the INCCA Bibliography on the Conservation of Modern
and Contemporary Art, which is now available on the GCI's project
bibliographies website <URL:http://gcibibs.getty.edu>.

INCCA (International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary
Art) was established in 1999 to provide an international platform
for knowledge and information exchange among professionals involved
in the conservation of modern and contemporary art.  The network has
now grown to over 130 members (including independents) from 84
organizations in 24 countries and is coordinated by the ICN's
Conservation Research Department. In 2006 an INCCA North American
group was established.

The INCCA network has undertaken a number of tasks:

    (1) An INCCA website was established to provide a platform for
        members to share information related to projects, seminars,
        literature, student theses, guidelines, and methodologies.
        Please visit the website at: <URL:http://www.incca.org>

    (2) A "Database for Artists Archives" was developed that enables
        members to contribute metadata records of unpublished
        documents concerning works of art held in their collections
        (treatment reports, artists' interviews, installation
        protocols, scientific material research).  These primary
        source documents provide a wealth of information about a
        particular artists' intent, use of materials, and
        techniques, and are essential for the preservation of their
        art.

    (3) Approximately 100 hundred artists' interviews were conducted

    (4) A database of over 2,000 citations of published literature
        was created through member contributions. In 2006, the Getty
        Conservation Institute (GCI) agreed to provide ongoing
        access to the INCCA Literature Database as one of the data
        sets made available via the GCI's project bibliographies
        webpage.  Moving custodianship of the Literature Database
        will allow INCCA to focus its efforts on the continued
        development of the "Database for Artist Archives."

The INCCA Literature Database currently contains over 2,000 records
related to the conservation of modern and contemporary art.  In
addition, a number of general references are included as well.  The
records comprising the bibliography were voluntarily submitted by
INCCA members and thus the bibliography is neither encyclopedic nor
comprehensive on the topic of conservation of modern and
contemporary art.  Rather, it serves as a good introduction to this
area of cultural heritage conservation.

INCCA will continue to be responsible for content decisions and
future additions to this bibliography. The GCI will continue to
enhance the bibliographic citations in the bibliography as further
citation research is completed.

The majority of the references are to publications in English,
German, or Dutch.  Publications in Spanish, French and Italian are
also included.  Overall, the subject focus of the bibliography is on
the conservation of modern and contemporary paintings, although
publications concerning other media can be found as well. Finally,
most of the publications referenced date from the 1980s and
1990s.Over half of the records include an abstract in addition to
the citation. Subject index terms have been assigned to each record
to facilitate more precise searching.

On behalf of INCCA and the GCI, we hope that you will find this
bibliography of use in your research and practice.

Luke Swetland
Senior Manager, AATA Online and Bibliographic Services
The Getty Conservation Institute


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:22
                Distributed: Monday, September 10, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-21-22-007
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