Geijer, Agnes
Fornvännen 1962:4, 243-246
http://kulturarvsdata.se/raa/fornvannen/html/1962_243
Ingår i: samla.raa.se
S M Ä R R E M E D D E L A N D E N
KONSERVERINGSPROBLEM UNDER DEBATT
Då undertecknad av hälsoskäl måste avstå från alt n ä r v a r a vid den i Bom i september 1961 a n o r d n a d e stora internationella konservatorskongressen, åtog sig Mr. Harold B u r n h a m , Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, att d ä r föra min talan. Mr. B u r n h a m h a r insänt följande meddelande, vari h a n r a p p o r t e r a r om förhandlingarna, framför allt r ö r a n d e textilkonservcring, och även berättar om den d ä r p å följande konferensen i Lyon, Centre International des Études des Textiles Anciens, där även vissa konservcringsmetoder kom under debatt.
" D u r i n g t h e a u t u m n of 1961, two series of meetings were held in which lhe conservation was discussed. T h e first of these was t h e Bome Con- ference of the I n t e r n a t i o n a l Institute for Conservation of Historie and Artistic W o r k s which was held d u r i n g the last week of September. Mr. N. S.
Bromelle, Secrelary-General of the o r g a n i z a t i o n was responsible for the a r r a n g e m e n t s , a n d the meetings were attended by interested delegates from m a n y countries. T h e p r o g r a m m c w a s very full, and covered a wide range of conservation p r o b l e m s ranging t h r o u g h paintings, metals, paper, glass a n d textiles, and also dealing with such related subjects as lighting, h u m i d i t y control and the education a n d t r a i n i n g of conservalors a n d r e s t o r e r s . E a c h meeting h a d a panel of s p e a k e r s and a c h a i r m a n , these being d r a w n from lhe m e m b e r s h i p of the Institute, a n d coming from Auslralia, Belgium, Canada, F r a n c e , Great Britain, India, Italy, J a p a n , Norway, Poland, Swe- den, T h e Netherlands, and the United States of America. T h i s wide geo- g r a p h i c a l coverage alone shows the i m p o r t a n c e with which the meetings were regarded.
Various receptions w e r e held for the delegates, a n d excursions were a r r a n g e d to points of interest in the n e i g h b o u r h o o d of Bome. One of lhe special meetings was the F o r b e s leeture given by Dr. H. J. Plenderleith in lhe Palazzo Barberini. T h e speaker w h o is President of the Institute gave a review of the w o r k of Mr. E d w a r d R. F o r b e s whose ideas were the original incentive t h a t led to lhe Institute being organized. He went on to give a review of his own experiences in the field of conservation which was both inslructive and interesting.
The panel discussions were held at the Istiluto del Palologia del Libro, and the papers presenled by the various s p e a k e r s h a d been circulated to the delegates well in advance of the conference.1 W h a t was p r o b a b l y the most valuable and illuminating c o n t r i b u l i o n w a s m a d e by t h e staff of the Istiluto itself. Not only are their published p a p e r s most valuable to all those w o r k i n g with books, d o c u m e n t s and archives, b u t the scope of their a p p r o a c h and the excellencc of their l a b o r a l o r i e s w e r e welcome knowledge to all.
T h e t h o r o u g h and exhaustive investigations which precede the solution of a given problem set a s t a n d a r d that o t h e r s in different fields of conserva-
1 Samlade till en volym p å 376 stencilerade sidor. De slutgiltiga anfö- r a n d e n a samt referat av diskussionerna förberedes nu för tryckning.
tion might well emulate. A n u m b e r of the meetings dealt with paintings, and considered p r i m a r i l y new advances in this field. Of all aspects of conservation, it is p r o b a b l e t h a t t h e p r o b l e m s raised by paintings have been m o r e t h o r o u g h l y investigatcd t h a n any others. T h e panels dealing wilh other p r o b l e m s showed advances in all fields, bul also b r o u g h t h o m e lhe fact t h a t m u c h r e m a i n s to be donc.
F r o m time to time, new aspects and new fields a r e considered at con- ferences of this kind. T h e Bome Conference was no exception, a n d the addi- tion of a discussion on textile conservation must be welcomed for al least two reasons. First a n d foremost, infernational recognition a n d collaboration is essential in a n y field of research and, in the second place, t h e r e a r e at lhe present time two opposed t r e n d s . One question is if irreversible m e t h o d s should be allowed or not. Obviously some of the m e t h o d s used h i t h e r t o o for lhe conservation of textiles a r e not fully reversible, a m o n g t h e m some special kinds of chemical t r e a t m e n t . Critics of such p r o c e d u r e s m a i n t a i n the ne- cessity of avoiding, as far as possible, such irreversible m e t h o d s , t h e use of which would m e a n that no further action could be t a k e n in t h e future when heller m e t h o d s m a y h a v e been evolved, or if further d e t e r i o r a t i o n should have occurred.
No better guide a m o n g those p r o b l e m s could have been chosen t h a n Dr. Agnes Geijer, spokesman for the rcversibel methods.2 She emphaized the i m p o r t a n c e of leaving t h e door open for t h e future, not least for the henefit of rencwed research. During the thirty years or so t h a t she has been directing 'Pietas', w o r k has been carried out in Stockholm u n d e r her super- vision that is the equal of anything done in any other p a r t of the world.
Dr. J. E. Leene, leader of the L a b o r a t o r y of Textile Technology, Technische Hogeschool, Delfi, T h e Netherlands, presented a report of h e r investigations in which she described the results obtained by impregnating fragile material witli various c o m p o u n d s , bul admilted that no fully satisfactory solution h a d yet been found. Some of the consolidanfs used, although soluble at the time, change in character with the passage of time and cannot be easily removed at a låter date.3
As the time for the Rome Conference d r c w near, Dr. Geijer felt it would he inadvisable for h e r to m a k e the trip, and asked the present w r i t e r to present h e r views. Due to the excellence of t h e s t a n d a r d s m a i n t a i n e d by Dr. Geijer, this h o n o u r w a s a pleasure, a n d h e r views were both presented a n d defended d u r i n g the discussion following the panel. Two other delegates
2 Jfr A. Geijer, "Farliga konservcringsmetoder" och "Modocoll som prepa- reringsmedel för textilier" (Svenska Museer 1959, 3—4, och 1961; engelsk över- sättning i stencil: "Dangerous Methods for the Conservation of Textiles" and
"Modocoll as a Preservative for Textiles and Olher Fragile Materials") samt den i UNESCO :s tidskrift MUSEUM publicerade artikeln om texlilkonservering, i lätt omskrivning i Svenska Museer 1962:3.
3 Jfr de i föregående not citerade a r t i k l a r n a .
S M Ä R R E M E D D E L A N D E N
were also on the panel. Miss Louisa Bellinger of lhe Textile Museum of the District of Columbia, W a s h i n g t o n , gave a r e p o r t of the b e h a v i o u r of fibres in the various steps involved in washing fabrics, a n d Mr. E. R. Beecher, of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, gave a r e p o r t on a method of backing fragile materials.4 Both added considerably to lhe interest of the meeting.
Following the Bome Conference, the r e g u l a r meetings of Centre Inter- n a t i o n a l d'Etudc des Textiles Anciens w e r e held in Lyon. On the second day, two short p a p e r s w e r e presented on the w a s h i n g and conservation of tapestries. One was given by Senhora D o n n a T a x h i n a of Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon, in w h i c h she described their m e t h o d s of washing, and lhe extent a n d m ä n n e r in w h i c h the p r o b l e m of re-weaving was handled.
T h e o t h e r w a s given by Mile. Diehl of the H a a r l e m W o r k s h o p , T h e Nether- lands, in which the m a j o r emphasis was on r e s t o r a t i o n . T h e two views pre- sented a r e typical of the divergence in the field of textile conservation today.
In Lisbon, w e a k p a r t s a r e s t r e n g t h e n e d a n d missing p a r t s a r e re-woven in a n e u t r a l colour that can always be distinguished from t h e original y a r n s used. In H a a r l e m , on t h e o t h e r h a n d , after full p h o t o g r a p h y a n d after delailed notes have been m a d e , all silk a n d all d a r k colours a r e removed a n d replaced, while any missing sections a r e re-designed in the spirit of lhe original a n d entirely re-woven. Although the result of this latter w o r k is aesthetically pleasing, it is no longer possible for the art h i s t o r i a n and student to be certain w h a t p a r t s of the tapestries a r e original a n d w h a t a r e r e p l a c e m e n t s : their value as historical d o c u m e n t s is seriously lessened if not löst.
T h e results of these meetings w e r e beneficial to all those that could attend, a n d emphasize t h e i m p o r t a n c e a n d the necessity of fuller contact between those actively w o r k i n g in the field of conservation as well as with a n d a m o n g a r t h i s t o r i a n s and students of ancient textiles."
Sä långt vår k a n a d e n s i s k e kollega. Det k a n tilläggas att ytterligare en
" p a n e l s p e a k e r " från S k a n d i n a v i e n h a d e inbjudits till B o m : Anna Bosen- qvist, Oslo, Oldsaksamlingens k o n s e r v a t o r , som talade om "New m e t h o d s for the consolidation of fragile objects—wood, ivory, metals e t c " . F r å n D a n m a r k och Norge voro m ä n g a deltagare a n m ä l d a ; från Sverige deltog fem, samtliga specialiserade på tavclkonservering (K. G. H e d é n frän Göte- borgs Konstmuseum, S. S ö r m a n , K o n s t a k a d e m i e n , G. Schiiler och B. Titov från N a t i o n a l m u s e u m samt H. Kristenson, Örebro Museum). I s a m m a n h a n g e t kan det v a r a a n l e d n i n g fästa u p p m ä r k s a m h e t e n vid det betydelsefulla n o r s k a initiativet att inbjuda professor Coremans från Bryssel för alt i n f o r m e r a i konserveringsfrågor.5
Om intresse för textilkonservering v i t t n a r en i n b j u d a n till u n d e r t e c k n a d
4 Se Svenska Museer 1962:3.
5 Utförlig redogörelse i Meddelelser fra Norsk Kunsthistorisk Förening 111:2, 1961.
att deltaga i 1COM Comity's m ö t e i Barcelona, a n o r d n a t i direkt a n s l u t n i n g till Bomkongresscn, liksom studiebesök i Stockholm av flera personer, som varit speciellt i n r i k t a d e p å att s t u d e r a r i k s a n t i k v a r i e ä m b e t e t s texlilkonser- vcringsanstalt och d i s k u t e r a olika h i t h ö r a n d e problem. S o m m a r e n 1961 k o m bl. a. Dr Lcene och ingenjör Lodewijks från T e k n i s k a H ö g s k o l a n i Delft och nu i vår deras l a n d s m a n , miss J. M. Balkenstein vid D r ä k t m u s e e t i Haag, den senare för att förbereda en konferens r ö r a n d e textilkonservering inom r a m e n för den ICOM-kongress, som d e n n a gång förlagts till Holland.
I s a m m a n h a n g e t bör också n ä m n a s ett b e t y d a n d e a m e r i k a n s k t företag, en verklig högskola för utbildning av k o n s e r v a t o r e r , vilken nyligen s t a r t a t s inom r a m e n för the New York University Institute of F i n e Arts •—• även före den definitiva starten, hösten 1960, stödd med b e t y d a n d e bidrag från Bockefcller F o u n d a t i o n . Undervisningen är b å d e k o n s t h i s t o r i s k och n a t u r - vetenskaplig och bygger p å en intim s a m v e r k a n m e l l a n specialister från olika a m e r i k a n s k a forskningsinstitut. G r u n d u t b i l d n i n g e n o m f a t t a r i p r i n c i p fyra år, vartill b e r ä k n a s ytterligare p r a k t i k . Som " A d m i n i s t r a t i o n Officer"
för detla "Conservation Center" h a r utsetts Mr L a w r e n c e Majewski. H a n är b å d e kemist och k o n s t h i s t o r i k e r och h a r tidigare bl. a. tjänstgjort som chef för det a m e r i k a n s k - b y s a n t i n s k a institutet i I s t a n b u l . Vid elt besök s o m m a r e n 1961 på vår textilavdelning, u t t a l a d e h a n sin u p p s k a t t n i n g av de h ä r tillämpade arbetsprinciperua — vetenskaplig analysering och dokumen- tering i direkt s a m b a n d med det praktiska konserveringsarbelet —• vilka h a n betecknade som förebildliga för all konserveringsvcrksamhet.
A. G r
LITTERATUR OCH KRITIK
W. F. GRIMES: Excavations on Defence Sites 1939—3*945. I. Mainly Neolithie - Bronze Age. Ministry of W o r k . Archaeological Beports No. 3. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, L o n d o n 1960. 259 s., 48 planscher och 102 textfig.
Som framgår redan av bokens titel redovisas h ä r u n d e r s ö k n i n g a r av de fornlämningar — mest gravhögar — som hotades av total förstörelse vid utbyggnaden av örikets försvarslinje under a n d r a världskriget. Trots att dessa u n d e r s ö k n i n g a r skedde under svåra förhållanden och inte sällan i tidsnöd, h a r utgrävningsledaren, London-professorn Grimes, ä n d å lyckats genomföra dem på eft föredömligt sätt.
I England liksom på a n d r a håll i E u r o p a h a r m a n vid tidigare undersök- ningar av s t c n k a m m a r g r a v a r nöjt sig med all u n d e r s ö k a endast valda delar av dessa m o n u m e n t , i h u v u d s a k k a m m a r e n och förgården, samt d r a upp några provschakt för att i stora d r a g fastställa högens uppbyggnad, dess yttre k o n t u r m. m. Inte sällan h a r s a m m a gravhög "bitvis" u n d e r s ö k t s i flera o m g å n g a r och av olika forskare. Grimes beslöt sig emellertid att frångå den tidigare p r a k t i s e r a d e metoden och undersökte i stället m o n u m e n t e n i dess helhet. Detta visade sig vara synnerligen värdefullt. Han gjorde en hel
