Review article
Problems relating to the conservation of the painting “Malampija” by Eugen Feller
Tanja Vukmanić
; Croatian Conservation Institute, Department for Easel Painting, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Works of modern and contemporary art put new demands before restorers and restoration practice. Every piece of contemporary art that has been jeopardized calls for a new approach and new restoration techniques. The paper uses the painting Malampija by Eugen Feller as an example and briefly presents the ethical principles applied in the protection of contemporary art, and describes in detail the conservation-restoration interventions the painting was subjected to.
It has been shown that information collected from authors and their collaborators plays a very significant role in the protection of works of contemporary art. For this reason, attached to the paper is an interview that the author conducted with the painter before the restoration. The contact with Feller provided additional knowledge of the artist’s concept of the creation of Malampija, as well as his thoughts about the ageing of his work. During the interview, the author provided information on materials used and the painting technique applied, which was useful from the point of view of selection of technical analyses for material identification. The conservation-restoration works, while the respected the principle of minimal intervention reconstructions of damaged and missing parts of the painting were made in line with the requirements of contemporary conservation ethics. Partial reconstructions were made only in those places in which the damage jeopardized the painting’s stability. Damage and cracks that were integral parts of the painting’s creation and life cycle were not reconstructed.
Keywords
Eugen Feller; Malampija; contemporary art; ethics; informel; interview; conservation; restoration
Hrčak ID:
103593
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2010.
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