Conservation of African objects and authenticity

I am a graduate student in the Museum Studies program at the
University of Florida with a focus on Art History. This semester,
I am taking an African Art seminar and am writing my final paper
on issues with the conservation of African objects, specifically
those used in ritual or religious contexts. I am interested in
tackling the issue of authenticity, a topic that is widely
discussed usually from a curatorial angle, from a conservation
perspective. A main question I seek to answer is how much can you
remove from the object before it becomes "inauthentic"?

Many of these objects have a life that is evident through the
addition of substances, other objects, or weathering. I am referring
to objects such as nails that may have become sharp and rusty or
substances such as palm oil or blood that may make the object
difficult to handle even with gloves.

I have spoken to several conservators who say these types of
substances/objects should not be removed since they are part of the
object. If, for some reason, they have been removed does this deem
an object "inauthentic" and not "worthy" to be in a museum?

Stephen P. Mellor's article "The Exhibition and Conservation of
African Objects" has been very helpful thus far in guiding my
research. However, I have not found many other articles that deal
with the topic of conservation of African objects and authenticity
directly. I am hoping to get the perspectives of professional
conservators working in the field of artifact/ethnographic object
conservation. I would appreciate any thoughts you have on the
subject. If you know of any publications that deal with this issue
I'd appreciate you forwarding that information along as well.

Kim Tinnell
Graduate Student, Museum Studies
Coordinator, School of Art and Art History Juried Exhibition
University of Florida


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 24:24
                 Distributed: Sunday, November 7, 2010
                       Message Id: cdl-24-24-020
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