Questionnaire on structured retouching

Survey on structured retouching: an alternative to the usual resin
solution reintegration

I am currently involved in a five years training in
conservation-restoration of easel painting in the ENSAV La Cambre in
Brussels, in Belgium (Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Visuels).
For my final year essay, I am conducting a survey on techniques and
materials of structured retouching.

My goal would be to study an alternative for reintegrating lacunae
in two steps--filling and retouching--the structured retouch.  Some
mediums such as wax or Paraloid B72 retouching gel give relief to
the inpaint without additives.  Thus they can be used in complex
reintegration cases beyond limits of resin solutions on fillers
(burnt works of art, delicate and tedious filling on pulverulent
surfaces, wide reconstructions, etc.).  The challenge are to reach
the color and surface structure acuity at the same step.

I aim to list products of interest, to explore their advantages,
limits and practical particularities, in order to evaluate their
proper application domains.

As surface effects concern all types of paintings, those retouching
mediums should be judged through the prism of modern art (impastos,
etc.), contemporary art but also more ancient art (glazing,
fingerprints, three dimensioned brocade thread, etc.).  The
legitimacy of their application depends obviously of the retouching
medium considered and of the original paint nature.  It should be
interesting to study a large panel of products type in order to
respond to the maximum of retouching situations.

I would like your opinion on the following questions:

    Does structured retouching seem relevant to you? In which
    situations could it be used?

    Do you use B72 Retouching Paraloid Gel, wax retouching or
    commercial impasto medium for artists? How? Do you have remarks
    about their practical utilization?

    Do you know other structured retouching mediums than those
    quoted previously? Do you use them? Why? In this case, do you
    have remarks about the practical utilization?

This questionnaire is an invitation to a dialog about this domain
which seems very promising. Thus I also stay at your disposition for
any suggestions, remarks, opinion or critics which do not appear in
the previous questions.

As experienced practitioners, your responses to this survey will be
very fertile for my following research and I thank you by advance.

Gaelle Pentier
Conservation-restoration Master 2 student
ENSAV La Cambre
Brussels, Belgium.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:28
                Distributed: Thursday, December 6, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-26-28-027
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