Academy of Art and Design, Stuttgart: The Book and Paper Conservation Program and Current Research

The Book and Paper Conservation Program at the Academy of Art and Design, Stuttgart

Presented at the Book & Paper Group Session, AIC 28th Annual Meeting, June 8-13, 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Received for publication Fall 2000.

The Book and Paper Conservation Program at the Academy of Art and Design, Stuttgart, Germany, is located outside Stuttgart. It is a four-year full-time master's degree program founded in 1990. The head of the program is Prof. Dr. Gerhard Banik who works together with the head of the workshop, Andrea Pataki, and the chemist, Dr. Ulrike Binder. To join the Academy thirty-six months of internship in recognized workshops and a qualifying examination are required. The classes are separated into practical and theoretical divisions. Fifty percent of a student's time is spent on theoretical topics, which include chemistry, materials analysis, analytical studies, art history, history of the book and photography, museum studies, and photography for documentation purposes. The other fifty percent of time is spent in workshops and seminars on general and specific conservation problems and practical conservation treatments. Under the supervision of the head of the workshop the students work in the main lab and additional workspaces. Seminars are often given by specialists from all over the world. An additional twenty-six weeks of internship in conservation workshops are required during the four years. The program is completed with a written thesis and oral exams. Students are involved in the development of new conservation techniques and their transfer into practice. Besides the two research projects presented here, recent technical development and research at the Academy have dealt with topics such as the use of aerosols to apply consolidants onto powdery paint layers, staining of "reconstituted parchment" with light stable synthetic dyes, new intervention techniques for iron gall ink corrosion on paper, evaluation of existing mass deacidification techniques, or surveys of large collections.