Volume 10, Number 1, Jan. 1988, pp.17-19

Publications/Audio-Visual

Back numbers of the WAAC Newsletter are available for sale. Each deluxe issue costs $5.00 and are available from the Secretary / Treasurer, Joanne Page. Please specify the volume and number or the month and year when ordering. (New members receive all issues for the year they join.)

The WAAC Resource File is a comprehensive card file system of conservation resources containing over 300 entries covering all areas of conservation. Available for $20 to WAAC members, postage paid, or $25 to non-members. Write to Tatyana Thompson, 1453-B 14th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404.

Catherine C. McLean and Patricia Connell, Editors. Textile Conservation Symposium in Honor of Pat Reeves, 1986. There are only 200 copies of this beautiful, hardcover, 84 page limited edition of 700. This Festschrift, illustrated with 50 B/W and 10 color photographs, includes 13 presentations by textile conservators, scientists, and historians. To order, send check for $15.00 payable to LACMA to C. McLean, Conservation Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036.

The Alkaline Paper Advocate has begun publication with a January 1988, volume 1, number 1 issue. The publication's chief function will be to encourage the use of alkaline paper and to provide a forum for producers and consumers to communicate. The Advocate is published by Abbey Publications, Inc., a nonprofit tax-exempt Utah corporation whose goals include informing people in conservation and preservation, and encouraging all aspects of preservation. Abbey Publications also produces the excellent Abbey Newsletter: Bookbinding and Conservation. Personal subscriptions will be $25.00 per calender year and at least four issues, totaling at least 50 pages, will be released in the first year. All new subscribers will receive a free felt-tip pen filled with chlorophenol red, for quick and casual identification of neutral and alkaline papers. Abbey Publications 320 E. Center St. Provo, UT 84601.

Mark Rothko 1903-1970. 1987, London: The Tate Gallery Publications. Includes "Painting Materials and Techniques of Mark Rothko: Consequences of an Unorthodox Approach" by Dana Carnmer, pp 184-193, and is available from The Tate Gallery Publications, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG, England. {ISBN 0-946590-62I (paper) or -63X (cloth bound).}

Two from the J. Paul Getty Trust: (J. Paul Getty Trust Publications, Book Warehouse, The J. Paul Getty Museum, P.O. Box 2112, Santa Monica, CA 90406.)

H.W.M. Hodges, ed. In Situ Archaeological Conservation, INAH and GCI. 24 papers, 205 pages, color plates, $15.00. The proceedings of the Meeting April 6-13, 1986 in Mexico City, Mexico are now available.

Sir Bernard Feilden. Between Two Earthquakes: Cultural Property in Seismic Zones 1987, $8.00. The book was presented to the over 500 delegates from 44 countries at the opening session of the Triennial meeting of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) by Luis Monreal, Director of the Getty Conservation Institute. The book, co-published by GCI and ICCROM, was written for a lay audience of government and institutional administrators in charge of the preservation of cultural property. It explains in nontechnical language how to safeguard buildings and monuments before an earthquake strikes, what emergency action to take immediately after, and long-term planning strategies. The practical information ranges from emergency preparation checklists to sample damage recording sheets.

Catherine Sease. A Conservation Manual for the Field Archaeologist. 1987, 171 pp, 36 line drawings, 46 plates, $16.00. The forthcoming book describes conservation treatments and techniques for the archaeologist in the field, emphasizing how to conserve an excavated object before it is taken to a trained conservator offsite. Safety procedures and conservation supplies and materials are recommended. Proper techniques for lifting, cleaning, consolidating, marking, packing, and storing are discussed, along with methods for treating a diverse range of artifactual materials (e.g., amber, feathers, lead, wood). Appendixes cover how to make impressions (basketry, cylinder seals) and chemical preparations, and where to find chemical suppliers and trained conservators. The projected publication date is February 1988. Pre-publication orders receive (were receiving) a 20% discount. Institute of Archaeology Publications UCLA 405 Hilgard Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90024-1510.

Preventive Measures During Excavation and Site Protection. ICCROM. 1986, 328 pages, $15.00. The proceedings of this international conference, which was held in Ghent from 6-8 November 1985, include papers on five topics: Preventive Measures--Problems and Approaches; Preventive Measures--Techniques; Protection of Sites Underwater; Protection of Sites on Display; and Roofs and Shelters. The papers are in either English or French, and there are numerous illustrations. ICCROM Admin./Publication Orders Dept. 13 Via di San Michele 00153 Rome RM Italy.

Cevat Erder. Our Architectural Heritage: From Consciousness to Conservation. UNESCO, $16.00. It is also available from ICCROM at the above address.

National Gallery Technical Bulletin, Volume 11, 1987. 80pp, 13 colour plates, 54 halftones, tables, diagrams, 6.00 pounds sterling. An annual record of current work at the National Gallery on the conservation and restoration of paintings and of the scientific research now being carried out. The contents include: "Vincent Van Gogh's 'A Cornfield, with Cypresses'"; "Samuel van Hoogstraten: Perspective and Painting"; "The Unmasking of Tura's 'Allegorical Figure': Painting and it's Concealed Image"; "Packing: An Updated Design, Reviewed and Tested"; "Fluorescent Lamps: A Practical Assessment"; and "Analyses of Paint Media". National Gallery Publications, The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN England.

Howard L. Needles and S. Haig Zeronian. Historic Textile and Paper Materials: Conservation and Characterization, Advances in Chemistry Series No. 212. 1985, 452pp, $94.95. Offered by the American Chemistry Society, Distribution Office Dept. 255, P.O. Box 57136, West End Station, Washington, DC 20037.

Dick Ham Productions has announced Paintings: Rx for Survival, a 40-minute running time film/video. The film was produced with the assistance of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the funding of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the NEA and was created to train museum personnel in the handling, display and shipping of paintings. No copyright date was listed in the brochure. VHS and Beta format videotape versions are priced at $95. 16mm film and 3/4" video are also available. Dick Ham Productions, 90 Cheyenne Point, Portola Valley, CA 94025 (415) 851-1608.

Reviews in Print

In Scientific American, Vol 257, no 3 (Sept '87), p118: Robert L. Feller, ed. Artists' Pigments, A Handbook of their History and Characteristics, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press and National Gallery of Art. (see previous Newsletter for full citation.)

In Art in America, October 1987, p29: Ian Haywood. Faking It: Art and the Politics of Forgery. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987. 154pp, $19.95.

Two separate reviews, in: Museum News, January / February 1988, p96. Abbey Newsletter, Vol 11, no 6 (August '87), pp 95-96: Anne F. Clapp. Curatorial Care for Works of Art on Paper: Basic Procedures for Paper Preservation. 4th rev. ed. New York: Nick Lyons Books, 1987. 191pp, paperback. Available for $16.95 from Nick Lyons Books, 31 W. 21 St., NY, NY 10010, (212) 620-9580, or $14.00 through FAIC (AIC members).