Volume 12, Number 2, May 1990, pp.15-16

Articles You May Have Missed

"The Battle of Cincinnati," by Harry Anderson with Shawn D. Lewis. Newsweek, (April 16, 1990). p.27.

Nine members of a Hamilton County Ohio grand jury have charged the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati and its director, Dennis Barrie, with two separate misdemeanor counts, in presenting an exhibition which contains obscene material. "The Perfect Moment" has once again proven to be too hot to handle. "The center knew that the exhibition would cause a storm in conservative Cincinnati. It was the same exhibition that was canceled by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington last June amid a furor over public funding of "obscene or indecent" art works. To avoid that particular controversy, the Contemporary Arts Center voluntarily withdrew from the Cincinnati Arts fund, which last year provided the center with $300,000 of its $1.2 million budget. The center also sought to head off Cincinnati authorities who have made prosecuting smut a popular local crusade. On Friday, however, a county judge rejected the center's request for a preliminary ruling that the exhibition was not obscene." Local support for the center is running strong, membership had risen 40 percent in the 10 days before the indictment.

"A Renaissance for Michelangelo," David Jeffery, Assistant Editor. National Geographic, Vol. 176, No. 6, (December 1989). pp.688-713.

This lengthy pictorial article of the cleaning of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, encompasses many aspects of fresco restoration, and the immense importance of this work.

"Times Lobby Murals Uncovered," Los Angeles Conservancy, Vol. 12, No. 2, (March/April 1990).

Four murals created by Los Angeles artist Hugo Ballin in 1934, for the Globe Lobby of the Times building in Los Angeles, have been uncovered and are in the process of being conserved. Scott M. Haskins, Director of Conservation for Fine Art Conservation Laboratories is undertaking this work with a scheduled completion date of mid-March.

"An End to the Yellowing Pages," Newsweek, (March 20, 1989). p. 80.

Simon and Schuster, Random House, Doubleday and Bantam publishing houses have agreed to begin publishing the first printings of quality hard-cover trade books on acid-free paper. This would result in at least 50 percent of all trade hard-covers being printed on acid-free paper. Since the mid 1880's the paper produced has been of poor quality. In 1960 a process for creating durable paper produced from wood was engineered, and only now have costs become competitive enough to allow for this conservation minded agreement.

"The First Color Photographs," Grant B. Romer and Jeannette Delamoir. Scientific American, Volume 261, No. 6, (December 1989). pp. 88-96.

Mr. Romer writes a basic yet thorough history about the beginning of color photography in the early part of the 19th century. He touches on the many innovative uses of chemicals to produce color pictures. The author ends the article by saying, "There is much worthy of remembering in the photographic techniques of the past that may still contribute to the ongoing evolution of photography."

"A Young Man on Horseback," Anthony Bailey. The New Yorker, (March 5, 1990). pp. 45-77.

An extensive history of a painting, attributed to Rembrandt, which has come to be called "The Polish Rider," is presented in this lengthy article about the painting's genuineness. The author not only presents the painting's history, but also discusses the formation of the Rembrandt Research Project, (R.R.P.); its history; its members; the groups investigative techniques; and their accomplishments.

"Energy Conservation and Climate Control in Museums," A Cost Simulation under Various Outdoor Climates, J. Marx Ayres, James Druzik, J. Carlos Haiad, Henry Lau and Steven Weintraub. The International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, (1989). pp.299-312.

This study takes a well-characterized building of modern construction and, with computer simulations, determines the cost sensitivity of operating that structure at various locations around the United States with different baseline environmental parameters." Findings conclude that, "The museum environment's largest energy requirements are bundled into the operations of environmental control for temperature and relative humidity. This reality forces energy conservation and fine art conservation to reconcile their differences and seek common solutions. One such solution, suggested in the present study, is to allow the more expensive environmental plant to maintain cost-effective mid-range conditions and let the less expensive microclimatological solutions deviate above and below this range when necessary.

"Environmental Research at the Getty Conservation Institute," Frank Preusser & James R. Druzik. Restorator, (1989), pp.160-169.

In 1984, the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) embarked on a program of museum environmental research covering air pollution generated outdoors and indoors, and microenvironmental studies. These three branches are further divided into surveys of pollutant concentrations in buildings containing cultural and natural history collections, assessment of damage to materials, and control strategies. In the microenvironment, the targeted issues are humidity control and monitoring, low-cost sealed display cases, biological control and selected topics in lighting. In separate but related areas, the GCI conducts research on the effects of vibration and shock, fumigation research, and on bringing the conservator and mechanical engineer closer together in the process of designing and retrofitting air conditioning systems for buildings.