AIC's 46th Annual Meeting

The aesthetics of Brazilian Concrete Art is characterized by visual and technical experimentations within the context of the post-2wwar conceptual-artistic relationship and the then contemporary “aura” of modernity, which was itself driven and supported by the industrial development in the country. The present paper presents the results of the research carried on the materials and technology of construction of paradigmatic works of art of the concretism period in Brazil, belonging to the following collections: Pinacoteca of the State of São Paulo; Museum of Modern Art – MAM – Rio de Janeiro; Collection Tuiuiú (onwed by Luis Antonio de Almeida Braga) – Rio de Janeiro; and the Pampulha Art Museum, in Belo Horizonte – Minas Gerais. The objects are studied under a methodological approach based on the principles of Technical Art History, as part of the J. Paul Getty Trust Project Pacific Standard Times – Los Angeles/Latin America – Getty PST LA/LA. The project partners are based in the USA – Getty Conservation Institute; Argentina – Universidad San Martin; Brazil – LACICOR – Conservation Science Laboratory, these last two with research grants kindly supported by the Getty Foundation The Brazilian Project Coordination is headed by the LACICOR – Conservation Science Laboratory team, based at CECOR – Center for Conservation of Cultural Heritage, at the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. At the School of Fine Arts, besides undergraduate courses in Arts, Fashion Design, Multimidia, Dance, and Conservation-Restoration Bachelor’s Degree, we also have a Graduate (Master and Ph.D.) Program on Arts, with a research line in conservation of cultural heritage. The working methodological approach combines knowledge and traditional tools already used in the Art Historical research, with scientific methods of analysis of materials and scientific imaging documentation techniques. The results contribute to a better understanding of the historical, political, social and economic context of the creative period between the years 1950-60’s in Brazil The case studies described represent original knowledge regarding the art production in Brazil at this specific period, 1950’s - 1960, centered in the relations between matter and appearance, as well as involving the permanence in time of the works of art and the search for the most appropriate forms of access, exhibition and conservation-restoration processes. Diverse types of then “modern” binding media have been found by chemical analysis (PY-GC-MS, GC-MS, FTIR), such as nitrocellulose, alkyd, and PVA, as well as oil and oil-resin mixtures—including, in some cases, the use of beeswax as an extra component added to the main oil binding medium. Alkyd paints, for example, have been identified in fourteen out of a total of thirty-one paintings studied from these collections. For this presentation in particular we present the results of our studies on works by the following artists: Lygia Clark, Helio Oiticica, Waldemar Cordeiro, Judith Lauand, Willys de Castro, Hermelindo Fiaminghi, Ivan Serpa, Mauricio Nogueira de Lima, Aluisio Carvao, Milton da Costa.