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Research by Libby Sheldon into the history and technology of paints and pigments has benefited conservation specialists and art professionals based in both museums and the art trade. Using specialist scientific techniques to examine artists' paint materials, her research findings have made possible the accurate dating of Old Master and British paintings and have played a crucial role in their authentication and critical re-evaluation. Her analysis of works in important public as well as private collections has contributed to both professional and public understanding of our cultural heritage. Her research has enriched appreciation of technical art history for a large general audience through museum displays and programmes and through high-profile media appearances enhancing the understanding of how art is made from a technical and material perspective.
Research by Marianne Odlyha and her group at the Department of Biological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, has led to the development of minimally invasive analytical methods and portable tools (dosimeters) for assessing damage to historical artefacts. These dosimeters are now in use at locations around the world, including the Tate Gallery's store rooms, English Heritage properties (Apsley House) and museums in Ghent, Cracow and Mexico. Methods for assessing damage, and for mitigation of pollutant impact on objects in museum enclosures, have been disseminated to conservation professionals through workshops and training courses held across Europe. The assessment and prevention of damage is vital to conserve the cultural as well as the monetary value of artefacts.
The impact comes from Ekserdjian's authentication and attribution of Renaissance paintings and the curatorship of international exhibitions, both of which have had substantial financial impact on institutions and individuals involved in the art market, in particular the auction house sector, galleries and museums. This also includes cultural impacts on the art-loving public by introducing them to newly-discovered and attributed artworks which might previously have never been exhibited publicly and by offering innovative ways of exhibiting and understanding masterpieces gathered from around the globe.
`The Sublime Object' was a major AHRC-funded project of the Tate Britain, which used a range of open access media, free public exhibitions and events to promote new understanding of the ways in which perceptions of the Sublime in the external landscape are shaped by cultural experiences, and which was substantially shaped by Professor Philip Shaw's work.
Shaw worked with Tate Education/Learning to develop initiatives that would engage Tate's gallery and online audiences closely in an exploration of the concept of the Sublime, a theoretical concept encompassing ideas of the great, the awe-inspiring, and the overpowering. Through the collaboration of the public, artists, and academics, this work articulates ways in which the Sublime is experienced today. Shaw's research conceptually underpinned the project, helping to shape the ideas of artists, Tate visitors (in person and online), and curators. His thinking for pieces commissioned by the project was, in turn, shaped by this dialogue, demonstrating the enrichment of research via its initial impact.
The Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery in Exeter was completely redeveloped 2007-2011. Lalic was commissioned to make and permanently install three paintings related to her extensive Colour and Metal group for negotiated sites integral to the remodelled building. Through these paintings the large audience at RAMM, and beyond, gained an understanding of the relationship between the site, colour, pigment and metal. This includes an understanding of innovations in contemporary painting, of how painting might relate to the environment, an awareness of landscape as having a material history, of the development and significance of this extensive series of works and, in the Museum, the relation between the works by Lalic and other works in the collections and on exhibition.
Researchers at Ligatus have developed new methodologies for recording historical evidence in books and documents. These have altered the way conservators, historians and archivists work and improved the care of world cultural heritage. Their work has impacted on a range of public and private institutions and included cultural managers, museums and galleries, and libraries.
Martin Kemp's research on Leonardo da Vinci has had a significant impact on the presentation of cultural heritage. Combining scientific approaches and connoisseurship, his research — presented both in academic works and through books written for a general audience — has received a high level of publicity and garnered a large and wide-ranging following. In turn, this prominence has influenced professional practice in relation to the authentication of artwork and the public understanding of the various issues surrounding artistic authenticity, as well as having a potentially significant effect on the commercial value of specific works.
Research with English Heritage, Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, Historic Royal Palaces and the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust has directly impacted on the study, preservation and exhibition of sculpture, inspired cutting-edge scientific analysis, encouraged local participation in the research process and enhanced understanding of and appreciation for a shared past. It has also underwritten successful bids to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the conservation of world-class monumental sculpture.
This project, which challenged both preconceptions about a renowned artist and also the character of a retrospective, resulted in the most visited art exhibition ever staged at the Grand Palais in Paris (913,064 visitors). At the request of the Musée d'Orsay and Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Professor Richard Thomson led the team organising Monet, 1840-1926. This was the first major retrospective of the work of Monet in Paris since 1980 and provided a model for mounting retrospectives. Building on research into the wider socio-historical impact of art, and its ability to stimulate debate, the radical display of Monet's paintings has made their scholarly interpretation more publicly accessible and is recorded in an exhibition catalogue that sold 83,000 copies.
The medieval seals projects have enabled substantial non-academic audiences to engage more effectively with and appreciate more fully the cultural heritage of Britain. There is now a deeper understanding among schoolchildren and adult interest groups (e.g. local history societies) of the importance of seals in medieval culture and their role in establishing identities. The projects have also alerted heritage professionals to the significance of seals as a heritage asset, and developed their skills in preserving and presenting this undervalued resource. In attracting visitors to Wales and the Marches through exhibitions and outreach events the projects have delivered an economic return.