Artists’ Materials: A Survey from Antiquity to 1800

This course will explore the fundamental structures and properties of the materials used to construct the decorative environment. The objects that make up this environment are engineered to have surface optical properties and textures that produce a range of effects including rich colors, gloss, iridescence, and opacity. As these objects age, these surfaces are vulnerable to interaction with agents of deterioration from the environment such as water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide pollution, and even salts from our hands. To understand the original function of a decorative environment, it is necessary then to understand how its component objects have changed over time. This can only be accomplished through an understanding of the materials from which the objects were originally constructed. This course will encompass everything from ephemeral faux furniture finishes to prized objects of vertu and works of industrial design. From the first engineered ceramic, faience, created in predynastic Egypt to the delicately lustered surfaces of Italian Renaissance majolica, there is fascinating chemistry that goes into the creation of the decorative and applied arts. The structures of the gleaming surfaces of lacquered Asian wares (urushi) will be explored, as well as the intricate construction of their exquisite Western imitations (Japanning). The range of decorative alloys used from antiquity to the present day will be surveyed, including bronzes, brasses, paktong, German silver, tumbaga, and shakudo. The glasses produced by the ancient Romans through the Venetians and into the new world will be examined through the lens of their materials chemistry, including an explanation of both their decorative effects and their varying degrees of stability. The dramatic changes these objects undergo over time will be explained, and how these works can be preserved (and in some cases conserved) for future generations. 3 credits. Satisfies the non-Western or pre-1800 requirement.