Twelve Critical Topics in Cultural Heritage Science for the Humanities Scholar
This course will examine key concepts in
material culture that require us to look at
objects through the scientist’s lens. Topics
will include: patina as a chemically created
status signifier, the industrial revolution and
artists’ materials, the fifteen causes of color,
gold and its imitators, controversial topics in
conservation practice, fugitive materials in
contemporary art, and the history of forgery
from antiquity to the present. “Patina: A
Chemically Created Status Signifier” will
focus on how object surfaces such as
bronzes, furniture finishes, and glasses are
chemically altered to produce artificial
effects that, surprisingly, depend on the
owner’s social status, their geographical
location, and their specific point in history.
“All that Glitters is Not Gold” will be an
examination of the many ways that goldenhued surfaces were created without gold to
fool the eye, from antiquity to the present
day. We will learn that “Conservation is
Controversial,” discussing some of the
misunderstandings that exist between
scientists, conservators, art historians, and
archaeologists about how conservators
change works of art (and how the objects in
question originally appeared). In “Forgery
Begins in Antiquity” we will look at the
history and technology of art forgery, how it
has evolved over time, and the evolution of
the meaning of authenticity. “The Revolution
Did Not Go as Planned” will study some of
the fallout from the Industrial Revolution
with respect to the manufacture of unstable
pigments, plastics, and paint binding media.
These topics and others will provide the
humanities scholar with the tools needed to
draw informed conclusions about an object
and its history through an understanding of
the technologies behind the object’s
manufacture, aging phenomena, and history
of interventions. Assignments will be in the
form of two research papers on topics
related to the course lectures. 3 credits.