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The Japanese government seeks to influence the use of leisure time to a degree that Americans or Europeans would likely find puzzling. Through tourism-promotion initiatives, financing for resort development, and systematic research on recreational practices, the government takes a relentless interest in its citizens' "free time." David Leheny argues that material interests are not a sufficient explanation for such a large and consistent commitment of resources. In The Rules of Play, he reveals the link between Japan's leisure politics and its long-term struggle over national identity. Since the Meiji Restoration, successive Japanese governments have stressed the nation's need to act like a "...
The final report on the conservation of the wall paintings in the tomb of Nefertari in the Valley of Queens, Egypt. This highly successful collaborative venture launched by the Getty Conservation Institute and the Egyptian Antiquities Organization brought together scientists and conservators from all over the world to address the problems facing one of the most beautiful monuments of antiquity. The painstaking process that saved this cultural treasure in situ is documented in the text written by those who were most intimately involved in its rescue. Paolo and Laura Mora worked with and trained the team of conservators who carried out the consolidation and cleaning of the paintings. An international group of scientists carried out the analysis that was essential to the conservation process. Others contribute articles on the archaeology of the Valley, the iconography of the tomb, the original techniques and materials used by the artists, photographic documentation of the wall paintings, and literary sources for their study.
Illustrated in color throughout, this handsome volume presents selected papers from an international symposium held in June 2001 marking the completion of a ten-year project to conserve the Last Judgment mosaic, at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. The project was a partnership between the Office of the President of the Czech Republic, the Prague Castle Administration, and the Getty Conservation Institute. The goal of the symposium was to present the methodology, research, and results of the project, which involved conserving one of the finest examples of monumental medieval mosaic art in Europe. The volume's essays are divided into three parts, which cover the historical and art-historical context, conservation planning and methodology, and project implementation and maintenance. Topics addressed include the history, iconography, and visual documentation of the mosaic; the development and application of surface cleaning and protective coating techniques for the mosaic's glass tesserae; and post-treatment monitoring and maintenance.
Johan Reinhard's discovery of the 500-year-old frozen body of an Inca girl made international headlines in 1995, reaching more than a billion people worldwide. One of the best-preserved mummies ever found, it was a stunning and significant time capsule, the spectacular climax to an Andean quest that yielded no fewer than ten ancient human sacrifices as well as the richest collection of Inca artifacts in archaeological history. Here is the paperback edition of his first-person account, which The Washington Post called "incredible…compelling and often astonishing" and The Wall Street Journal described as "… part adventure story, part detective story, and part memoir—an engaging look at a...
The impact of light on works of art and archival materials has long been an issue of concern to conservators and other museum professionals, yet the literature on this subject has never been systematically reviewed. This volume fills that gap by providing a survey of the impact of exposure to light with an emphasis on photoflash and reprographic sources. The information provided will assist the professional audience, especially conservators and collections managers, in assessing the risk to art and archival objects of such exposures. The text surveys relevant photophysical and photochemical principles, photometric and radiometric measurement, and the spectral outputs of several light sources...
Nefertari, the favorite queen of Rameses II, was buried about 3,200 years ago in the most exquisitely decorated tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Queens. Discovered in 1904 by Italian explorer Ernesto Schiaparelli, the tomb had deteriorated to a disastrous extent when emergency consolidation began in 1986. The six-year conservation project of the GCI and the Egyptian Antiquities Organization was completed in 1992. In this fascinating exploration of the tomb, John McDonald takes the reader through each chamber, describing the hieroglyphic messages depicted in the brilliant wall paintings and discussing the images within the context of Egyptian beliefs. He also offers insights into the life of Nef...
Neville Agnew, senior principal project specialist at the GCI, is the author of numerous publications in research chemistry and conservation, including (with two coauthors) the book Cave Temples of Mogao: Art and History on the Silk Road. --Book Jacket.
Staging Tianxia explores the ancient Chinese vision of world order known as tianxia (all under heaven) by focusing on the historical, performative, and rhetorical processes of expressive arts and cultural heritages that inform a vision of China as a historically multiethnic and cosmopolitan nation. Author Lanlan Kuang unites multimedia ethnographic research and theoretical insights from ethnomusicology, philosophy, religious studies, performance studies, and cognitive science, with a focus on Dunhuang bihua yuewu, a modern interpretation inserted into the Chinese classical dance and theatrical arts tradition. Staging Tianxia thus aims to redefine Silk Road studies and Dunhuangology, a transdisciplinary field dedicated to studying the texts and art of Dunhuang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that connected China via the Silk Road with Central Asia, South Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Staging Tianxia is a careful ethnographic study that looks at the importance of performance tradition and poetics in the arts and aesthetic theory of China.
O livro é resultado do trabalhos de profissionais que atuam em diferentes áreas do patrimônio cultural nas Américas e Península Ibérica, movidos por interesses, trajetórias e contextos distintos, que se entrelaçam em momentos e encerram causas comuns e consensos, dos quais destaca-se o valor central que é o compartilhamento de suas experiências, práticas e conhecimentos; a compreensão comum de que a preservação e a valorização do patrimônio cultural pressupõem aprender e avançar juntos, solidariamente; e a percepção, que se transforma em responsabilidade, do quanto toda a humanidade pode ser afetada a partir da perda de um bem ou de uma manifestação cultural local.
This volume presents the proceedings of an international symposium organized by the Getty Conservation Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum. The first conference of its kind in twenty years, the symposium assembled an international group of conservators of painted panels, and gave them the opportunity to discuss their philosophies and share their work methods. Illustrated in color throughout, this volume presents thirty-one papers grouped into four topic areas: Wood Science and Technology, History of Panel-Manufacturing Techniques, History of the Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings, and Current Approaches to the Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings.