Last months of 2002, Alex Matter, son of Herbert and Mercedes Matter , is among the boxes that belonged to her mother, a large parcel on which his father wrote the following comments: "Pollock (1946-49) Tudor City (1940-1949) 32 Jackson experimental works (gift & purchase) Bad condition. Both Sides 4. All drawing boards. Robi paints. MacDougal Alley, 1958. "
So begins the story that I want to tell today.
Herbert Matter, as well as being a great photographer, was also a dear friend of Jackson Pollock, one of the greatest exponents of contemporary art. It is not hard to find pictures of themselves together and oltresì known that he was painting in Pollock's New York studio of the photographer. The finding of 32 frameworks between objects belonging to the family awoke not Matter, therefore, no fuss. Professor Ellen Landau is the first ar ECOGNITION as genuine the 32 works by Alex Matter, the May 2005, we hastened to prepare a publication and an exhibition that will allow the world to enjoy the masterpieces of the American variety.
June 2005, the HUAM (Harvard University Art Museum) receives samples of three paintings and start a campaign diagnostic time identification of the materials available on the fragments.
Almost simultaneously, some experts of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation question the authenticity of 32 paintings, are not the only ones who think so, so much so that within a few months, other experts Pollock make public the their doubts . Since then the operations of the scientific community and the historical works belonging to grow exponentially Alex Matter (New York Times article , article in The Guardian, article on Boston.com, to name a few). Following the heated debate
the publication of the catalog and the exhibition are postponed until a later date.
The results of the tests carried out at the HUAM are published in a report in January 2007 and presented at a conference at the Metropolitan Museum of NYC the first June 2008, at the Science Word Festiva l, which is held every year in late spring. The symposium, presented by Professor Narayan Khandekar, senior conservation scientist and senior lecturer of ' Harvard University, was filmed and made available to the community by the museum in the huge tank that is precious and Youtube . And 'here that I discovered and it is thanks to this conference, which I'm interested in this case, almost detective, in which science, for the umpteenth time, was placed at the service of art historians , proving once and for all its worth.
The video is divided into three parts. Professor Khandekar speaks English very understandable and the presentation is clear and enjoyable!
After a brief historical introduction (which is similar to that I mentioned at the beginning of the post), the professor explains techniques that were used for the identification of materials present in the three paintings from them analyzed. Besides the classic SEM-EDS, FTIR and Raman , the scientific team at Harvard has made use of carbon-14 dating of by pyrolysis GC-MS and LDI-TOF-MS . The latter technique is perhaps the least known among the six newly appointed. In other words it is a mass spectrometry completed ionizing the sample with a laser beam directed at the point to be analyzed, it is still not used a technique on which you can find more detailed information in the scientific literature.
Let me point out a particularly interesting information in this first part of this conference: the carbon and investigations 14 were completed on a fragment of cardboard mounting . The amount of C14 is almost constant in the materials that were "live" (ie able to exchange with the atmosphere) before the nuclear tests of the '50s, all that was produced after these experiments has a number of C14 extremely high. The data found in the card assembly is in line with those of materials that predate the advent of nuclear . It 'clear why the Harvard researchers have departed from this analysis: indeed, if they found that the base material of the work was produced after his death (1956) there were doubts about the falsity of the works undergoing analysis.
After a brief historical introduction (which is similar to that I mentioned at the beginning of the post), the professor explains techniques that were used for the identification of materials present in the three paintings from them analyzed. Besides the classic SEM-EDS, FTIR and Raman , the scientific team at Harvard has made use of carbon-14 dating of by pyrolysis GC-MS and LDI-TOF-MS . The latter technique is perhaps the least known among the six newly appointed. In other words it is a mass spectrometry completed ionizing the sample with a laser beam directed at the point to be analyzed, it is still not used a technique on which you can find more detailed information in the scientific literature.
Let me point out a particularly interesting information in this first part of this conference: the carbon and investigations 14 were completed on a fragment of cardboard mounting . The amount of C14 is almost constant in the materials that were "live" (ie able to exchange with the atmosphere) before the nuclear tests of the '50s, all that was produced after these experiments has a number of C14 extremely high. The data found in the card assembly is in line with those of materials that predate the advent of nuclear . It 'clear why the Harvard researchers have departed from this analysis: indeed, if they found that the base material of the work was produced after his death (1956) there were doubts about the falsity of the works undergoing analysis.
All three works have been subject to heavy restoration commissioned by Alex Matter in Franco Lisi little after the discovery. Traces of this intervention have been found in this study, but these are certainly the most interesting data for researchers from Harvard!
The analysis carried out showed the presence in all three paintings, of substances whose sale has taken place since 1956, the death of Jackson Pollock. In particular, the work indicated by the abbreviation MBJP29 the brown pigment widely used, was discovered in the early 80s and marketed in 1986, or again, the orange this work MBPJ14 , and describes the photo below, was produced since the '70s .
following is a part of the professor's lecture, for those who have not had time or desire to hear it in full.
If we eliminate from the picture MBJP14 all substances (dyes and organic medium) produced after the death of Pollock what we get is well represented by the following picture:
The provocation of Professor Khandekar was a success, and expresses very clearly the conclusions of the diagnostic work carried out at Harvard: is not possible to say that these three paintings (3 out of 32, so not a statistically significant number) been made by Jackson Pollock . On them, in fact, there are substances by American artist could not have available in the late '40s, when you think that these works have been completed. You can not even say who has made these false, but, for sure, once again, it was shown that the eye of a critic is definitely a great way to give work, but not infallible . The infallibility , most of the time, derived from science.
Before closing this long post I must inform you that the exhibition of 32 Pollock Alex Matter is was held between September and December of 2007 at the Mc Mullen Museum Boston College . In the exhibition catalog, edited by Professor Landau and Matter, Richard Newman, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, divides 9 of the 32 paintings that has been able to examine in three classes: those that contain only substances available for the artist, and those where there are some substances dating after 1956 only on the surface (it could be small adjustments on original works), and those in which colors and medium posthumous death of the artist are in the lower strata frameworks (in this case there is clear has to do with the false ).
In November 2007, James Martin of Orion Analytical (a prestigious firm diagnosis USA) presented the data he obtained after the analysis, commissioned by Alex Matter, performed on 23 of the 32 paintings by Pollock . On 16 of these works he finds significant traces of materials following the death of . In addition, media are often present brands of materials produced only after the 70s. Despite these achievements, the exhibition in Boston was a success and 32 of Jackson Pollock Alex Matter will continue to hear, for better or for worse.
following is a part of the professor's lecture, for those who have not had time or desire to hear it in full.
If we eliminate from the picture MBJP14 all substances (dyes and organic medium) produced after the death of Pollock what we get is well represented by the following picture:
The provocation of Professor Khandekar was a success, and expresses very clearly the conclusions of the diagnostic work carried out at Harvard: is not possible to say that these three paintings (3 out of 32, so not a statistically significant number) been made by Jackson Pollock . On them, in fact, there are substances by American artist could not have available in the late '40s, when you think that these works have been completed. You can not even say who has made these false, but, for sure, once again, it was shown that the eye of a critic is definitely a great way to give work, but not infallible . The infallibility , most of the time, derived from science.
Before closing this long post I must inform you that the exhibition of 32 Pollock Alex Matter is was held between September and December of 2007 at the Mc Mullen Museum Boston College . In the exhibition catalog, edited by Professor Landau and Matter, Richard Newman, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, divides 9 of the 32 paintings that has been able to examine in three classes: those that contain only substances available for the artist, and those where there are some substances dating after 1956 only on the surface (it could be small adjustments on original works), and those in which colors and medium posthumous death of the artist are in the lower strata frameworks (in this case there is clear has to do with the false ).
In November 2007, James Martin of Orion Analytical (a prestigious firm diagnosis USA) presented the data he obtained after the analysis, commissioned by Alex Matter, performed on 23 of the 32 paintings by Pollock . On 16 of these works he finds significant traces of materials following the death of . In addition, media are often present brands of materials produced only after the 70s. Despite these achievements, the exhibition in Boston was a success and 32 of Jackson Pollock Alex Matter will continue to hear, for better or for worse.
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