Buffalo State College recently hosted the Asian Lacquer Symposium, a week-long gathering of a wide range of experts on Asian lacquer. From May 20-24, we met to listen to and discuss work being undertaken on Asian lacquer. Participants included lacquer artists, conservators, art historians, curators, scientists and many more who travelled from all over Asia, […]

About a year ago, I reported on the cleaning of a cubist masterpiece by Tạ Tỵ. The painting The Guitar was covered in a large amount of overpaint, which took a long time to remove. It was only after overpaint and dirt removal that the full extent of damage and paint loss was visible. It […]

Silpakorn University recently hosted the 3rd APTCCARN (Asia Pacific Twentieth Century Conservation Art Research Network) Meeting in Nakhon Pathom at the end of April 2012. The conference covered a broad range of topics relevant to the conservation of material culture in tropical climates. Talks were given on three main topics: artists’ materials and materiality, conservation […]

The Guitar is a cubist oil painting on canvas. It was painted by Tạ Tỵ in 1957, and was purchased by Witness Collection at auction in France in 2009. Prior to entering the collection, the painting had undergone extensive restoration. Tạ Tỵ (1922-2004) is known as Vietnam’s leading proponent of cubism and abstraction. Large areas of […]

In January 2010, Asiarta Foundation and the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles initiated a collaborative research project with the aim of investigating Vietnamese lacquer. Initial analytical results are expected towards the end of 2011. Vietnamese lacquer is distinct from lacquer used in the decorative arts in countries such as Japan and China, and has […]

As a result of severe environmental conditions and poor storage during the war, poor condition is characteristic of many paintings in Vietnam, and many are in urgent need of conservation. As part of a research project instigated with Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, two paintings by Nguyễn Trọng Kiệm (1933-1991) were sent to undergo scientific […]

Phố Hàng Cá (‘Fish Street’) was painted in 1962 by Bùi Xuân Phái (1920-88), a Hanoi artist who became one of Vietnam’s best-known painters for his depictions of the old streets of the city. On this painting from Witness Collection, oil paint was applied on the textured side of a hardboard panel. This cross-hatched texture, […]

In 2005, Witness Collection approached the Conservation Unit at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK, for advice on suitable care and conservation of rare and fragile Vietnamese art works belonging to its collection. To support further investigation, Witness Collection arranged a research trip to Vietnam by Jean Brown, a senior faculty member, to […]