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Date: | Sat, 17 Jan 1998 21:50:25 +0100 |
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Celebposter schrieb:
> What is the consensus here about natural light in galleries? If it is
> filtered and indirect is there any danger? It does give better color.
> Building a new space and want to know if I am better off with a black
> box.
Dear Anonymous,
I am only a publisher, but I like to stress these facts (which even some museum
people do not know, depending on their luxmeters!):
As newer research has shown, UV damages are a matter
of time (!)
and dosis.
Of course, also of the material.
So it depends
what you want to show
under which circumstances.
It could be shown by an Institute in Hamburg that UV-damages reach a certain
maximum, and after this date, the damages are neglectible. This happens quite
fast and can be absolute bad for newspaper, graphic material etc.
But take a Renaissance painting hanging 400 years quite often in direct
sunlight: this has reached since centuries its final amount of UV damage. On the
other hand, prints and drawings from the 20th cent. have mostly not reached this
peak and shoud be preserved under the best circumstances. This means: Putting a
UV-light eliminating glass in front of a 15th cent. painting does not make
sense (HAVE A LOOK ON THIS INTO OUR NATIONAL GALLERIES!).
The newer paintings and graphics are to be saved!
Also paintings can be damaged heavily by sunlight. Some artists used "secret" or
bad mixtures for oils and varnishes, so be careful. Sunlight for older paintings
may seem the best for the eyes of the visitors, but keep in mind the above said
and that sunlight can also mean lots of troubles for your climatic system.
Modern architects knowing the wishes of conservators are playing with the
sunlight by refracting it by walls to the hanging areas. This is much better
than curtains or UV-Filters (fils or glasses) in the windows.
A blackbox is not the alternative.
An additional simple system may be adopted by replacing the endangered objects
from time to time with others from the deposits. This may be also attractive for
visitors (because they see different objects each time they visit the gallery),
but give them a hint that a specific objects was taken into the deposits for
conservation reasons.
The February issue of MUSEUM AKTUELL will deal on light in museums and
galleries. The mentioned institute will have an article there on the daylight
problems. But it's written in German.
Hope this helps.
Dr. Christian Müller-Straten
Verlag Dr. C. Müller-Straten, Kunzweg 23, D-81243 München,
Tel/Fax: 089-839 690 43, http://WebMuseen.de/VERLAGCMS
MAGAZINES AND BOOKS IN MUSEOLOGY (GERMAN/ENGLISH)+ GERMAN THESAURI
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