The case study of an Italian contemporary art object: Materials and state of conservation of the painting “Ragazzo seduto” by Remo Brindisi

Abstract

Abstract This paper deals with the scientific survey of Remo Brindisi's painting “Ragazzo seduto” (Seated boy), made at the end of the 1950s, that is a symbolic figure of both his personal artistic solitude and the crisis of values determined by the economic boom in the post-war period. In a period of great changes and economic regrowth, the need to find a new style that could be the most authentic and personal as possible pressed the artist to experiment innovative products, including non-conventional support. Photographic and analytical techniques demonstrated the use of innovative products as an experimentation tendency, that pressed the artist to use non-conventional support, industrially treated with plasticized PVC and primed with acrylate polymers and to paint with traditional and industrial pigments mixed with an oil-modified alkyd resin. In the span of a few years, an unexpected and extended degradation on the whole surface of the painting took place, with the consequent formation of lifting and detachment of the paint film. The detected alteration is mainly due to the fast ageing of the employed polymeric materials, actually responsible of the impermanence of many contemporary works of arts. Clarifying the unknown aspects of the Remo Brindisi's stylistic choices together with the deterioration processes of the employed painting materials, this paper highlights the general problems related to the conservation of contemporary art, a neglected area of research in Italy, where more efforts are committed to the enormous and more ancient cultural heritage.