Martin Jürgens
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Conservation and Restoration, Department Member
The history, technology, and materials of lamination and face-mounting processes for photographs are described and cross-sections of face-mounted prints are shown. Trouble shooting for both techniques are listed, followed by an overview... more
The history, technology, and materials of lamination and face-mounting processes for photographs are described and cross-sections of face-mounted prints are shown. Trouble shooting for both techniques are listed, followed by an overview of current and future research. INTRODUCTION Since the advent of the medium, photographs have been mounted and presented in many different ways. Modes of presentation and formats of works of art are a good retlection of a culture's aesthetic preferences at any g' liven time. In this manner, the design of a mat or the way a photograph has been mounted can often be a useful clue to the age of an image (Katcher 1978). Since the mid 1980's, new trends have emerged in the world of fine art photography. More and more artists have been exploring the limits of the medium and new ways of displaying their photographic works. Modern works, be they of photographic or digital origin, often have extremely large dimensions, and their handling, exhibitio...
This reference guide contains an informative history of photography, with explanations of the technical terms often encountered by gallery patrons and those taking an interest in the background to photographic excellence for the first... more
This reference guide contains an informative history of photography, with explanations of the technical terms often encountered by gallery patrons and those taking an interest in the background to photographic excellence for the first time. What is a contact print? What is a pinhole camera? What is the difference between a daguerreotype and a tintype, or between a gelatin silver print and a halftone? This work offers definitions and explanations of the techniques, processes and materials used in the making of photographs from the 1830s to the present. Its illustrations are mostly taken from the holdings of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
Research Interests:
This research project investigates face-mounting processes for colour photographs that use an acetic acid curing, one-part silicone sealant to permanently adhere the emulsion side of a print to a sheet of poly(methyl methacrylate). The... more
This research project investigates face-mounting processes for colour photographs that use an acetic acid curing, one-part silicone sealant to permanently adhere the emulsion side of a print to a sheet of poly(methyl methacrylate). The original procedure was patented in the early 1970's under the name of Diasec by its Swiss inventor Heinz Sovilla-Bruhlhardt, and has since caused imitators to develop similar processes. The stability of prints mounted in this fashion compared with that of unmounted prints has not yet been examined or tested in any published studies. In this project, samples of both unmounted and facemounted prints from three laboratories, which use different sets of silicone sealant and primer coating as well as double-sided adhesive film, were subjected to an analysis of -- CCI
Research Interests:
Following Alfred Donné in Paris, the Austrian Joseph Berres was the second person in history to convert unique daguerreotypes into intaglio printing plates by etching them in acid and then printing them in ink on paper. Berres’s... more
Following Alfred Donné in Paris, the Austrian Joseph Berres was the second person in history to convert unique daguerreotypes into intaglio printing plates by etching them in acid and then printing them in ink on paper. Berres’s experiments culminated in the booklet Phototyp nach der Erfindung des Professors Berres in Wien (1840), which is considered the first photomechanically illustrated publication. Today, Phototyp is recognized as a key work in the pioneering combination of photography and traditional printmaking as a means of disseminating visual information in the mid nineteenth century. In this study, the four prints in the Rijksmuseum’s copy of Phototyp, one of only three known remaining copies worldwide, were compared to prints found in other collections. The survey revealed that far fewer prints exist today than were originally produced. The Rijksmuseum prints were also analysed by microscopy and both X-ray and Infrared Spectroscopy. These findings were helpful in the ensuing re-creation of Berres’s process using newly made daguerreotypes. In practical terms, Berres’s process turned out to be far more complex to carry out than his recipes implied. Nevertheless, this endeavour resulted in a better understanding of the materials and methods involved, knowledge that may help in identifying more Berres prints in other collections in the future.
