"Unidentified color positives in Slovak collections - Research and challenges" by Kitti Baráthová
The main purpose of the presentation is to introduce my doctoral research on different color positive processes on transparent supports regarding Slovak collections. The focus is on additive and subtractive color techniques on various bases, such as glass, cellulose film sheets or film roll. The urgency of this topic lies mainly in the fact that Slovak collections do not have identified and correctly categorised these valuable pieces in their depositories, which can lead to sudden deterioration under wrong storage conditions. Extensive research on this topic is constantly carried out in the world, but publications of international literature are mostly in English and only limited information is accessible in Slovakia, which is not widely available for all. The lack of professional literature and higher education of museum staff are few of the problems I am facing. As a conservator I realised that revision of the collections is necessary, because proper identification is the first step of preventive care, appropriate storage conditions and conservation of these rare color positives is extremely important for their future preservation.
Target audience: Conservators/restorators, archivists, curators, museum studies
Mgr. art. Kitti Baráthová is a photograph conservator based in Slovakia. She is a Department of Restoration and Conservation graduate at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (AFAD) in Bratislava who specialises in paper and photograph conservation. Since 2019 she has assisted at teaching at the Department of Restoration at AFAD in the Photograph Conservation Studio, lecturing courses such as Historical Photographic Techniques - Theory and Practice. In 2022, she started her PhD studies under the supervision of Associate Professor Mgr. art. Janka Blaško Križanová ArtD. Her research focuses mainly on color photographs on transparent supports. As a PhD student and a private conservator, she actively participates in conferences and workshops and collaborates with institutions on national and international projects. She attended workshops such as the Twentieth-century Photographs - Identification and Care with Sylvie Pénichon (2019, 2022), the Colour Photo & Film Conference in Florence (2022), the Conservation Science, Technology and Industry conference in Bratislava (2023) and the ICOM-CC Triennial Conference in Valencia (2023). Since 2019, Kitti Baráthová and Janka B. Križanová have been working closely with Albertina Museum Wien (Austria) on an ongoing international collaboration Daguerrotype Project, where they survey, conserve, and preserve the vast daguerrotype collection of the museum. In November 2023, they hosted a course within the DITAH Project Autumn School of Photograph Conservation in St. Florian Abbey (Austria) with the European Research Centre for Book and Paper Conservation-Restoration. Her abstract got accepted to the 2024 AIC-Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, where she will be also presenting her doctoral research within the Photographic Materials session during May 2024.
Literature/recommended readings:
• PÉNICHON, Sylvie: Twentieth-Century Color Photographs. The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 2013.
• WILHELM, Henry: The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs. Preservation Publishing Company, Iowa, 1993.
• ROHRBACH, John: Color! American Photography Transformed. Amon Carter Museum, University of Texas Press, Austin, 2013.
• LAVÉDRINE, Bertrand – GANDOLFO, Jean-Paul: The Lumiére Autochrome. The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 2013.
• LAVÉDRINE, Bertrand: A Guide to the Preventive Conservation of Photographs Collections. The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 2003.
• NORRIS, Debra Hess – GUTIERREZ, Jennifer Jae: Issues in the Conservation of Photographs. The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 2013.
• HIRSCH, Robert; ERF, Greg: Exploring Color Photography: From Film to Pixels. Elsevier Focal Press, 2011.
• FLUECKIGER, Barbara – HIELSCHLER, Eva – WIETLISBACH, Nadine: Color Mania, The Material of Color in Photography and Film, Lars Müller Publishers, Zurich, 2020.