A Brief History of Restoration of Visual Arts in Argentina

Abstract

The history of the restoration of the visual arts in Argentina counts with a poorly documented background. The birth of this practice can be traced back to the activity of collectors and museums. Despite the notable cultural development in the early twentieth century, the country did not seize the opportunity to establish what could have been a pioneering program in Latin American concerning the preservation of heritage based on scientific grounds. Only in 1956, did Juan Corradini at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes open the first restoration studio that embraced updated methods and techniques. The catalogues raisonné of the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes' national artistic heritage, edited by Hector Schenone, laid the foundation for the creation of the Fundación Tarea in 1987, in partnership with the Fundación Antorchas. Tarea was the first solidly organized institution that embraced an interdisciplinary approach which involved restoration, art history, and natural science. Alicia Seldes' research on pigments contained in Andean colonial painting made the studies in Latin American art history ourish. Thanks to the vision and generosity of José Emilio Burucúa, in 2004 the Universidad Nacional de San Martín won the international tender presented by the Fundación Antorchas. Since this milestone and together with the creation of the rst university degree in restoration at the Instituto Universitario Nacional de Arte in 2000, heritage conservation has been inserted as a discipline into the academic university sphere.