Conservação crítica: trajetórias do pensamento contemporâneo desde o Fogg Art Museum’s Department for Technical Studies in the Field of Fine Arts da Universidade de Harvard (1928)
Resumo
Pensar a conservação implica reconhecê-la como um espaço de negociação entre a arte, a ciência e a ética social e profissional. Este artigo examina esse ponto de encontro através do Fogg Art Museum’s Department for Technical Studies in the Field of Fine Arts, fundado em 1928 na Universidade de Harvard, aqui proposto como um espaço-chave na configuração do pensamento contemporâneo em conservação. A partir do estudo das suas práticas e do trabalho de Charles Eliot Norton, Edward W. Forbes e George L. Stout, analisam-se os dilemas entre objetividade científica, sensibilidade estética e a construção de uma ética profissional que, em grande medida, definiu a prática da conservação nos Estados Unidos, estabelecendo pontes transatlânticas com a Europa. A criação da revista Technical Studies in the Field of Fine Arts (1932–1942) ampliou esse diálogo, unindo a herança de John Ruskin aos novos métodos científicos experimentais. Numa perspetiva crítica, o artigo propõe uma leitura da instituição como um verdadeiro laboratório de pensamento, onde foram abordados princípios como a autenticidade, a reversibilidade, a mínima intervenção e a discernibilidade, em articulação com os valores culturais das obras. Esta revisão convida a considerar a conservação como um campo de transformação permanente.
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