Department Chair
Patrick Ravines
Date of Award
8-2018
Access Control
Open Access
Degree Name
Art Conservation, M.A., C.A.S.
Department
Art Conservation Department
Advisor
James Hamm
Department Home page
https://artconservation.buffalostate.edu
Abstract
Recently, a large abstract painting entitled Dialogue (2007) by Lee Ufan was donated to the SUNY Buffalo State Art Conservation program as a study piece. Due to disfiguring horizontal cracking throughout the painting’s surface in the white margins, the painting was considered a total loss that no longer represented the artist’s intentions or work. The intent of this project was to investigate how and why these cracks appeared throughout this painting in this specific pattern. It was suggested by Professor James Hamm that this crack pattern was the result of a singular event when the painting entered a low temperature situation that induced immediate cracking across the width of the work. Mockups, a sample section of an aged oil painting from 1977, and the authentic painting Dialogue were exposed to extreme low temperatures of 29°F, 24°F, and 0 to -4°F to determine if this type of environment was the cause of the cracks. Real time video and thermal imaging video were used to determine the temperature at which these paintings cracked and to document the occurrence of cracks forming. No cracking was observed in any of the painted samples or in the painting Dialogue as a result of being exposed to these extreme low temperatures. Further investigation into the cause of the cracks on this painting is required.
Recommended Citation
Hoover, Carolyn, "AN INVESTIGATION INTO CRACK PATTERNS AND THE TEMPERATURE AT WHICH THEY OCCUR" (2018). Art Conservation Master's Projects. 47.
https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/art_con_projects/47
