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Julie Arslanoglu
Julie Arslanoglu is an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Scientific Research at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She works closely with the Paintings and Paper Conservation Departments and has expertise in the analysis of paint and coating composition, stratigraphy and technology. She is accomplished in the analysis of both traditional and non-traditional artists’ materials as well as polymeric materials. Her fields of interest include the application of mass-spectrometric and immunological techniques to the study of organic polymers.
She obtained degrees in organic chemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and at The Pennsylvania State University. She then joined the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland followed by the Biochemistry Department at The University of Texas, Health Science Center at San Antonio. After a pre-program Fellowship at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute she obtained a Post-graduate Diploma in the Conservation of Easel Paintings from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London where she also volunteered in the science departments of the Tate Gallery and the National Gallery of London. After graduation she joined the Victoria & Albert Museum, London Science Department as a Project Scientist. She returned to the United States as a Mellon Fellow in Paintings Conservation at the Balboa Art Conservation Center, San Diego, CA where she completed research projects at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and at the Getty Conservation Institute. She then joined the Museum Research Laboratory in the Getty Conservation Institute where she was Assistant Scientist before joining the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006.
“The Chemical Composition of Art Materials: Their Affect on Artworks Appearance and Methods of Study.”
Julie Arslanoglu
Associate Research Scientist
Department of Scientific Research
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10028
Conservation science draws on analytical techniques from chemistry, biology and physics, applying these to the study and preservation of cultural and artistic works. The questions posed are usually complex due to the variable composition of the object, as well as possible degradation and conservation treatments the object may have experienced over time. The conservation scientist is further challenged because the sources of many of these questions are priceless and irreplaceable works of art. This severely limits the sample size that can be taken and forces the scientist to continually assess their analytical methods and look for new ones.
The limits of detection and precision as well as small sample size encountered in analyzing cultural works compel conservation scientists to look to other branches of science for solutions. In some cases these challenges and restrictions have stimulated the adaptation or development of instrumentation. In turn, these advances may benefit other fields, which have similar limitations. The continued development of techniques and instrumentation within conservation science and related areas has spurred research resulting in significant advances in materials analysis and identification without losing sight of the primary focus: the preservation and study of art.
In this presentation, the material complexity of artworks will be discussed followed by an illustration of the instrumentation and techniques focusing on organic polymers that have been adapted for the field of conservation science from the disciplines of mass spectrometry and immunology.
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