Provider and number: Ministerstvo kultury ČR, NAKI, DG16P02B052
Duration: 2016–2019
Recitient: Institute of Art History, CAS
Principal investigator (for IAH): Martin Krummholz
Research team: Martin Krummholz, Kateřina Doležalová, Kateřina Hladká, Pavel Mrověc, Prokop Paul, Petra Šemíková
In the Czech there is a wide array of sculptural works made of plaster. They are represented by unique casts of sculptures, tracing the process of creation. A considerable amount of those works of art is in a bad condition. They are artworks of exceptional value inherited from great sculptors of the first half of 20th century, who actively contributed to the formation of the national awareness, confidence and identity of the nation. Within the project identification, documentation and record of the collection of plaster casts will be carried out, using the example of a prominent sculptor Stanislav Sucharda. The main outcome will be organization of an extensive exhibition of his sculptures, which will present both plaster artworks as a crucial part of the legacy of great masters of sculpting in the context of all their creative process and the restoration and care for works of art made of plaster. Concurrently, there will be educational programmes for students as well as for the general public to familiarize them with the basis and expressions of sculpture of the first half of 20th century in connection with the creation of the national cultural identity and with the issues of restoration and care for plaster artworks. The primary content of applied research lies in testing traditional materials and in development of new ones as well as new technologies, in optimising the process of restoration and conservation of moveable monuments made of plaster. The aim of the applied research is to determine the limits of individual procedures and technologies used and subsequently, to set an optimum mode of the way the artworks would be stored after restoration. Neither in Czech nor in foreign literature the topic of restoration of plaster artefacts has been sufficiently worked on. Generally, the topic of plaster sculptures is quite a neglected and unexplored area, in spite of the fact it is plaster in which a lot of outstanding precious works of art have been preserved.
