Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Conquering space with matter: a technical study of Alberto Burri’s materials and techniques

  • Published:
Applied Physics A Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Alberto Burri (1915–1995) was a pioneering Italian painter and sculptor. Born in Città di Castello, a small town in the region of Umbria, he earned a medical degree from the University of Perugia. While serving in the Ethiopian campaign and in World War II, first as a frontline soldier and then as a physician, he was captured and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in Hereford, Texas. It was there that Burri disavowed the medical profession and began to paint. He held a pivotal position in the modern post-war era, exhibiting in Rome and New York in the early 1950s. The present article describes an in-depth scientific investigation of a selection of 14 paintings by Burri, each belonging to one of his series: Sacchi (sacks), Bianchi (whites), Catrami (tars), Muffe (molds), Gobbi (hunchbacks), Legni (woods), Combustioni plastiche (plastic combustions), Ferri (irons), Cretti (monochromatic fields of induced craquelure), and Cellotex (compositions on flayed fiberboard). Elemental information obtained non-invasively via X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy was here combined with detailed characterization of the pigments, extenders, binders, and plastics by means of micro-invasive techniques, including pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies, and scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX) spectroscopy. Through the joint use of traditional artists’ materials along with industrial products newly introduced to the market, Burri appears to have encapsulated space into highly dramatic compositions at the boundaries between painting and relief sculpture.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. E. Braun, Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting (Guggenheim Museum Publications, New York, 2015)

    Google Scholar 

  2. F. Rosi, C. Miliani, C. Clementi, K. Kahrim, F. Presciutti, M. Vagnini, V. Manuali, A. Daveri, L. Cartechini, B.G. Brunetti, A. Sgamellotti, Appl. Phys. A 100(3), 613 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. F. Rosi, G. De Cesare, P. Iazurlo, A. Daveri, M. Vagnini, F. Valentini, G. Basile, in Science and Art: The Painted Surface, ed. by A. Sgamellotti, B.G. Brunetti, C. Miliani (Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 2014), pp. 499–521

    Google Scholar 

  4. F. Rosi, C. Miliani, R. Braun, R. Harig, D. Sali, B.G. Brunetti, A. Sgamellotti, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 52, 1 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. S.L. Silbert, W.S. Port, J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 34, 9 (1957)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. M.F. Silva, M.T. Doménech-Carbó, L. Fuster-López, M.F. Mecklenburg, S. Martin-Rey, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 397, 357 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. M.R. Schilling, J. Mazurek, T.J. Learner, in Modern Paints Uncovered: Proceedings from the Modern Paints Uncovered Symposium, ed. by T.J. Learner, P. Smithen, J.W. Krueger, M.R. Schilling (Getty Publications, Los Angeles, 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  8. H.A. Standeven, House Paints, 1900–1960: History and Use (Getty Publications, Los Angeles, 2011)

    Google Scholar 

  9. T. Learner, Stud. Conserv. 46, 225 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  10. C.V. Horie, Materials for Conservation. Organic Consolidants Adhesives and Coatings (Butterworths, London, 1987), pp. 93–101

    Google Scholar 

  11. T. Learner, in Resins Ancient and Modern, ed. by M.M. Wright, J.H. Towsend (Scottish Society for Conservation and Restoration, Edinburgh, 1995), pp. 76–77

    Google Scholar 

  12. M.T. Doménech-Carbó, G. Bitossi, L. Osete-Cortina, J. Cruz-Cañizares, D.J. Yusá-Marco, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 391, 1371 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. M.F. Silva, M.T. Doménech-Carbó, L. Fuster-López, S. Martin-Rey, M.F. Mecklenburg, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 85, 487 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. P. Gottschaller, N. Khandekar, L.F. Lee, P.D. Kirby, Stud. Cons. 57, 76 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. A. Spazzoli, T. Tiziani, in Arti Grafiche Beta (Cologno Monzese, 2008). http://www.vinavil.com/FlipPage/EN/FlipPageStoria.htm. Accessed 6 Sep 2016

  16. D. Swern, E.F. Jordan, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 70, 2334 (1948)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. E. R. Bertram, W. G. Kunze, Polyvinyl acetate emulsion containing an aliphatic carboxylic acid, and base coated therewith (Google Patents, 1952). http://www.google.com/patents/US2595954)

  18. H.M. Teeter, J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 40, 143 (1963)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. K. Ruyter, H. A. Oosterhof, Polyvinyl ester emulsions containing alpha-branched, saturated, aliphatic monocarboxylic acid salts (1967, Google Patents). http://www.google.com/patents/US3342765)

  20. K.J. Van den Berg, M. Geldof, S. de Groot, H. van Keulen, ICOM-CC 13th triennial meeting, Rio de Janeiro (International Council of Museums, Paris, 2002), pp. 464–472

    Google Scholar 

  21. M. Kokkori, K. Sutherland, J. Boon, F. Casadio, M. Vermeulen, Herit Sci 3, 1 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. O. Zovi, L. Lecamp, C. Loutelier-Bourhis, C.M. Lange, C. Bunel, Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. 113, 616 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. G.M. Languri, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 63, 171 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. S.C. Moldoveanu, Analytical Pyrolysis of Synthetic Organic Polymers, vol. 25 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2005), pp. 281–283

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to MAPEI for financial support. Emily Braun (Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY), Megan Fontanella and Ylinka Barotto (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum) are also acknowledged for their contribution to the curatorial research on Burri.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Federica Pozzi

    Present address: Department of Scientific Research, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10028, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Conservation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10128, USA

    Federica Pozzi & Carol Stringari

  2. Department of Scientific Research, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10028, USA

    Julie Arslanoglu & Federico Carò

Authors
  1. Federica Pozzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julie Arslanoglu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Federico Carò
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Carol Stringari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Federica Pozzi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pozzi, F., Arslanoglu, J., Carò, F. et al. Conquering space with matter: a technical study of Alberto Burri’s materials and techniques. Appl. Phys. A 122, 917 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-016-0435-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-016-0435-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation