30TH

carved into rock cliffs at the edge of the Gobi
desert preserve a thousand years of exquisite
art. Founded by Buddhist monks as an isolated
monastery in the late fourth century, Mogao
evolved into an artistic and spiritual mecca
whose renown extended from the Chinese
capital to the western kingdoms of the Silk
Road. Among its treasures are miles of stunning
wall paintings, more than two thousand statues,
magnificent works on silk and paper, and thousands
of ancient manuscripts, such as sutras,
poems, and prayer sheets.
This new expanded edition, Cave Temples
of Mogao at Dunhuang (first published in 2000),
combines lavish color photographs of the caves
and their art with the fascinating history of
the Silk Road to create a vivid portrait of this
remarkable site. Chapters narrate the development
of Dunhuang and the Mogao cave temples,
the iconography of the wall paintings, and the
extraordinary story of the rare manuscripts—
including the oldest printed book in existence,
a ninth-century copy of the Diamond Sutra. The
book also describes the collaboration between
the Getty Conservation Institute and Chinese
authorities in conservation projects at Mogao
and the ways the site can be visited today.
come to be widely regarded as a watershed
text on the making and meaning of European
medieval and Baroque painted wood sculpture.
An early proponent of interdisciplinary
research, Johannes Taubert played a pioneering
role in combining the rigorous scientific
analysis of materials with a fuller understanding
of form and function, an approach that has led
to the development of technical art history as
practiced today.
Many of the essays in this volume apply
such scientific techniques as microscopic
analysis to an art-historical understanding
of Romanesque and late Gothic wood sculpture,
revealing that, far from serving a merely
decorative function, the painted surface of
these works was intricately connected to their
meaning. The paint layers on the sculptures, for
example, which the author spent years documenting
through close examination and analysis,
were intended to impart a heightened sense
of reality to the life-size sculptures, thereby
enhancing the viewer’s experience of worship.
Taubert believed it was crucial for conservators
to understand this context before undertaking
any treatments. No other book offers such a
focused, subtle, and interdisciplinary examination
of the subject as Polychrome Sculpture.
This influential work is now available in
English for the first time, in a meticulous
translation enhanced and updated by new
color illustrations, annotations to the original
text, and a new introduction.
These publications can be ordered at shop.getty.edu.
CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES
THE GCI NEWSLETTER
VOLUME 30 • NUMBER 2 • FALL 2015
The J. Paul Getty Trust
James Cuno, President and Chief Executive Officer
The Getty Conservation Institute
Timothy P. Whalen, Director
Jeanne Marie Teutonico, Associate Director, Programs
Kathleen Gaines, Associate Director, Administration
Kathleen Dardes, Head of Collections
Tom Learner, Head of Science
Susan Macdonald, Head of Buildings and Sites
Conservation Perspectives, The GCI Newsletter
Jeffrey Levin, Editor
Angela Escobar, Assistant Editor
Carol Hahn, Production Assistant
Picnic Design, Design
Color West Lithography Inc., Lithography
Conservation Perspectives, The GCI Newsletter is distributed
free of charge twice a year to professionals in conservation
and related fields and to members of the public concerned
about conservation. Back issues of the newsletter, as well as
additional information regarding the activities of the GCI, can
be found in the Conservation section of the Getty’s website,
www.getty.edu/conservation/.
The Getty Conservation Institute works to advance conservation
practice in the visual arts, broadly interpreted to
include objects, collections, architecture, and sites. It serves
the conservation community through scientific research,
education and training, model field projects, and the broad
dissemination of the results of both its own work and
the work of others in the field. In all its endeavors, the
Conservation Institute focuses on the creation and dissemination
of knowledge that will benefit the professionals
and organizations responsible for the conservation of the
world’s cultural heritage.
The GCI is a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, a cultural and
philanthropic institution dedicated to critical thinking in the
presentation, conservation, and interpretation of the world’s
artistic legacy.
Polychrome Sculpture: Meaning, Form,
Conservation
By Johannes Taubert
Edited with a new introduction by
Michele D. Marincola
This publication was printed on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)—
certified recycled paper with vegetable-based inks at a facility using
wind power. A donation to the American Forests ReLeaf program has
been made on behalf of the GCI for its use of FSC-certified paper.
In the decades since its initial publication in
Germany in 1978, Polychrome Sculpture has
For more information about the work of
the GCI, see getty.edu/conservation and
© 2015 J. Paul Getty Trust