Research Summary

Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (1887-1918) is considered the most important Portuguese artist of Modern Art. Working within an interdisciplinary team, the goal of this PhD project regarded the study of the history, materials and techniques of Amadeo in the beginning of his career. For the purpose, the livre d’artiste “La Légende de Saint Julien l’Hospitalier” (1912) – from the collection of Centro de Arte Moderna – Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon, Portugal) - was selected as case study. Since the knowledge of the artist’s original materials is crucial for the choices of the better strategies for conservation, this research also focused on the application for graphic documents of the in situ methodology fibre optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), an advantageous technique for situations where micro-sampling is very difficult or not possible. The project dealt, as well, with the creation of suitable FORS databases for watercolour paints.

PhD Projet Title: Crossing Borders. History, materials and techniques of an artist's book. La Légende de Saint Julien l'Hospitalier by Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso.

Supervisors: Maria João Melo (DCR FCT/UNL), Márcia Vilarigues (DCR-FCT-UNL) and Marcello Picollo (IFAC-CNR).