INTERFACES: exploring the interaction between friable media and their support — A material study of Belgian Symbolist pastel, charcoal, and chalk drawings.

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium is internationally renowned for its collection of Belgian drawings in friable media from the mid-19th century, notably Symbolist drawings, through the 20th century. While these attractive artworks are often requested for loans, they form a class of particularly fragile museum assets, since the drawing media only partially adheres to the supports. Yet, their materiality has never been thoroughly investigated, leaving conservators and collection managers with very few data-driven tools for risk management. This PhD research is a pilot project to develop and validate a method to accurately characterise and image the materiality of friable media drawings, with the goal to inform decision-making. It will be based on a material survey of a corpus of pastel, charcoal, and chalk drawings from the RMFAB, and implement a multidisciplinary methodology—(technical) art history, scientific imaging, embodied knowledge, data science.