Elizabeth Bolman Receives Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation
A painting of the Virgin Mary on the north
semidome during conservation in 2003.
Photo: E. Bolman
The 2008 recipient of the Heritage Preservation/College Art Association Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation is Elizabeth S. Bolman, Associate Professor of Art History at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, for her work on the conservation of the wall paintings in the Red Monastery, a late-antique basilica near Sohag, Egypt, as well as the neighboring White Monastery.
The College Art Association/Heritage Preservation Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation recognizes outstanding contributions to the understanding of art through the application of knowledge and experience in conservation, art history, and art.
Professor Bolman identified the potential significance of the Red Monastery in the late 1990s, when it was little known and its paintings barely visible. In 2000 she began what has become a complex project involving many conservators, art and architectural historians, and other specialists. Bolman obtained funding from various sources for work at both sites and dealt successfully with the Coptic Church, the Egyptian government, and other agencies. Work began at the Red Monastery in December 2002 and at the White Monastery in May 2004.
Niches after conservation treatment. Photo: E. Bolman
About one third of the Red Monastery restoration is complete. Bolman has published two scholarly articles on the results and succeeded in placing both sites on the 2002 World Monuments Fund endangered list. Other plans include a blueprint for the future protection of the sites, a visitor’s center with brochures, and a book at the end of the project.
The image of an archbishop, south
semidome, during conservation
in November 2006. Photo: E. Bolman
"The logistics and diplomacy behind all of this work are impressive," the awards jury said. " Even more impressive are the results of the restoration, which are quite simply stunning. The ensemble of figural wall paintings and associated decorations gives us a full sense of the wall painting common in late Antique churches but obscured or lost until now. Bolman’s interpretations of the results offer major insights into the role of polychromy in religious experience at the time and in relation to the chromophobia of later eras. In honoring her outstanding achievement we hope to encourage the completion of such an important project."
Heritage Preservation and the College Art Association invite nominations for the 2009 Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation. The deadline for nominations is August 31, 2008. Guidelines for nominations can be found at www.collegeart.org/awards/info-heritage.html or by contacting Susan DeSeyn of CAA at sdeseyn@collegeart.org. Previous recipients are listed here.