Dr. Francesca Bewer Receives 2012 College Art Association/Heritage Preservation Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation
Heritage Preservation is pleased to announce that technical art historian Francesca Bewer has been awarded the 2012 College Art Association/Heritage Preservation Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation. The award is presented annually to recognize an outstanding contribution by a person who has enhanced understanding of art through the application of knowledge and experience in conservation, art history, and art. Dr. Bewer is Research Curator at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, Harvard Art Museums.
Dr. Francesca Bewer Photograph by Stu Rosner |
The Jury that selected Dr. Bewer for this honor wrote: “Dr. Bewer represents for us an exemplary technical art historian; an expert in the materials and techniques of European Renaissance and Baroque bronze sculpture…[she] has published (in three languages) a steady stream of superb publications, in conservation and art historical journals, exhibition catalogues, and monographs. She is as well a highly valued teacher and lecturer, and has presented a number of important talks here and abroad.”
In addition to her work cited above, the committee particularly acknowledged her recent book on the history of conservation, A Laboratory for Art: Harvard’s Fogg Museum and the Emergence of Conservation in America, 1900-1950, published by Harvard Art Museums in 2010: “The achievement of a decade of research, this book is a scholarly triumph of immense value to conservators, art historians, and museum professionals interested in the history of conservation in the United States. While tracing the emergence of the one of the most important conservation laboratories in the country, it also provides a depth of information on the formative years of the larger field of conservation, both in Europe and the United States. Dr. Bewer writes with clarity and precision, and has combined substantial and detailed research with an accessible style. The book has been extremely well received by the conservation and museum communities, and will take its proper place in the core literature of conservation.”
Dr. Bewer has a background both in art history (University of London) and in conservation (Palazzo Spinelli, Florence and various internships in paper conservation). “Dr. Bewer’s distinguished work as a teacher and lecturer, along with her invaluable published works continue to push the boundaries of knowledge of the field of art conservation,” said Lawrence L. Reger, President of Heritage Preservation.
Dr. Bewer received a B.A. from New York University, a M. Phil from Warburg Institute, University of London, and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Archaeology, at the University College of London.