An Introduction to the Making of Western Art: Materiality, Preservation and Change

This book is the first introduction to Western art that not only considers how choice of materials can impact form, but also how objects in different media can alter in appearance over time, and the role of conservators in the preservation of our cultural heritage.

The first four chapters cover wall and easel paintings, sculpture, drawings, and prints, from the late Middle Ages to the present day. They examine, with numerous examples, how these works have been produced, how they might have been transformed, and how efforts regarding their preservation can sometimes be misleading or result in controversy. The final two chapters look at how photography, new techniques, and modern materials prompted innovative ways of creating art in the twentieth century, and how the rapid expansion of technology in the twenty-first century has led to a revolution in how artworks are constructed and seen, generating specific challenges for collectors, curators, and conservators alike.

This book is primarily directed at undergraduates interested in art history, museum studies, and conservation, but will also be of interest to a more general non-specialist audience.

Susan L. Green was an associate lecturer at the Courtauld Institute of Art for several years and then Head of the Art History Faculty at the New College of the Humanities (now Northeastern University London). She stepped down from that role in 2021, although remained at the university as an associate professor until August 2022, when she left to focus on completing this book and other research projects. Her previous publications include Tree of Jesse Iconography in Northern Europe in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (2019).