About the Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts
Housed within the Office for Research, the Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts is a collaborative endeavor that pursues objects-based and objects-inspired scientific research to advance the role of science within art history, curatorial scholarship, archaeology, and conservation. The goals of the program are to enrich the breadth, scope, and reach of scientific studies in the arts and in the wider field of conservation in the United States and abroad, by leveraging resources at the Art Institute of Chicago and materials-related departments at Northwestern University. This research and education initiative also provides enhanced training opportunities for participants through involvement in university-museum multidisciplinary programs.
Projects
Submit a project proposal
Start a research project in collaboration with Northwestern University faculty and Art Institute of Chicago staff.
Featured Projects
View our projects which strike a balance between object-based (for example the study of a specific work of art, or groups of objects) and objected-inspired work (for example the development of new investigation methods or testing of a new conservation treatment).
Read more
Discovering the Birthplace of a Picasso Bronze
Scientists use non-invasive techniques to trace five sculptures to foundry in WWII Paris
Tebtunis Mummy Portraits
A collaboration between Northwestern scientists and Argonne National Laboratory provides insights into an 1,800-year-old mummy and learning about the material microhistory of the painting tradition
Surface-Shape Studies of Gauguin's Monoprints, Prints, and Drawings
Researchers used computational imaging to evaluate the surface structure of Gauguin’s graphic production with the aim of better understanding his printmaking and transfer processesField Notes & Events
Field Notes
Materiality in Spanish American Art Reveals Local and Global Trade Networks
Through materials, NU-ACCESS studies Indigenous and European influences in art from the colonial Spanish Americas.
Blurred Lines: Art, Science, and the Race Against Time
Researchers at NU-ACCESS utilize interdisciplinary methods to study the complex materials that make up art and artefacts so that future generations can continue to enjoy them.
Uncovering a hidden composition behind Gauguin's “Poèmes Barbares''
In collaboration with the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Harvard Art Museums, NU-ACCESS helped uncover and analyze a painted-over landscape composition underneath “Poèmes Barbares'' by Paul Gauguin.
Putting Materials to Metaphor in the Work of Maria Sibylla Merian
With the help of NU-ACCESS, doctoral candidate Olivia Dill is investigating the pigments used in three 18th-century Merian prints, but the scientific analysis has inspired new questions about the prints’ provenance.