Page "Conservation-restoration" Paragraph 18

The focus of conservation development then accelerated in Britain and America, and it was in Britain that the first International Conservation Organisations developed.

The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works ( IIC ) was incorporated under British law in 1950 as " a permanent organization to co-ordinate and improve the knowledge, methods, and working standards needed to protect and preserve precious materials of all kinds.

" The rapid growth of conservation professional organizations, publications, journals, newsletters, both internationally and in localities, has spearheaded the development of the conservation profession, both practically and theoretically.

Art historians and theorists such as Cesare Brandi have also played a significant role in developing conservation-restoration theory.

In recent years ethical concerns have been at the forefront of developments in conservation.

Most significantly has been the idea of Preventive conservation.

This concept is based in part on the pioneering work by Garry Thomson CBE, and his book the Museum Environment, first published in 1978.

Thomson was associated with the National Gallery ( London ), it was here that he established a set of guidelines or environmental controls for the best conditions in which objects could be stored and displayed within the Museum Environment.

Although his exact guidelines are no longer rigidly followed they did inspire this field of conservation.