{"id":64339,"date":"2020-03-05T15:52:19","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T20:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=64339"},"modified":"2025-09-30T10:20:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:20:55","slug":"francesca-casadio-discovery-lecture-2020","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/francesca-casadio-discovery-lecture-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovery Lecture: Francesca Casadio on How Science Reveals More about Art"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Discovery Lecture: Francesca Casadio on How Science Reveals More about Art\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Pablo Picasso wasn\u2019t only an innovative artist; he was highly prolific too. By the time he died at the age of 91, he had produced more than 36,000 works. That\u2019s more than one work of art a day, every day of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did Picasso maintain that kind of pace?  It was enabled in part by a French house paint called Ripolin that was widely available which dried much more quickly than oil-based paints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople have speculated about why Picasso first picked up house paint, and there are elegant theories about how this was a proletarian gesture — to use a low material to make high art,\u201d says Francesca Casadio<\/a>, the Grainger Executive Director of Conservation and Science at the Art Institute of Chicago<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Francesca
Francesca Casadio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s also been suggested that he used Ripolin because it dries fast, and he could then paint quickly for his next show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 2, Casadio delivered the 2020 Discovery Lecture<\/a> at Richcraft Hall. An annual event that is jointly sponsored by Carleton\u2019s Faculty of Science<\/a> and School of Journalism and Communication<\/a>, the lecture showcases excellence in science journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Francesca<\/figure>\n\n\n

Using Chemistry and Imaging Technology to Understand Picasso\u2019s Work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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In \u201cAnalyzing Picasso: Close encounters in art and science,\u201d Casadio talked about how chemistry and imaging technology have helped us better understand Picasso\u2019s work, revealing both the materials he used and some of the hidden steps of his creative process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To determine that Picasso used Ripolin paint, Casadio worked with the Argonne National Laboratory to conduct X-ray analysis of \u201cThe Red Armchair,\u201d a work in the Art Institute of Chicago\u2019s collection. She matched the chemical signature of the paint used with old samples of Ripolin paint that had been purchased online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Science
Chuck Macdonald, Dean of the Faculty of Science<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But its mere presence doesn\u2019t tell us exactly why Picasso chose to work with Ripolin, which was the first commercially available enamel paint. Perhaps he started using it for financial reasons when he was a cash-strapped, aspiring artist in Montmartre. Or maybe he just liked it. Ripolin paint has a characteristic shine and conceals brush strokes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casadio also showed how infrared imaging technologies can reveal the sketches behind Picasso\u2019s paintings, showing the initial concept for work that can be enigmatic \u2013 as well as how those paintings evolved into his characteristic styles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francesca Casadio: Science Can Help Us Develop a Deeper Understanding of Art’s Cultural Significance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Yet scientific techniques have value beyond revealing an artist\u2019s process. Casadio pointed to a colleague\u2019s proteomic analysis of carvings from the west African nation of Mali. By better understanding the proteins that are present on these carvings, we can develop a deeper understanding of their cultural significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sarah
Sarah Everts, CTV Chair in Digital Science Journalism<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA power figure looks a little bit like a hippo or a cow, and these were used in religious ceremonies,\u201d said Casadio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaterial was added to them, and this patina and accretion is of religious significance. By taking a scraping, it\u2019s possible to identify the blood of chicken, goat, and dog. Each animal was used for different practices. This adds to our knowledge of the art\u2019s authenticity, and also complements field work and curatorial work by being able to highlight the more unusual material(s) that are present.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pablo Picasso wasn\u2019t only an innovative artist; he was highly prolific too. By the time he died at the age of 91, he had produced more than 36,000 works. That\u2019s more than one work of art a day, every day of his life. How did Picasso maintain that kind of pace?  It was enabled in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":64392,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[28],"cu_story_tag":[1919],"class_list":["post-64339","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-science"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/64339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/64339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97374,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/64339\/revisions\/97374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=64339"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=64339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}