Line, Shade and Shadow: The Fabrication and Preservation of Architectural Drawings

The Brodsky Series for the Advancement of Library Conservation presents Lois Olcott Price speaking on the topic of architectural drawings. Because architectural drawings are not created as an end in themselves, but as graphic documents to construct a building, sell a project or explore a design concept, the materials and techniques chosen by the drafter are particular to the function of the drawing as well as the period in which it was created. The interpretation and preservation of architectural drawings depends upon an understanding of their functions in architectural practice and on a working knowledge of drafting materials and techniques. This lecture will include tracing the use of supports, media and photo-reproductive processes used to create architectural drawings in the 18th to 20th centuries. Price is Director of Conservation at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware where she directs a staff of 23 conservators and support staff and promotes conservation activities and education throughout the institution and in the larger community. She recently published a monograph with Oak Knoll Books on her work with collections of architectural drawings entitled Line, Shade and Shadow: the Fabrication and Preservation of Architectural Drawings.