{"id":4197,"date":"2012-07-19T17:33:50","date_gmt":"2012-07-19T22:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservators-converse.org\/?p=4197"},"modified":"2012-07-19T17:33:50","modified_gmt":"2012-07-19T22:33:50","slug":"the-restoration-of-a-pacific-hero-heritage-conservation-as-cultural-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/2012\/07\/19\/the-restoration-of-a-pacific-hero-heritage-conservation-as-cultural-work\/","title":{"rendered":"The Restoration Of A Pacific Hero: Heritage Conservation As Cultural Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Glenn Wharton, research scholar<br \/>\nNew York University<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.conservation-us.org\/_data\/global\/images\/aic\/stories\/Kamehameha-glenn-wharton.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"165\" \/>During 117 years of outdoor exposure, the bronze sculpture of celebrated Hawaiian King Kamehameha I suffered corrosive action from chlorides, tropical humidity, and high ultraviolet radiation. In addition to this physical deterioration, the artist&#8217;s original gilt bronze surface was replaced with a local tradition of painting the figure with brilliant, life-like colors. The central question in the conservation of the monument was one of authenticity; whether to respect the original conception of the artist by re-gilding the surface or to honor the contemporary tradition of painting it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.conservation-us.org\/_data\/global\/images\/aic\/stories\/Kamehameha2-glenn-wharton.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"248\" \/>The community was divided on the issue, and the decision-making process involved a broad spectrum of local residents in dialogue and exploration of its deeper cultural significance. For the conservator, this community-based conservation process provided cultural infor-mation that guided conservation decisions. For the community, the project served as a window into relationships between the multi-cultural present and the Native Hawaiian past. In the end, it was decided to keep the statue painted in the brilliant colors, bringing to life a king still relevant to his community after all of these years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Glenn Wharton, research scholar New York University During 117 years of outdoor exposure, the bronze sculpture of celebrated Hawaiian King Kamehameha I suffered corrosive action from chlorides, tropical humidity, and high ultraviolet radiation. In addition to this physical deterioration, the artist&#8217;s original gilt bronze surface was replaced with a local tradition of painting the figure &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/2012\/07\/19\/the-restoration-of-a-pacific-hero-heritage-conservation-as-cultural-work\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Restoration Of A Pacific Hero: Heritage Conservation As Cultural Work&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":5373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bench"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}