Sabine Cotte. Paintings Conservation31, Niagara Lane

Melbourne Vic 3000M: 04 02 843 543

E: sabinec@ozemail.com.auW: www.sabinecotte.com

Nationalities: French and Australian

Educat ion2011 Masters by Research. ‘Tibetan paintings in Australia: con-

servation of a living heritage’. University of Melbourne.1994 Diploma in Conservation. International Centre for the Preserva-

tion of Cultural Property in Rome (ICCROM). Mural Painting Conser-vation Course.

1986-1990 Honours Bachelor in Conservation and Restoration. French Institute for the Restoration of Artworks. (IFROA) Paris. Specialisa-tion in easel painting conservation.

1982-1986 Honours Bachelor in Fine Art. Specialisation Engraving and Lithography. Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris

1982-86 Honours Bachelor in Art History. University of Paris I, History of Art and Archaeology

Selection of clients and artists

Museums and galleries Musée du Louvre, ParisMusée d’Orsay, Paris National Gallery of Victoria, AustraliaBallarat Fine Arts Gallery, AustraliaGeelong Art Gallery, AustraliaHamilton Art Gallery, AustraliaHeide Museum of Modern Art, Aus-traliaMusée d’Art Moderne, ParisMusée des Arts Décoratifs, ParisSotheby’s Australia, MelbourneNiagara Galleries, MelbourneGallery Gabrielle Pizzi, MelbourneNellie Castan Gallery, MelbourneMusée du Petit Palais, ParisMusée d’Orléans, FranceCity of Yarra, MelbourneCity of Port Philip, MelbourneNational Trust, AustraliaFrench National TrustSoo Tze Oriental Antiques, MelbourneAu Lion des Neiges, Sydney

Parkham place Gallery, SydneyEva Breuer Art Dealer, SydneyHimalasia foundationUNESCO

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ArtistsRick Amor, Howard Arkley, Clarice Beckett, Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd, Daniel Buren, Judy Cassab, Robert Dickerson, Ian Fair-weather, Othon Friesz, Théodore Géricault, Daisy Jugadai, Emily Kame Kngwar-reye, David Keeling, Richard Larter, Frederick McCubbin, Albert Marquet,Roy de Maistre, Amedeo Modigliani, Mirka Mora, Sydney Nolan, John Perceval, Garry Shead, Pierre Soulages, Lindy Lee

Chaim Soutine, Arthur Streeton, Eugene von GuerardPrince of Wales, Judy WatsonBrett Whiteley, Philip WolfhagenAboriginal paintings, contemporary and traditional (barks)Various French, Italian and Dutch artists from VIIIth to XXth century, paintings on canvas, panel and cop-per.Anonymous Tibetan artists from XIIIth to XXth century: thangkas, tsakli, wooden book covers, scrolls.

P r o f e s s i o n a l e x p e r i e n c eArrived in Australia in 2001. Since 1990, work for museums, galleries and private collectors in France and Australia. Professional expertise includes:

Treatments of Western, Aboriginal and Tibetan paintings on various supports (cardboard, canvas, bark, panel, silk, copper…). Professional experience includes numerous treatments of 14 th to 18th century paintings involving delicate consolidation and stabilization, cleaning and inpainting; delicate cleaning and transparent relining of Him-alayan paintings; treatment of high profile colonial and contemporary Aus-tralian artists works. Treatments range from minor tear repair and superfi-cial cleaning to consolidation, relining, strip lining, removing of varnish and over paintings, texturing the fillings and extensive inpainting. Advice for packing, storing, displaying is also given to clients.

Collaboration with contemporary artists for assessment, diagnosis and treatment of their artworks: this includes interviews for re-search and documentation of original materials, technical condition assess-ment, and discussion with the artists on treatment options and materials. These options acknowledge the artist’s original intention and current art-work’s situation, particularly in the case of public artworks. Recent ex-amples of such collaboration are work on Mirka Mora’s public paintings and mosaics, David Keeling, Paul Boston and Philip Wolfhagen’s paintings.

International expert for UNESCO in Himalayan paint-ing conservation: training of Himalayan people in thangka or mural paintings conservation during UNESCO workshops set in the region (India, Nepal, Bhutan 1996, 2000, 2003, 2005), liaising with local conservat-ors; participating to conservation sustainable projects in liaison with local conservation architects and painting conservators (Mustang 2008 and 2009); creating, funding and implementing a multi disciplinary project in preventive conservation of temples and mural paintings in Bhutan (Asso-ciate laureate, Rolex Award for Enterprise 1996); raising awareness about conservation of Himalayan heritage by publishing papers in interna-

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tional conservation congresses and journals (see list below); training con-servation students on thangka painting conservation (Workshop at Tainan university for the Arts, Taiwan, 2009); giving talks at interna-tional symposia on Himalayan painting conservation (New Delhi, ICOM-CC, Thangka Conservation Forum, 2008) or workshops on the topic (National Gallery of Australia, 2009).

Survey of collections and condition reports: Document-ing, listing objects by conservation needs priorities, planning and pricing conservation treatments, preventive conservation plan, writing documents for tender when applicable. Assessing condition of artworks prior to auction or exhibition, preparing artworks for exhibition (minor conservation treat-ments). Installation within the museum, in liaison with artists. Professional experiences include condition reports for exhibitions or prior to auctions in Melbourne, as well as condition reports for exhibitions in Mu-seum of Modern Art and Petit Palais Museum, Paris, and accompanying a touring exhibition of masterpieces of Museum of Modern Art, Paris, to Ja-pan, with condition reports before and after the show and minor conserva-tion works during installation;

P u b l i c a t i o n s

2011 ‘Conservation of Thangkas : a review of the literature since the 1970s’, in Studies in Conservation, Vol.56, Issue 2, 2011

‘Conserving sacred thangkas as a living religious heritage in mountain sites and beyond’, in Mountains in the Religions of South and South-east Asia: Place, Culture, and Power, 4th SSEASR conference, Thim-phu, Bhutan, July 2011.

2010 ‘Conservation of public art: keeping artworks alive and reinforcing com-munity’s engagement’ in Dialogues with Artists, 12th AICCM Paintings Symposium, Adelaide October 2010

2010 ‘Conservation of living heritage, or can we adapt principles to local needs?’ in ‘Conservation in a Changing World’, ICOM-CC Session at the ICOM General Conference, Shanghai, November 7-12, 2010

2009 ‘Conservation- Restauration des Thangkas: préserver un patrimoine reli-gieux vivant’, in CoRe, issue 22, July 2009 (in French)

‘Conservation of Thangkas: Preserving a Living Religious Heritage’, in Pro-ceedings of the Forum on the Conservation of Thangkas, Special Session of the ICOM-CC 15th Triennial Meeting, New Delhi, India, Septem-ber 26, 2008

2008 ‘A handbook of preventive conservation in Bhutan (Himalayas)’, in ICOM-CC 15th Triennial Meeting, New Delhi, India, September 2008

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2007 ‘Proposition for transparent relining in conservation of thangkas paintings’ in Studies in Conservation, Vol 52, 2007, Issue 1, p.2-12

2006 ‘Ethical standards: can we find an Himalayan way?’ Poster for IIC Munich Congress, August 2006

1999 ‘Urgence et restauration: l’incendie du Parlement de Bretagne’, in ICOM-CC 12th Triennal Meeting, Lyon, France, 1999‘Restoration of thangkas in National Museum of Bhutan’, in CoRe (Conser-vation/Restauration of Cultural heritage), Issue 7 (in French)

1995 ‘Conservation problems of mural paintings related to architecture in Bhutan, Himalayas’ in Congress of the Laboratory of Conservation of Stone, Lausanne, 1995 (collaboration with architect David Nock)

1994 ‘Bhutan; Dzongs and their Mural Paintings’, poster in 15th IIC Congress, Ottawa Canada (collaboration with architect David Nock)

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