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STÉPHANE PENNEC, new Restotarion and Conservation Award recipient

For his special contribution to the restoration of works of art and archaeology in bronze, iron, gold and silver, as well as his activity in the recovery of underwater findings.


Pennec has worked and collaborated with some of the most important museum of the world, where his professionalism and unique value to the fields of restoration and conservation has made an imprint. He has also contributed greatly to the conservation of Industrial Heritage.

The jury particularly wanted to make evident the value of his contributions to new fields of restoration and conservation, which encourages new generations of archaeologists and conservators.

  Monday, July 23, 2012


 

These were the words in the announcement of the jury decision for the Gabarron International Award of Restoration and Conservation 2011. The jury recognized STÉPHANE PENNEC contribution and relevance under the presidency of Mr. Francisco Javier León de la Riva. The jury of The Gabarron International Award of Restoration and Conservation 2011 met in Valladolid, Spain, on July 6 ç, 2011. Members of the jury include: Mr. Eduardo Álvarez Rodríguez, CEO of Radio Televisión Castilla y León (RTVCYL), Dr. Salvador Andrés Ordax, Department Chair of Art History at the University of Valladolid, Mr. Germain Camarero Muñoz, Board Representative of EFE in Castilla y León, Mr. Ramon García-Consuegra Carrión, Central Commercial Manager for Iberia Airlines, The Honorable Mr. Alberto Gutierrez Alberca, Former Deputy Minister of Culture of the Committee of Castilla y León, The Honorable Mr. Francisco Javier Leon de la Riva, Mayor of Valladolid and Mr. Ubaldo Sedano Espin, Director of Restoration of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

 

Biography

Stéphane Pennec (1965, Francia) talks about himself; Youth is surely what has characterized me for a long time. I started working in archaeology at the age of 10. By the age of 20 I had been involved in more than 50 archeological sites where I worked every facet of the field, from on-site photographer, to draftsman, to surveyor, to on-site technician. I didn't specialize in a specific “period”, as I was pleased to work on the Paleolithic site of Brassempouy in Dordogne at the age of 16, or on the Upper Paleolithic site of Hengistbury Head near Bournemouth at the age of 15, but when I was 20 years old I also enjoyed working on Bronze Age sites in Brittany and Burgundy, and on the Indus period site of Nausharo, Pakistan.

After earning a degree in Archaeology, I decided to take another route in my search for human culture: I went into the conservation and restoration field, joining a master's program at the University of Paris, Sorbonne. I was 22 at that point and I had to work while training toward my degree. In 1987 I began working for the Electricité de France (Electricity of France), where I oversaw their conservation laboratory in Paris. I spent two years in charge of the conservation and restoration of objects retrieved from the TITANIC; I was also the supervisor of the gilding process for the Dôme des Invalides in Paris.

In 1990 I completed my master’s degree in Underwater Archaeological Metals Conservation, along with two internships: the first at the Fremantle Maritime Museum in Western Australia, under the supervision of Dr. Ian MacLeod, and the second at the Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques (Research Laboratory of Historical Monuments) employing outdoor metal roofing techniques.

That same year, I created a private multidisciplinary conservation laboratory in Burgundy, “LP3 Conservation”. For the next twelve years I continued as chief conservator and curator for the TITANIC, working on site in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1998; I also supervised all TITANIC exhibitions in Sweden, Norway, England, Germany, Japan, and the U.S.

While I was involved in these various projects throughout the years, I also worked on projects that incorporated conservation and were related to industrial heritage, historical monuments and outdoor bronze sculptures.

Additionally, I began mount making, a field that wasn’t in accordance with conservation ethics at the time. Between 1991 and 2000, I participated in numerous museum exhibitions with institutions such as the National Museum of Antiquities in Beirut, the opening of the Richelieu Wing at the Louvre, the National Museum of Asian Art Guimet in Paris, and the Grande Galerie de l’Evolution at the National History Museum in Paris (which involved mounting more than 170,000 specimens).

During these years, I was involved with the French Federation of Conservator-Restorers and ECCO (the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorer’s Organization). I was President of ECCO for 3 years and I was deeply involved with several major European projects, such as CONBEFOR, organized by Lanfranco SECCO SUARDO, the FULCO European Projects and the PAVIE document. I initiated the APEL project under the umbrella of ECCO and I also took part in the ENCORE projects on education.

In addition, I was a member of the Metal Working Group of the ICOM-CC Conservation Committee, acting as coordinator for 6 years, and a board member of ICOM-CC for 3 years. Under this um¬brella, I created a triennial conference on metal conservation in 1995. The first, “Metal 95”, was followed by “Metal 98”, then “Metal 01”… The last conference, “Metal 2010”, was held in the city of Charleston, USA.

Mr. Pennec website: www.ainu.fr