Issues of restoring the message of an artwork
in the light of the maintenance conservation and
full reconstruction of Bidello – costume for the
S.I. Witkiewicz play The Madman and the Nun,
by Tadeusz Kantor

Supervisor:
Professor Andrzej Koss
Studio of Conservation and Restoration of Stone
Sculpture and Architectural Elements

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Although the subject of Anna Tomkowska’s degree piece was not stone objects,
it seemed an interesting issue, and was apparently still unresolved. The author
entered the largely unrecognised field of conservation of contemporary sculpture.
She constantly had to learn about a whole range of issues not included
in the curricula, and did so without sparing any effort.

Anna Tomkowska’s degree piece is an excellent combination of innovative
activities based on deliberate analysis of details, and proposed methods of conduct,
which maintain the authenticity and form of a work of art in the process
of reconstruction. It is a comprehensive documentary record of the history and
the actual process of conservation work. It is a project displaying great clarity,
prepared with the use of many literary references, containing images of many
details which are accurately recorded by Anna Tomkowska. The resulting
reconstructed work is another valuable example of commendable pursuits
in the field of contemporary art conservation, including rubber-made objects.

B. 1983, studied at the Faculty of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art
of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (2004–2011). At the 1st Scientific Conference
for Students of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art, Cracow 2011,
she delivered a presentation titled Issues of conservation of modern art objects
made of rubber based on the conservation of Tadeusz Kantor’s sculpture Bidello
– costume for S.I. Witkiewicz’s play “The Madman and the Nun”.

CONTACT: 
T: +48 600 711 625
ania13tomkowska@gmail.com