The UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage welcomes Dr.Thiago Sevilhano Puglieri as Assistant Professor of Art History and Cultural Heritage Conservation
The UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage welcomes Dr. Thiago Sevilhano Puglieri as Assistant Professor of Art History and Cultural Heritage Conservation.
Dr. Puglieri served most recently as Professor in the Department of Museology, Conservation, and Restoration of the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil. He holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of São Paulo. He has been professionally active in Brazil, currently serving as the Vice-President of the Brazilian Association of Heritage Science and Technology, and coordinator of the Division of Investigation of Materials, Systems, and Techniques of the Technical Commission for Cultural Heritage of the Brazilian Association of Non-Destructive Testing and Inspection. He also serves on the international advisory committee of the project “An International Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science” coordinated by NICAS, the Netherlands Institute for Conservation, Art and Science. In 2019-2020 he was a Visiting Researcher at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles.
Dr. Puglieri’s primary research has been on the characterization of art and cultural materials, and on the understanding of their degradation processes. He has co-published a range of studies based on his research on the analysis of pigments, ceramics, metal objects, and paintings, using a wide range of analytical tools. Most recently at the Getty Conservation Institute he researched the potential of a relatively new analytical technique, shell isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, to detect and characterize chemical components from cultural heritage objects.
One of the most compelling aspects of his work in Brazil has been community engagement. He regularly worked with local high school teachers developing, applying, and evaluating methodologies that connect chemistry and the humanities to students in hopes of attracting them to study the intersections of art and science. His current interests are in technical studies, Latin American art history, modern and contemporary art, indigenous objects, relationships among tangibility and intangibility in Conservation Science and Preventive Conservation, and theories and methodologies in Technical Art History.
