Staff Profile
Director, Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art
narayan_khandekar@harvard.edu / 617-495-4591
Ph.D., University of Melbourne
Pg.D., Courtauld Institute of Art
B.Sc. (Hons), University of Melbourne
Narayan Khandekar leads the Straus Center’s conservation and research activities, as well as those for the Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art. Specializing in the scientific analysis of paintings and painted surfaces, he has published extensively on the subject. His laboratory established a postdoctoral fellowship for scientists wishing to pursue a career in conservation science. Khandekar has coordinated international groups on conservation science and has sat on numerous advisory committees. He curates the Forbes Pigment Collection and the Gettens Collection of Binding Media and Varnishes.
Recent Publications
Sigel, Anthony et al. “Cyclododecane Case Study: Fresco Protection and Relocation during Construction at the Harvard Art Museums.” In Conference Proceedings fromSubliming Surfaces: Volatile Binding Media in Heritage Conservation, Cambridge, U.K., April 15–16, 2015. In press.
“Inherent Vice and the Ship of Theseus.” In Doris Salcedo: The Materiality of Mourning, Mary Schneider Enriquez, 141–52. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Art Museums, 2016.
Stenger, Jens et al. “Conservation of a Room: A Treatment Proposal for Mark Rothko’s Harvard Murals.” Studies in Conservation 61 (6) (2016): 348–61.
Stenger, Jens et al. “The Making of Mark Rothko’s Harvard Murals.” Studies in Conservation 61 (6) (2016): 331–47.
Stenger, Jens et al. “Non-Invasive Color Restoration of Mark Rothko’s Harvard Murals Using Light from a Digital Projector.” In Colour Change in Paintings, ed. Rhiannon Clarricoates, Helen Dowding, and Alexandra Gent, 73–76. London: Archetype Publications, 2016.
Khandekar, Narayan et al. “Binders and Pigments Used in Traditional Aboriginal Bark Paintings.” In Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia, ed. Stephen Gilchrist, 68–85. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Art Museums, 2016.
Verborg, Marion et al. “Roy Lichtenstein’s Screenprint on Plastic Sandwich and Soda, 1964: A Technical Study and Conservation Project.” Journal of Paper Conservation 16 (4) (2015): 123–32.
Khandekar, Narayan, Sarah, Kianovsky, and Katherine Eremin. “Delacroix’s ‘Bacchus and Ariadne.’” The Burlington Magazine CLVII (April 2015): 255–58.
RodrÃguez-López, Ainhoa et al. “Megalithic Burial Monuments in the Basque Country: A Proposal of Analysis, Diagnosis and Intervention.” European Journal of Science and Theology 11 (2) (2015):107–18.
Khandekar, Narayan, and Daniel Kirby. “Binding Media Used in Traditional Bark Paintings from Arnhem Land, Groote Eylandt and the Tiwi Islands.” Presented at the ICOM Committee for Conservation, 17th Triennial Conference, Melbourne, Australia, September 15–19, 2014.
Favero, Patricia et al. “Elements of Material and Process in Georges Braque’s Still Life Paintings, 1928–1945.” In Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life, ed. Karen Butler with Renée Maurer, 90–111. New York: Prestel, 2013.
Lee, Lynn F., and Narayan Khandekar. “An Analytical Approach to Detect Non-Original Embellishments on Classic Mimbres Vessels.” Studies in Conservation 57 (4) (2012): 218–26.
Khandekar, Narayan et al. “Appendix 1: Tables: Analysis of Paints in Works from 1956 to 1968; Analysis of Paints Taken from the Easels and Floor in the Comabbio Studio; Analysis of Paints in Cans Found in Fontana’s Corso Monforte Studio.” In Lucio Fontana: The Artist’s Materials, ed. Pia Gottschaller, 122–24. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 2012.
Gottschaller, Pia et al. “The Evolution of Lucio Fontana’s Painting Materials.” Studies in Conservation 57 (2) (2012):76–91.
Mysak, Erin R. et al. “Technical Examination of Several Portable Chinese Buddhist Paintings from the Mogao Caves.” Presented at the ICOM Committee for Conservation, 16th Triennial Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, September 19–23, 2011.
Cuellar, Santiago et al. “Non-Invasive Color Restoration of Faded Paintings Using Light from a Digital Projector.” Presented at the ICOM Committee for Conservation, 16th Triennial Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, September 19–23, 2011.
Kirby, Daniel et al. “Protein Identification in Artworks by Peptide Mass Fingerprinting.” Presented at the ICOM Committee for Conservation, 16th Triennial Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, September 19–23, 2011.
Nevin, Austin et al. “The Development of an Online Methodology for Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research: Investigations of Dispersed Paintings by the Master of the Fogg Pietà —Maestro di Figline.” Presented at the ICOM Committee for Conservation, 16th Triennial Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, September 19–23, 2011.
Steele, Elizabeth et al. “Side by Side: The Technical Investigation of Sketch I for Painting with White Border and Painting with White Border.” In Kandinsky and the Harmony of Silence: Painting with White Border, ed. Elsa Smithgall, 106–21. Washington, D.C.: Phillips Collection, 2011.
“Tables of Pigment Analyses.” In Kandinsky and the Harmony of Silence: Painting with White Border, ed. Elsa Smithgall, 132–35. Washington, D.C.: Phillips Collection, 2011.