CHAPTER 6: The Colors of Lina Bo Bardi: Analytical Investigations of Lina's Felt-tip Pens

This paper highlights the important developments which have emerged from a collaboration between the University of Bari, University of Perugia and Paper Conservator Antonio Mirabile which seeks to explore multi-analytical investigation methods for the characterization of modern and contemporary inks. Specifically, the present work describes and explains a set of analysis carried out to characterize 20 Johann Faber felt-tip pens commercialized in the 1960s that actually belonged to and were used by the Italian-Brazilian architect and designer Lina Bo Bardi. Spectroscopic methods (i.e. X-ray fluorescence, conventional and coupled to thin-layer chromatography micro-Raman, SERS, and reflection infrared spectroscopy) combined with the use of chromatography techniques (GC-MS and Py-GC-MS) were exploited in order to provide a thorough chemical characterization of the ink formulations. Of particular interest, in the multi-analytical investigation employed, is the strong ability to distinguish and identify not only the dyes and their possible mixtures but also the specific use of solvents, binders and additives as other components of the ink formulation. This chapter contains additionally a preliminary investigation on the aging behaviour of the felt-tip pens' inks, a compressed history of felt-tip pens and of the synthetic dyes determined in addition to a brief introduction about Lina Bo Bardi's artistic personality, merge this research study.