Biography
Camille received her Bachelor degree in Art Conservation from the Superior School of Fine Arts in Avignon in 2011, and has interned in both private studios and museums in France and Italy. She gained a Masters Degree in the Conservation of Easel Paintings at ENSAV La Cambre in Brussels in 2014. During her studies she interned at the Royal Museum of Fine Art of Brussels (MRBAB) and the Royal Institute of Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA).
Following her formal training, Camille undertook internships at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney and the Hamilton Kerr Institute, Cambridge, before taking up painting conservator roles at the Royal Collection Trust and Tate Britain. She also completed a fellowship for the Getty Conserving Canvas Initiative at the Courtauld Institute of Art and Royal Museums Greenwich. She joined the Hamilton Kerr Institute as a staff member in 2022.
Research
Camille has a particular interest in the structural conservation of paintings, both canvas and panel supports. She is at present involved in the Getty’s Conserving Canvas Initiative and has received a grant from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) to further her knowledge and skills in structural conservation. Her other research interests include the history of conservation and pigments.
Publications
Polkownik, C., Cross, M., Richardson, C., Maisey, S., ‘Lining at the Courtauld Institute and Greenwich [...]’. Postprints of the Conserving Canvas Symposium, Yale, October 14-17, 2019. (pending, 2023)
Polkownik, C. ‘An examination of a group of works related to Albrecht Dürer [...]’, in: Wrapson, L., Wright, A., eds, 2022, Hamilton Kerr Institute Bulletin 9 (2022): 87−102
Polkownik, C., Buisman, I., ‘Prussian blue [...]’, in: Wrapson, L., Wright, A., eds, 2020, Hamilton Kerr Institute Bulletin 8 (2020): 14−27
Polkownik, C., Emmett, T.. ‘A technical examination [...] of prismatic lead white.’ Journal of the Institute of Conservation 43, no. 2 (2020): 174−186
Polkownik, C. ‘Lead White: how variations in the crystalline ratios [...]’. Hamilton Kerr Institute Bulletin 7 (2018): 59−68
Polkownik, C., Jansson, E. ‘David Parr House: A technical study [...].’ Hamilton Kerr Institute Bulletin 7 (2018): 124−33
Polkownik, C. ‘Conceptual and Ephemeral Art: Conservation Issues’. Journal of Art Crime 18 (2017): 83−6
Polkownik, C. ‘Replace the TEA in resin and bile soaps.’ CeROArt, 2016. [online] Available at: <https://ceroart.revues.org/4992>
Polkownik, C. ‘Savons résiniques et biliaires : essais de remplacement de la Triethanolamine (TEA).’ Bulletin APROA-BRK 4 (2014): 23−
