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Ghanooni M, Marasy M, Farahmand Borujeni H. (2024). The Idea of Inter Subjectivity: The Solution to the Dispute Over the Interaction of Object and Subject in the Restoration of Paintings. Parseh J Archaeol Stud. 8(29), 411-433. doi:10.22034/PJAS.8.29.411
URL: http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/article-1-890-en.html

Abstract
Based on their claim to understand artworks and the change in the nature of restorers and art audiences, the subjective and objective approaches have tried to establish themselves in different periods in history. However, each had defects in its context which affected some aspects of an artwork in the process of restoration. Based on this, this study attempts to examine three different periods of restoration of paintings using theoretical basic research, library data and samples of restored artworks. To achieve this goal, in three different readings, the theory of classical conservation, the theory of scientific conservation in the first half of the 20th century, and finally the contemporary theory of conservation in the late 20th century and early 21th century are discussed. Based on this, an approach to the dispute over the opposition between subjective and objective approaches and a common understanding between the subjects in the idea of inter subjectivity is sought. The main goal of this study is to examine and present the idea of inter subjectivity to solve the problem of the defects of the two aforementioned approaches. In conclusion, using the views of Habermas, this study aims to explain the idea of inter subjectivity and propose the need of the surrounding social world and the shared world of subjects in a given format.
Keywords: Painting Restoration, Subjectivism, Objectivism, Intersubjectivity, Habermas.

Introduction
The intellectual and philosophical foundation of each age guides and determines the updated cultural, social and artistic orientations in human civilizations. One of the most important structural differences in the orientations of the world’s philosophers and thinkers is viewing categories from the two objective and subjective perspectives. The worlds of subject and object are two opposite categories among philosophical thoughts as they have offered ways to understand and discover the surrounding world from the two perspectives of objectivity and subjectivity. Based on this and considering these inherent philosophical differences, readings of related categories can be offered. One of these categories is discussing conservation and restoration of historical artworks, which has always been the subject of serious disputes in this field. The aforementioned dichotomy in the different periods of human’s philosophical understanding of the world since the 18th century is a dispute which has fundamentally affected the technical and historical structures and the aesthetic nature related to the field of restoration of historical artworks especially paintings. In fact, this is the basis of the present study; Readings of the two dimensions of objectivism and subjectivism in the historical context of previous centuries which led to different readings of the process of restoration of paintings. In the first reading, the serious effects of the subjective view of restoration as something beautiful and hedonistic is discussed. In this reading, the basis of interpretation of an artwork and its restoration is an aesthetic view and from a subjective and extreme perspective. This led to vast changes and interventions in paintings which in turn led to the formation of anti-restoration and anti-conservation movements.
In the second reading and from the late 20th century, a new approach in this field was proposed by gaining a new understanding of the surrounding world and a positivist view based on respecting the material forming the artwork. Supporters of science and defenders of the conservation science were seeking a view toward artistic and historical artworks which downgraded the artwork to an object which could be examined and had tangible and objective qualities. This view did not believe in any subjective interpretation based on the restorer’s subject and allowed any interventions in the artwork if it was based on objective inference and scientific data. This very approach i.e. downgrading the artwork to a tangible and objective object led to lack of concentration on issues which were considered inherently subjective and somehow interpretive. Here, aesthetic, conceptual and spiritual issues were always in opposition to the artwork material, time and history and doomed to be ignored. At this point, considering the distinctions of contemporary man and the changes of the world, it seems necessary to deal with an intermediate space which is far from the biases of the two extreme objective and subjective views. In fact, to find an approach and solve the contradictions between the objective and subjective approaches, the third reading of this study seeks a solution which is based on the social world. In this space which is proposed as the idea of inter subjectivity, the inherent duty of historical artworks is to convey and commemorate their meanings. Here, considering the idea of Habermas, an inter subjective approach to solve the problem of the restoration of paintings is proposed.

The first reading: subjectivism and restoration
What is specifically discussed here is the interpretation of subjectivism in the process of restoration and subjective perceptions in the process of restoring paintings. Since, before the 20th century, still there weren’t concepts such as conservation, in the specific sense of the word, and no specific foundations for this concept cannot be imagined, in fact, it was personal and “subjective” perceptions which were used as the basis of restoration. In other words, the process of restoration is less dependent on the object material and more focused on the interpretation and perception of “restorer-artist”. “Aesthetic restoration” or “artistic restoration” have always been redefined in opposition to “scientific restoration” in the 2oth century. The use of adjectives “aesthetic”, “artistic” and other such words for restoration in fact confirms attention to its subjective aspect as in them, perceptual and emotional criteria prevail over the process of objective examinations in which, based on the object, the main nature of the forming materials or the date it was created are considered important. Among the many restorations carried out in the centuries leading to the 20th century, many cases of focus on the subjective view can be found.

Second reading, objectivity, conservation and science
In this view, due to being goal-oriented, the process considered any interventions in the artwork justifiable as the final mission was perfect adornment, beauty and providing pleasure. Also, at the heart of the idealist thoughts of the 19th century, in the views of people such as “viollet-le-Duc”, restoration was defined in a way that it did not even exist in its initial and original state and the restorer as a skilled artist removed the foundation of a historical artwork. In order to better understand the events of the second half of the 19th century which led to the improvement of the relationship between science and conservation, it is necessary to examine its underlying concepts and theories. Since the 19th century, Western society had practically entered a space in which scientific approaches and science development were considered a basis for acceptance and development. In fact, it was “positivism” which was formed based on the views of the French thinker “Auguste Comte” in the 19th century and became prevalent in the 20th century. In fact, it was this continuation of the scientific approach from the middle of the 19th century which spread to the restoration world and totally changed the world in front of it.

Third reading
Habermas emphasizes that the subject-object relationship is definable in an intermediate space and that is the issue of the presence of the other subject. In fact, it is this “other experience” or other subject experience which along with other subjects provides a shared world to understand objects (ibid. 2012: 36). The aggregation of these subjects leads to social experience and provides correct relationships to understand and achieve knowledge.

Conclusion
In three separate readings, this study discusses the examination of the effects of each of these objective and subjective approaches and the extent to which restorers are influenced by their intellectual foundations. In the first reading, the effects of the subjective approach on forming concepts of painting restoration have been discussed. In this section, the claim was examined that the effects of subject in the ages before the 20th century led to the creation of a concept which considered the artwork in the form of a beautiful object and from the perspective of hedonistic and aesthetic thoughts. Here any interventions or changes to achieve the aesthetic integrity of the artwork and putting the artwork in a perfect and ideal situation is acceptable and applicable. In the late 19th century, with the predominance of positivist thoughts based on the application of different sciences in human life, the world faced an approach which was materialistic and based on mere attention to the object. The objectivism used in the scientific conservation has sought to justify any scientific studies and the application of different sciences in the process of recognition and restoration of paintings. The approach based on objectivity and focusing on the inherent qualities of objects focused attention on the artwork material and did not allow any intervention or change in the artwork material. Perhaps the most important defect of the positivist approach in scientific conservation was inattention to the position of subject. In cases where the artwork required subjective analysis such as aesthetic judgment, the theory of scientific conservation either did not have an answer to it or did not pay attention to it. It was this defect which, in the decades leading to the late 20th century, directed the theory of contemporary conservation toward an approach to solve the problem of subject and object in the process of restoring historical artworks and consequently restoring paintings. The idea of inter subjectivity which was referred to in this study is in fact an approach which tries to solve the dispute over the opposition between subject and object and the constructive interaction of subjects in restoration. This idea, by raising the idea of Habermas’ triangle, points to the fact that based on the shared world of subjects, a social world can be found based on the conservation of shared meanings of humans. This idea will cover the defect of ignorance of materialistic thoughts of conservation to a great extent and tries to retrieve the needs of different societies in an interactive context among commonalities and meanings of subjects.