“The golden stain of time”: the inpainting of gildings on wooden sculpture 151 for the treatment of gaps seems to attest to the changing nature of our relation with time and space [11]. In some countries, regilding seems to be acceptable for historic interiors whereas gilded surfaces on sculpture are treated as a pictorial layer. In other countries, regilding of sculpture is still a common practice. Following the concept of a ‘relative gap’ in sculpture formulated by Paul Philippot, our point of view is that to be appreciated, a gilding on a wooden sculpture doesn’t necessarily have to be complete. This choice to preserve our understanding of the “golden stain of time” [12] shouldn’t be interpreted by the broad public as the conservator’s lack of knowledge or lack of skills in reproducing the original gilding technique. The message to be given out is that it is a choice that consists in integrating the loss as a witness of the material history of the object. In practice, there are no default decisions. That is why it is so important to make a concerted decision according to each case. Whenever retouching is needed, the use of pigments in various mediums makes it possible to carry out a harmonization of the surface colour and allows to perfectly reconstruct the optical continuity of the gilded volume, ensuring the distinctness and reversibility of the intervention. REFERENCES [1] TRIPP, G. “L’apport de Paul Philippot à la théorie et à la pratique de la restauration”. In Pénétrer l’art Restaurer l’oeuvre, Groeninghe EDS (edité par C. Périer-D’Ieteren),1990, p.374. [2] STEYAERT, D. “The conservation of polychromy on medieval sculptures in Belgium in the nineteenth century and its perception by de Royal Monuments Commssion of the time”. In Conservation In The Nineteenth Century, Archetype Ltd in association with the National Museum of Denmark and CATS, 2013, p. 97. [3] SERCK-DEWAIDE, M. “Conservation et restauration au palais royal de Bruxelles et au château de Laeken”. In Dynastie et Photographie, 2005, p.71-82. [4] Gamme patrimoine de chez DAUVET (feuilles d’or, d’argent et d’alliages, format 80 ou 84 mm de côté). [5] SERCK-DEWAIDE, M. “Réflexions à propos des dorures du salon des Palmiers de l’Hôtel Hayme de Bomal à Liège (1775- 1780)”. In Dorure et polychromie, Bulletin 4 de l’Aproa, 2013, p.12-18. [6] COQUEREL, P. “La reintégration des lacunes du support bois”. In Etudes comparatives sur les matériaux de bouchage et les techniques de réalisation. Influence de l’humidité relative sur le caractère hygroscopique, la dureté et la réversibilité des comblements, Mémoire Master 2, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2012-2013. [7] BERGEON-LANGLE, S. «De l’usure au manque, du comblement à la réintégration». In La problématique des lacunes en conservation-restauration, Aproa-Brk, Vioe, 2007, p.10. [8] BOITO, C. “Il nuovo e l’antico in architettura”, Milano, Jaca Book, 1989, p. 107- 126. [9] BRAJER, I. “To retouch or not to retouch?”. In Reflexions on the aesthetic completion of wall paintings, CeROArt [en ligne], HS/juin 2015, mis en ligne le 19 mai 2015, consulté le 26 septembre 2017. URL: htt://ceroart.revues. org/4619, p. 16 [10] CASAZZA, O. “Il Restauro Pittorico nell’Unità di Metodologia”, Nardini (Ed.), 1981, p. 16 [11] PIPLANI, N. “Theoretical underpinnings of conservation in India”. In Conversaciones con Paul Philippot, Revista de conservación, Instiuto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (México), 2015, p.83. [12] RUSKIN, J. “The seven Lamps of Architecture”, In The Lamp of Memory, 1859, Aphorism 31.
ABSTRACT Illusionistic painting has been frequently used throughout history and in various art periods. It was executed in the interiors of both secular palaces and religious places. One of the most popular illusion themes was the imitation of stone, especially marble. This paper will present the faux marble techniques that use paint on polished ground. The focus will be on the conservation-restoration of the baroque polychrome and gilded wooden tabernacle located in the church of Saint Benedict in Gornji Kraljevec, Hrašćina (Croatia). The tabernacle is a place where sacraments are preserved for the sacred communion. The reconstruction of the tabernacle’s marble imitation (i.e. inpainting tests, the choice regarding the appropriate painting technique, and the process of applying the paint to imitate the artist’s brush strokes and match them with the state of the original paint layer) will give an insight into both the inpainting method and the A CASE STUDY ON RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FAUX MARBLE PAINT LAYER ON A BAROQUE WOODEN TABERNACLE Maja S. Miklin Department of Conservation and Restoration of works of art, Academy of Fine Arts, Zamenhoffova 14, 10000 Zagreb; [email protected]
1. INTRODUCTION The imitation of marble, as one of the techniques of illusionism, has been frequently used from east to west, in churches and in palaces, from the early Roman period to the present day. The imitation has been used on different types of substrates and supports – from fresco paintings on walls, plaster columns (scagliola) [1] and wooden altars [2] to sheets of paper (ebru). Therefore, every support had to be prepared with the appropriate use of pigments and binders. It was not always easy to imitate a process of painted faux marble. After preliminary and practical research, the inpainting was done in gouache, a reversible technique that can be both transparent and opaque. The brush strokes methods such as tratteggio or puntegiaro were not used because they would emphasize the already existing visual vibrancy of the marble pattern. Instead, the total inpainting was executed using brushes of different sizes and imitating the original paint layer. Keywords Polychrome wood; Faux marble; Total inpainting; Gilding; Glazed silver. more or less genuine material, but it was much cheaper and the function of the imitation was simply decorative [3]. Due to the width of the topic marble imitations this presentation will focus on the painted faux marble on Croatian wooden altars from the baroque period. The reconstruction of the faux marble paint layer will be presented on an example of restoration of the wooden tabernacle located in the church of Saint Benedict in Gornji Kraljevec, Hrašćina (Croatia). 1.1. The baroque wooden tabernacle The wooden tabernacle was added in the second quarter of the 18th century. It is oversized and mounted in front of the altar painting. It is a part of the 17th century wooden altar and one of the rare examples in northern Croatia where the entire iconographic program is presented with paintings, and not with statues. The wood was widely used as a support for marble imitations not only because it was cheap, but also because it was an available and light material. Today, the altar architecture and its elements are overpainted and the paintings are lost. The entire altar was dismantled in 2001 due to the restoration works on church and it is now stored after a detailed examination, analysis and restoration probes, with all of these processes thoroughly documented. So far, only the tabernacle has gone through a complete restoration process, which included the joinery repair, overpaint removal, reconstruction of the wooden support, consolidation, reconstruction of the ground, gilding, paint layers and varnishing. 1.2. The technological layers and the state of the original The examination of the original layer is needed for reconstruction of every paint layer. A choice of the painting technique or a way in which the paint layers or brush strokes were applied depends both on the purpose and location of the object and on the technological layers and the state of the original. While removing the overpaint, it was discovered underneath a paint layer imitating marble. The
154 Maja S. Miklin original paint layer was executed in tempera on a polished white ground. Tempera is a very solid and durable painting technique however the environmental fluctuations resulted in wood movements that affected not just the paint layer, but also the ground and the gilding which in turn resulted in cracks and large losses. Also, poor church maintenance did not help the preservation of the tabernacle. 1.3. The paint layer – imitation of marble The original palette colors that were used are light pastel tones of pink, purple and blue. The paint was applied in a free style – patterns of simple stains placed uniformly and with accented veins. The four basic types of marble (veined, brèche (breccia), cloudy and onyx or agate) and the presence of veins could suggest that it is a veined type [4]. However, the way the stains are applied, it resembles more a cloudy type of marble. Although the imitations of marble were sometimes done realistically (marbling) to the point that one could recognize a marble type, it is not uncommon to be unable to define the marble type either in color patterns or in the application of the paint. One of the most widely used imitations was semiprecious stone lapis lazuli that was often executed with paint on a polished ground or with a glaze on sliver leaves decorated with gilded veins [5]. The gilded veins actually represented the sparkling pyrite, also known as “fools gold”, the mineral that is commonly present in lapis lazuli [6]. The technological layers for this kind of marble imitation demanded different kind of procedure – applying ground, yellow and red bole then silver leaves on which the blue glaze was painted. If not protected the silver would oxidize or, if damaged, the red bole would be visible [7]. The unrealistically executed marbles (marbelizing) could have been inspired by forms and colors of individual decorative stones and minerals, but they did not have to imitate the specific marble because, basically, the main tendency of the altar polychromy was to decorate and not to present a specific material. A geological examination and art historical analysis lead to the conclusion that the imitation of marble on the tabernacle was not realistic enough and since it cannot be traced to its altar to put it into a context, it could Figure 1 • The tabernacle before inpainting and gilding
A case study on reconstruction of the faux marble paint layer on a baroque wooden tabernacle 155 only mean that the faux marble was made according to some template and that it was mainly decorative. 1.3.1. Tools and paint application In order to choose the right method and the technique for reconstruction of the paint layer, we first have to understand the way the original paint was applied and the materials that were used in its application. To create patterns and streaked effects, artists used different tools: paintbrushes of various forms made from mammals (hog, badger, sable, squirrel), bird feathers (like goose or peacock), pieces of cloth or leather, brushes and natural sponges, i.e. the materials that are all still familiar to modern-day artists [8]. However, the development of the industry and art painting techniques (like acrylic paint) has yielded tools that are more advanced in materials (like synthetic fibers), shapes and sizes and that can create almost the same effect as traditional ones and can be therefore used instead of them. For the purpose of identifying the original strokes on the tabernacle, a brief catalogue of strokes was made using the tools that are known to be used for marbling. For easier identification of the tools, the painted faux marble must be divided into layers. The first layer is actually uniformly applied polished white preparation. The second layer are stains that create the pattern in pink, purple and blue tones. The pattern was built up in a more or less opaque paint, letting the lower layers dry completely before the new layer was built up. By looking closely, we can see that the stains were applied so that the edge is both smooth and uneven. This pattern was similar to that executed with a big mop brush, especially if “broken-in”, but the shape made with this brush was too circular. So, none of the brushes could have been used. The other tool that could have been used in the 18th century is natural sponge. The sponge gave better effects and created the stain that was not circular in shape, and its edges were all identical. The other tool that was, and still is, used for marbling, is a bird feather. While wing feathers can give streaked effects only, tail feathers have a more rounded tip and by holding them in hand like a pen, they could give better results and produce stains identical to the original ones. The third layer are veins with partially applied little brown dots. The veins are executed in irregular motion and darker tones of blue and purple. The veins are thin, short and round or pointy at the end. If they had been done with a small pointed brush, the brush would have created longer strokes because the brush can hold quite an amount of paint. Short strokes done with a wing feather also did not produce veins similar to the original ones. However, using the feather again and holding it like a quill created thin and short strokes identical to the original ones. The partially applied dots were done by splashing the opaque paint with a coarser brush. During the overpaint removal, the surface was left covered with an uneven patina to avoid the overcleaning of the paint layer. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS Marble imitations have been always painted freely on big surfaces with wide, fluid strokes. The brush strokes were always so visible because marbling was always viewed from a distance and the emphasis was not placed on details, but on the effects and the unity of the bigger picture [9]. The best way to see this it to take a part of marbling out of its context. Figure 2 • Different tools and strokes
156 Maja S. Miklin Sometimes the paint was applied wet-on-wet, which required work to be done fast. Sometimes, however, the paint was built up in layers letting the previous layer to dry. Whatever the method of painting, it is easier to paint something new than to reconstruct something that is already there. After the inpainting tests, the traditional methods of reconstruction, like tratteggio with vertical lines or puntegiaro, have created vibrancy of retouch and illegibility of the marble pattern. Only the total inpainting enabled the new reconstructions to fit better in the surrounding area and not to disturb the already sufficient playfulness of the image. The inpainting tests were done with gouache, the best painting technique that could imitate tempera because of its good coverage quality, matt effect, water solubility and reversibility. 2.1. Reconstruction of the paint layer – total inpainting When it comes to retouching, it demands precision and reconstructions of different sizes, and it is limited to imitation of the given template. By applying paint freely, the movement of the original stroke was achieved. Additionally, since the feather cannot be controlled on small reconstructions, the brushes of different sizes were used to obtain the wanted restoration precision. The surface of the new ground was polished, adjusted to the original by imitating the cracks with a fine, thin needle, and isolated. The reconstruction started by applying local, transparent tone with medium flat paintbrush that covered the whiteness and the whole surface of the new ground. The forms of the marble patterns were marked using a small roundpointed synthetic paintbrush. The tones were gradually applied, letting each layer and surface to dry. By doing so, the layers could be built up without removing the latter one. In this process, it was crucial to take care of every detail and characteristic of each marble pattern, and even more of the balance between the new reconstruction with the surrounding original and the whole appearance of the tabernacle. The color for veins was opaque, applied with a small round paintbrush, imitating the characteristic motions and shortness. The little dots were not made by using a paintbrush because they did not leave the right circle form and were all of the same size. If we look at the list of different strokes, we can see that the best results were Figure 3 • Prepared ground Figure 4 • Reconstruction of the forms of the marble pattern Figure 5 • After reconstruction
A case study on reconstruction of the faux marble paint layer on a baroque wooden tabernacle 157 achieved not after splashing with traditional, but with modern tools like toothbrushes. It created dots of the same shape, ranging from very small to medium sized dots. When the dots were applied with a less diluted paint, this created dots identical to the original ones and by diluting the paint with more water, we obtained the effect of patina. The surrounding original paint was protected with a sheet of paper. The original paint and new reconstructions were protected with varnish based on natural resin. The gold and silver were applied, burnished, adjusted to the original with gouache and iron wool and protected with varnish. The reconstruction of the glaze was done with gouache colors, varnished and completed with resin-based colors. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In the case of Hrašćina’s tabernacle, the total inpainting was the best choice because it is mounted on top of the mensa at the eye level of the observer and other methods of retouching would have been vibrant and more visible. The full understanding of the way the original paint was applied made the reconstruction of the paint layers easier and alike. Making the list of different brush strokes and finding out how the original paint was applied confirmed the usage of traditional tools that were the most accessible in the 18th century. The substitution of traditional with more modern tools created the same affect and, what is most important, the restoration precision was achieved. From the restoration aspect, the use of gouache colors was appropriate. It was also appropriate from the technical point of view – transparent colors were good for applying and gradually building up layers, and opaque colors were good for imitating veins. The new reconstructed parts were successfully integrated and the unity of the visual impression was achieved. During the 19th century, the baroque flamboyance of painted surfaces and ornaments on altars was considered tasteless and it was undervalued. To avoid that colorfulness, polychromy was often overpainted monochrome. The overpainting was the only link between the added 18th century tabernacle and the 17th century altar. After restoration of the wooden tabernacle, the original painted faux marble layer was presented. This opened a way to new research, but also a discussion on where and how the tabernacle will be presented in the future because the altar’s marble Figure 6 • The tabernacle after conservation-restoration treatment
158 Maja S. Miklin imitation is very different and it can not be seen as a whole. 4. CONCLUSIONS Knowing the colors and patterns of painted marble imitations is very important because it can determine types of altars, their change through periods of time as well as attributions. It is important not only for the purposes of the history of art, but it also has some practical implications – knowing how marbling effects were done can be helpful when it is time for restoration. REFERENCES [1] ZAJEC, Vlasta – Štukomramorni oltari u Sjevernoj Hrvatskoj. Radovi Instituta za povijest umjetnost. Vol. 35, (2011), pp.177-194 [2] TAUBERT, Johannes – Polychrome Sculpture: Meaning, Form, Conservation. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Conservation Institute, 2015, pp. 108-119 [3] DORGE, Valerie; HOWLETT, F. Carey – Painted wood: History and conservation. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Conservation Institute, 1998, pp. 110-117 [4] FINKELSTEIN, Pierre – The art of faux, Watson-Guptill publications/New York, 1997., pp. 74-75 [5] ARANICKI, Andrej; JEMBRIH, Zvjezdana – Konzervatorsko-restauratorski radovi na bočnom oltaru sv. Josipa iz župne crkve Presvetog Trojstva u Legradu – Godišnjak zaštite spomenika kulture Hrvatske 31/32- 2007/2008, Ministarstvo kulture, pp. 215-236. [6] ŠKARIĆ, Ksenija – Polikromija i polikromatori oltara 17. i 18. stoljeća u Sjeverozapadnoj Hrvatskoj, Doktorski rad, Zagreb, 2014, pp. 80-167 [7] ARANICKI, Andrej – Izvješće o provedenim konzervatorsko-restauratorski radovima, oltar Žalosne Majke Božje, kapela sv. Ladislava, Podgorje Bistričko, 2014. [8] DORGE, Valerie; HOWLETT, F. Carey – Painted wood: History and Conservation, The Ghetty Conservation Institute, 1998, 114 page [9] BARIČEVIĆ, Doris – Barokno kiparstvo Sjeverne Hrvatske. Zagreb: Institut za povijest umjetnosti, Školska knjiga, 2008, pp. 387, 390
Nome artigo 159
ABSTRACT Retouching on paper requires a unique approach and attention due to paper’s capacity of absorption, paint spills, and change of color tones caused by the absorption of fibers (Chapter 1.3. I., Figure 1). This work presents different approaches to retouching artwork on paper in the Laboratory for Conservation and Restoration at the Croatian State Archives. It also presents how to reduce the absorption of fibers and prepare perfect paper surface for retouching on two examples (Chapter 2), a Watercolour Landscape and a Map of Zadar from 19. Century. A Watercolour Landscape example (Chapter 2.1. I.) explores RETOUCHING APPROACHES TO ARTWORK ON PAPER IN THE LABORATORY FOR CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION AT THE CROATIAN STATE ARCHIVES. Retouching of a Watercolour Landscape and a Map of Zadar from the 19th Century Sanela Huzjak Croatian State Archives, Central Laboratory for Conservation and Restoration, [email protected]
1. INTRODUCTION Different types of Japanese paper are used as surface for retouching of art on paper and some are high absorption because they contain very little or no binder at all. As the paper is highly absorbent, it is necessary to reduce the absorption of its fibers. As it is already mentioned this work deals with absorption and how to cover and retouch the brown stains without changing the artwork and compromising its authenticity. The following example, a map of Zadar (Chapter 2.1. II.), deals with the approach to retouching to equalize the tones of the aesthetic and visual whole. retouching approaches on paper with the selection of a retouching method optimal for achieving even color distribution and avoiding potential flaws. 1.1. The absorption test on non-insulated and insulated Japanese paper surfaces Different Japanese paper surfaces Takogami, Tosa-Shoji, Usumino-Shiro, Gampi i Mistumata with no insulation and insulated with adhesives in 2% and 4% - methyl cellulose, starch glue, gelatin and klucel. RESULTS: Takogami (43g/m2) - contains 100% kozu fibers, high absorption. Absorption on non-insulated surface is 33 secunds and with 4% methyl cellulose we slow down the apsorption on almost 3 minutes. Table 1 • Water absorption time on non-insulated and insulated Japanese paper surfaces WATER ABSORPTION TIME JAPANESE PAPER THICKNESS [ЧM] NONINSULATED INSULATION WITH ADHESIVES Methyl cellulose Starch glue Gelatin Klucel 2% 4% 2% 4% 2% 4% 2% 4% Takogami 160 33 s 1 min 2.45 min 43 s 1.36 min 50 s 10.42 min 15 s 30 s Tosa Shoji 90 30 s 47 s 3.45 min 2.13 min 5.30 min 1.25 min 1h i 20 min 10 s 2 min Usumino Shiro 40 5.30 min 10.30 min 19 min 14 min 38 min 1.23 min 2h i 33 min 6.35 min 11 min Gampi 20 7.47 min 2h i 08 min 3h i 03 min 54 min 2h i 09 min 2h i 25 min 3h i 14 min 1h i 17 min 2h i 05 min Mistumata 25 10.25 min 1h i 17 min 3h i 18 min 30 min 1h i 57 min 2h i 34 min 3h i 23 min 1h i 30 min 1h i 54 min With gelatin it takes more than 1 houre for water apsorption time. Tosa Shoji (40 g/m2) - 50% kozu fibers and 50% pulp, high absorption. We reduce the apsorption time from 30 secunds to 5.30 minutes with 4% starch glue. Usumino Shiro (17 g/m2) - 100% kozu fibers. In its structure contains emulsion which reduces the absorption. Gampi (12 g/m2) and Mistumata (11 g/ m2) - because of its fiber characteristics have great resistance on absorption wich takes more than 3 houres. 1.2. Color on insulated Japanese paper surfaces with adhesives How does the color behave on high absorbent Japanese paper insulated with different adhesives in 2% and 4% - methyl cellulose, starch glue, gelatin and klucel.
162 Sanela Huzjak RESULTS: Methyl cellulose 2% - changes the color tone. Methyl cellulose 4% - gives good results. Starch glue - gives good results but it must be perfectly prepaired to avoid color spots and stains. Gelatin 2% - gives good results. Gelatin 4% - gives good results but for retouching purpose is too strong. Klucel – contains ethyl alcohol that reduces a surface tension. It changes the color tone more than other adhesives and leaves the paint brush-strokes. 1.3. COMPARING COLOR ON: I. Non-insulated Japanese paper surface II. Insulated Japanese paper surface, III. Color mixed with adhesive on Japanese paper surface Deep red watercolor on high absorbent Japanese paper I. Color on non-insulated Japanese paper surface Color is not retained as a separate layer but is absorbed into the fiber structure of the paper. Color spillage and stains occur, especially when laying the base tone. It does not allow nice color application. II. Color on Japanese paper surface insulated with 4% methyl cellulose The paper retains color as a separate layer, not absorbing into the fiber structure. This allows for even and clean application of color without spillage or staining. Color can be applied in several layers. Paper surface insulated with an adhesive should be left for at least 24 hours to completely dry and to form an insulating layer/film. III. Color mixed with adhesive 2% methyl cellulose on Japanese paper surface Color is retained as a separate layer and its absorption into the paper surface is reduced. Mixing gives fullness to the color, though it becomes more transparent when applied. It allows for smooth color application. Working Figure 1 • Japanese paper insulated with different adhesives in 2% and 4%- methyl cellulose, starch glue, gelatin and klucel Figure 1 Figure II Figure III
Retouching approaches to artwork on paper in the laboratory for conservation and restoration at the croatian state archives 163 with several layers is more difficult. Color containing a high percentage of binders can crack when applied thickly. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1. Presenting various approaches to retouching on the examples of artwork - Watercolour Landscape and a Map of Zadar from the 19th Century I. Watercolour Landscape Watercolour on paper is damaged with distinct brown stains of unknown origin. The brown stains cannot be removed or reduced, but aside from visually compromising the piece, they have no effect on the stability of the paper support (Figure 1). Visually, the piece was balanced using retouching in the following way (Figure 3) - the shapes of the brown stains were traced using a tracing paper. Next they were covered with Japanese paper Tosa Shoji. Tosa Shoji was coated with 4% methyl cellulose adhesive to reduce the absorption of its fibers. So prepared retouching surface is separated from the original artwork paper support and it is completely removable. Retouching was made with watercolors following the character and the form of drawing (Figure 2 and 3). II. A Map of Zadar from the 19th Century, State Archives in Zadar Painted drawing (Figure 1) – a combination of techniques; watercolors and black ink on a cotton canvas attached to the paper support. The canvas was impregnated with starch adhesive as the painting surface. The Map was in an extremely bad condition and it required complex conservation and restoration work. During the process, the old paper support was removed from the back of the map and replaced with a new one. After achieving the appropriate conditions, Japanese paper were selected for achieving a tone balance. Selected were Usumino Shiro laminated with Kizuki kozu Japanese papers and colors for paper toning, Pergasol from Gabi Kleindorfer (Figure 2). The selected and toned sample of the Japanese paper had to achieve the Figure 1 • Watercolour Landscape before retouching Figure 2 • Watercolour Landscape after retouching Figure 3 • Retouching as reintegration of the painted layer without impact on the structure of the artwork Figure 1 • The Map of Zadar before conservation and restoration Figure 2 • Selected and toned sample of the Japanese papers
164 Sanela Huzjak requirements such as thickness, texture and tone of the color. Toned Japanese paper was used for achieving a tone balance of the visually aesthetic whole but also as the additionally reinforced of canvas drawing support. The retouching was applied with using the tratteggio method, and no base tone was required. Some surfaces required no retouching at all (Figure 3 and 4). Visual and aesthetic balance on the Map of Zadar was achieved using a combination of watercolor retouching and toned Japanese paper (Figure 2 and 3). Watercolor retouching interventions in the drawing of the map were as few as possible. Parts with missing the original historical architectural data are visually connected with toned Japanese paper (Figure 3 and 4). 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Absorption of some types of Japanese paper used as surface for retouching is a problem because the color does not Figure 3 • Reconstruction of the missing parts with toned sample of the Japanese paper and retouching with watercolors in tratteggio method Figure 4 • The Map of Zadar after conservation and restoration
Retouching approaches to artwork on paper in the laboratory for conservation and restoration at the croatian state archives 165 retain as a separate layer but absorbs it in its fiber structure (Chapter 1.3. I., Figure 1). To reduce that absorption of fibers we use insulation with an adhesive directly on Japanese paper surface (Chapter 1.3. II., Figure 2) or addition of adhesive into the color (Chapter 1.3. III., Figure 3). Adhesives we use are methyl cellulose, starch glue and gelatin in 2% and 4%, (Chapter 1.2., Figure 1) depends of the artwork and what method is necessary. For colors mixed with an adhesive we use adhesives in 2% because color containing a high percentage of binders can crack. (Chapter 1.3. III., Figure 3). For paper surface insulation we use adhesives in 4%. It is important to form an insulating layer/film so it needs for at least 24 hours for adhesive to completely dry (Chapter 1.3 .II., Figure 2). Klucel is not for recommend because it contains ethyl alcohol that reduces a surface tension. It changes the color tone more than other adhesives, leaves the paint brushstrokes and it is not compatible with every material (Chapter 1.2., Figure 1). 4. CONCLUSIONS The paper surface for retouching requires perfect preparation to reduce the absorption of its fibers. By insulating the paper surface as the base of retouching or addition of adhesive into the color, we try to reduce its capacity of absorption. The surface prepared in such a way retains the retouching as a separate paint layer and allows even and clean application of color and working with fine details without spillage or staining (Chapter 1.3. II. and III.). REFERENCES: CHOI, S., MAKIN, J. – Treatment and Hausing Techniques for Pastel Paintings on Paper: Case Studies, The Book and Paper Group Annual 32, 2013. American Institute for Conservation (AIC) Book and Paper Group - 30. Inpainting and Design Compensation. Paper Conservation Catalog (PCC), 9th Edition, Copyright AIC/ BPG 1994. POULSSON, T. G. – Retouching of Art on Paper. London: Arhetype Publications Ltd, 2008.
Abstract The Instituto Politécnico de Tomar (IPT) continuously receives diverse paper objects for conservation and restoration treatments. Decision making procedures are dependent on type and materials mixtures, objects formats, damages interactions, or even by owners’ opinions. Tree situations posed complicated decision-making procedures: a collection of watercolour drawings by the Portuguese sculptor Delfim Maya (1886–1978); graphite and charcoal drawings belonging to different private collectors; and a hand painted lampshade by Delfim Maya. All Delfim Maya’s objects dated from the 20th century, and the charcoal drawing from 1899. The interventions purpose was to assess methods on chromatic reintegration: its application on large and small areas of paper; to evaluate the application of APPROACHES TO THE CONSERVATION TREATMENT AND CHROMATIC REINTEGRATION ON WATERCOLOURS, CHARCOAL DRAWINGS, AND A LAMPSHADE HANDPAINTING Leonor Loureiro Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, Quinta do Contador, Estrada da Serra, 2300-313 Tomar; [email protected]; [email protected]
1. INTRODUCTION Chromatic reintegration of artworks on paper has always a potential for problems to occur, specially if one encounters different types of paper mixed with different medium materials and conservation problems. At IPT’s Paper Conservation Laboratory several objects shown these situations, and so divided into groups: a) Delfim Maya’s watercolour drawings, displaying different types of disrupting stains, in different papers (Figure 1) and mixed materials [1], and watercolours wash to cover disrupting stains that prevented objects overall observation; to test mixing reactions of different chromatic reintegration materials; and to apply watercolours wash to different papers surfaces: plain and embossed. The materials involved were Schmincke Horadam half pan watercolours, Windsor & Newton Artists half pan watercolours, Liquitex Acrylic “Heavy Body”, Winsor & Newton Finity Acrylics, Derwent Charcoal pencils, and 3B Derwent Graphic Graphite pencil. Different procedures for treating and/or disguising diverse types of stains and discolouration were considered and questioned, and tricky techniques as several layers of very diluted watercolour wash were applied. Keywords Colour reintegration; Stains; Drawings; Acrylics; Lampshade; Embossed paper. with the impossibility of performing chemical treatments specifically due to the owner requirements; b) graphite and charcoal drawings showing lacunae caused either by materials deterioration or by Lepisma saccarina insect attack (Figure 2); c) a Delfim Maya’s lampshade made of embossed paper, hand painted with black carbon ink, exhibiting heavy glue staining caused by a previous “restoration” attempt by the family. Apart of the implications regarding the direct application of chromatic materials on paper objects, the results show that a good chromatic reintegration result on the final work depends on the type of paper, its surface finish, if it’s a full or a surface lacunae chromatic reintegration, the mixes and the quality of the chromatic reintegration materials, and ultimately of an experienced conservator’s hand working on watercolour chromatic reintegration. Figure 1 • Diverse stain and paper examples shown by different watercolour drawings. Microphotographs (x52) taken with DinoLite AD7013MZT(R4)
168 Leonor Loureiro The interventions purposes were: a) to assess several approaches on paper chromatic reintegration; b) its application on large and small areas of paper; c) to evaluate the application of watercolours and acrylics wash on disrupting stains that prevented the overall observation of the objects; d) to test mixing different materials on paper chromatic reintegration; e) to apply watercolour wash to different papers surface finishes: plain and embossed. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS Depending on the object, conservation treatments generally included dismantling, dry cleaning (smoke sponge, eraser), wet cleaning (cotton swab, wet blotters, immersion), resizing, drying/flattening, tears consolidation, lacunae infilling, chromatic reintegration, passepartout/frame mounting. Depending on the object constituents [2] the chromatic reintegration materials chosen can be slightly different. So, for the three work of art groups in discussion diverse approaches and solutions were applied. 2.1 Delfim Maya’s watercolour drawings Primarily, for the watercolour drawings, the brand Schmincke Horadam half pan watercolours was chosen [3, 4, 5]. For all the drawings, a mimetic result was the primary goal [6], so the methodology consisted in applying directly a first wash coat of the opaque and semi-staining Titanium Opaque White 101, to cover and give a better working base for the dark stained areas. This was done either with 3/0 or 10/0 brushes, to control the coverage precisely onto the stain shape. After, a wash of other colours was applied exactly inside the covered stain, and in conformity with the surrounding areas, so to neutralize a “purplish” effect created by the Titanium Opaque White 101 wash, and applied in different situations, so to match the original colour whenever possible: a) semi-transparent and semi-staining Raw Umber 667; b) opaque and semi-staining Naples Yellow 229, Jaune Brilliant Dark 221, and Naples Figure 2 • “Portrait of João Baptista de Sousa 1899” charcoal drawing, recto, and verso before treatment. Figure 3 • “Untitled (woman)” 30’s caricatural drawing from Delfim Maya, before and after chromatic reintegration.
Aproaches to the conservation treatment and chromatic reintegration on watercolours, charcoal drawings, and a lampshade handpainting 169 Yellow Reddish 230; c) semi-opaque and semi-staining Payne’s Grey Bluish 787 [7]. Examples are clearly showed in Figures 3, 4 and 5. For some staining situations acrylics were also thought to be a good application hypothesis, due to their good coverage power, less material applied, and a less time-consuming procedure. Liquitex1 Acrylic “Heavy Body” Unbleached Titanium 434 was chosen due to its colour, satin finish, possibility of dilution, known pigment composition (PW 6, PY 42, PR 101, PBIk 11), chroma saturation, availability, and known Material Safety Data Sheet [8, 9]. In either case it was needed to apply a very thin coat of chromatic reintegration material and leave it to dry completely before applying the next layer. If this was not performed correctly, the colours might be mixed altogether, and the final effect ruined. No protective layer was applied previously to any of the stains at the paper surfaces, as this would prevent the watercolours to partly penetrate the paper damaged fibres strata, thus reducing the coverage power and the required transparency. 2.2 Graphite and charcoal drawings These objects needed different chromatic reintegration materials: a) in “Sevilhana” and “Cavaleiro Cañero” graphite & iron gall ink drawings, the lacunae were reintegrated with a mixture of Schmincke Horadam half pan semi-opaque and semi staining watercolours of Ivory black 780 with Sepia Brown 663, and later traces of 3B Derwent Graphic Graphite pencil were used; b) in “Portrait of João Baptista de Sousa 1899” charcoal drawing were used Derwent Charcoal pencils in dark, medium, and light shades, and Schmincke Horadam half pan semi-transparent and semistaining watercolour Raw Umber 667. The “Sevilhana” and “Cavaleiro Cañero” lacunae were primarily infilled with Gampi Japanese paper and 4% Tylose MH 300 glue, thus did not needed a protective coating application. The chromatic reintegration was done by mixing Ivory Black and Sepia watercolours, and applying a mimetic layer on top of the lacunae. After flat drying, a finish touch of 3B Derwent Graphic Figure 4 • Face detail of “Dr. José Duffner” 30’s caricatural drawing from Delfim Maya, before and after chromatic reintegration. Figure 5 • Body detail of “Dr. José Duffner” 30’s caricatural drawing from Delfim Maya, before and after chromatic reintegration.
170 Leonor Loureiro Graphite pencil was easy to apply (Figure 6). For the “Portrait of João Baptista de Sousa 1899” charcoal drawing, a thin coat of 4% Tylose MH 300 was firstly applied onto the paper surface lacunae as a barrier for the chromatic reintegration, and as a protective layer for the open and fragile insect bitten paper fibres. After drying, the methodology consisted in applying layers of dark, medium, or light Derwent Charcoal pencils by means of a point of a KohI-Noor Hardtmuth stump2. This tool was and still is used by artists to blend charcoal, pastel, or pencil drawings. It was naturally chosen as a tool that specially allowed a much better control over the material application in the minute surface lacunae (between 1 to 0,1 mm diameter), with an allover blending pointillism effect, and led to an undertone effect. A masque of Archival buffered blue-grey box board 1 mm thick was also used to reduce “visual noise” created by adjacent white areas, as shown in Figure 7 It was noted that in bigger lacunae areas, the charcoal colour was not enough to match or cover the paper colour. In these areas the application of a wash of Raw Umber 667 was needed. Two tests were performed on a corner: a) a first application of the watercolour wash, seconded by the charcoal application; b) a first application of the charcoal, seconded by the watercolour wash application. It was concluded that a better effect and colour control was possible by the second test, therefore this was the chosen methodology. This work is still ongoing due to the high number and lacunae extension, and due to the necessary time needed for properly training the student, Ana Sofia Sousa. 2.3 Delfim Maya lampshade Dry and wet cleaning tests were performed with smoke sponge, eraser, scalpel, and wet cotton swab, which resulted in a lesser application of deionised water as initially expected due to paper surface sensitivity. Therefore, Figure 6 • Head detail of “Sevilhana” 30’s drawing from Delfim Maya, before and after chromatic reintegration. Figure 7 • Top left corner detail of “Portrait of João Baptista de Sousa 1899” charcoal drawing, during chromatic reintegration.
Aproaches to the conservation treatment and chromatic reintegration on watercolours, charcoal drawings, and a lampshade handpainting 171 most of the glue concentration was scalpel removed, and after cleaning, the lampshade still showed some staining with tide lines surrounded by lighter paper areas. Overall, this was disruptive and needed to be disguised. In this case the embossed paper and its colour required a different approach. Firstly, the chromatic reintegration materials were also chosen due to their known pigments composition, proven lightfastness, transparency, stability, workability, possibility of mixing together, possible reversibility upon and after application, and proven application on previous restoration situations. Covering with a body colour was not an option due to the satin and embossed surface of the paper. Hence, Schmincke Horadam Watercolour Raw Umber 667, was the first option material and matching colour. As the paper showed nearly surface fragility in some areas, a thin protective layer of 4% Tylose MH 300 was tested in a small tear zone. The result was that the stains came around again, as well as the tide lines. This ruled out the use of a protective layer. Was also a sign that water would be a possible problem during chromatic reintegration, preventing the maximum colour matching effect, or even darken the large chromatic reintegration areas. To minimize water effects and maximize colour coverage, Winsor & Newton Finity Acrylic (now Professional Acrylic) Raw Umber 554 [10] was the second chosen material and matching colour. After testing, the methodology chosen consisted in applying very thin wash layers of both materials, first acrylic and after watercolour, and leaving each layer to dry completely prior to next application, so to not mixing them. The brushes used were also the same as before, with the addition of type 2/0, due to the embossed surface and stain condition. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Delfim Maya watercolour drawings The owner of the Delfim Maya watercolour drawings clearly specified for a minimum intervention done to the objects, preferably limited to dry cleaning only, but with the specific request for removal of the disruptive stains. The options for an intervention in these cases are scarce, depending also on the type of stain: a) local or total chemical treatment and/or washing; b) scalpel removal of the damaged area (paper included); c) aesthetical colour surface cover-up. After discussion, the first two options were discarded by the owner’s requests, and by the possible further damaging interactions of a chemical treatment to the stain adjacent areas or the undamaged overall work of art. So, even though ethically controversial, the least interventive operation and only possible solution was a top colour application on stained areas. Nonetheless, as the stains were visibly disruptive, but stable, and the objects were going to be stored in a controlled environment, this contributed to ease the decision-making process. Watercolours and acrylics wash application have their own tricks. If the covered area it is still too moist, a non-workable stain appears, blending colours altogether. In this case the area needs to be immediately dried with a cotton swab or a piece of blotter, to prevent staining the original work of art. After, colour needs to be removed and the reintegration work restarted. If too much body material is applied (Figure 8), the final effect might be non-transparent and dull, depending on: the cover material, the amount of covered area and/or on the type of paper used by the artist. If this happens, it needs to be totally and very carefully removed by means of a cotton swab slightly moistened in deionised water.
172 Leonor Loureiro It was observed that in some stains and/or papers, the watercolour wash was readily absorbed, and in other cases it stayed on top of the applied area. Probable explanations for this are the nature of the stains – repellent or not – and sizing quality and quantity, or paper surface finish – absorbent or damaged. Testing in some cases shown that it was possible to remove the chromatic reintegration done, but some papers shown too much absorbency for this to happen. In these cases, the chromatic reintegration was considered irreversible. Therefore, if it is needed to be removed in the future, the “ultimate” solution is a total removal of the damaged area, and probably paper included. As it was not possible to pinpoint an exact cause for the absorbance or repellence due to the mix and diversity of situations encountered, it is recommended that careful though and procedures should be taken previously. Also, that an experienced conservator should firstly conduct tests and the work itself, prior to any attempt to perform this type of chromatic reintegration by a non-trained person. After treatment all drawings were mounted in a passe-partout of Timecare Board ref. 600249. [11] 3.2 Graphite and charcoal drawings These interventions were the simpler and less questioned ones. The chromatic reintegration of “Sevilhana” and “Cavaleiro Cañero” was applied onto paper lacunae areas, easy to be removed. Therefore, this action interferes lesser with the original. Regarding the “Portrait of João Baptista de Sousa 1899” lacunae chromatic reintegration, the application of a 4% Tylose MH 300 coat as a protective layer allowed an easier pointillism performance of the reintegration charcoal. Nonetheless, in this case a final overall result is still in to come, but the so far results show a good blending but with a disguisable bluish undertone. 3.3 Delfim Maya lampshade The lampshade was the trickiest object to conserve and perform a chromatic reintegration onto large areas of paper. This was thick, brittle, embossed (as to look as cloth), and stained even after cleaning. Also, it could not be dismantled due to its construction method and materials involved. Therefore, the overall treatment took a long time to accomplish by the student Laetitia Silva. During chromatic reintegration two object (paper) positions were tested: vertical and horizontal. The vertical position of the paper shown that the watercolour wash was difficult to apply, as tended to downflow, not to be even, and the hand/brush position created shadows over the embossed paper. Placing the object in a horizontal position, preventing it from rolling by means of small sand pillows, the chromatic reintegration action was visually eased, allowed a satisfactory general staining disguise, better control of the watercolour or diluted acrylic flow, nonetheless maintaining a lighter undertone on large areas than the actual paper colour. It was only difficulted by the conservator’s body working position, but this was surpassed by pausing more and do stretch exercises. This intervention was meant to last due to the stability of the applied materials. Either way, if it ever needs to be restored again it will probably show Figure 8 • Detail of too much Titanium White watercolour body application. Microphotograph (x52) taken with Dino-Lite AD7013MZT(R4).
Aproaches to the conservation treatment and chromatic reintegration on watercolours, charcoal drawings, and a lampshade handpainting 173 some of the same problems as before, with the adding situation of a more difficult removal of the watercolour and acrylic colour mix applications. 4. CONCLUSIONS Overall aims were met and with positive results. Stains were disguised with minimal possible materials quantity application to the objects. Mixing layers of watercolours and acrylics in chromatic interventions work well, also with graphite and charcoal. In any case there were not negative mixing reactions of the different chromatic reintegration materials used. Large areas were considerably difficult to work with, comparing with small or pointy lacunae. The ultimate recommendation is that one should always use the best quality materials possible. Schmincke Horadam half pan watercolours, Windsor & Newton Artists half pan watercolours, Liquitex Acrylic “Heavy Body”, Winsor & Newton Finity Acrylics, and Derwent Charcoals and Graphic Graphite pencil work very well altogether. The application of watercolours washes to cover disrupting stains that prevented objects overall observation was considered successful even on different papers surfaces: plain or embossed. Embossed papers are more difficult to work with and tend to concentrate colour between “valley” areas. Different paper surfaces imply careful problem analysis, to better assess possible damages caused by colour and materials applications. It is recommended that, if timeframes allow, materials analysis should be taken to paper sizing, drawing materials and stains, to determine their natures and possibly allow other treatment hypothesis to arise. Paper chromatic reintegration application depends on the type of paper, materials and damages encountered. It is the most timeconsuming procedure and therefore also needs the helping hand of an experienced conservator. Further application and changes of the chosen chromatic materials will continue to be analysed, and this paper objects intervention will be assessed in the future, as they will remain within the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, Museu José Malhoa, and accessible private collections. AKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wants to specially thank the 2016-17 Paper Conservation and Restoration students for all the work and dedication put in these objects and studio/laboratory work. Without their help and overtime given the conservation procedures in this paper would be very difficult to achieve in the necessary timeframe for the three 2017 exhibits. Figure 9 • Delfim Maya Lampshade, before and after treatment.
174 Leonor Loureiro REFERENCES [1] LOUREIRO, Leonor – Primeiras abordagens para caracterização da obra gráfica de Delfim Maya. In ROQUE, Fátima Faria, ed. – Delfim Maya. Escultor do Movimento. O Ribatejo na Obra de Delfim Maya. Vila Franca de Xira: Câmara Municipal de VFX, 2017, pp. 25-37. [2] LOUREIRO, Leonor, et al. – Conservação e restauro de desenhos e caricaturas de Delfim Maya: características e marcas de água encontradas nesses papéis do séc. XX. In Atas do XII Congresso Internacional História do Papel da Península Ibérica, Tomo II. Santa Maria da Feira: AHHP – Asociación Hispánica de Historiadores de Papel e Câmara Municipal Santa Maria da Feira, 2017, pp. 433-455. [3] LOUREIRO, Leonor; SILVA, Cátia; ROSA, Ana Catarina – Chromatic reintegration of 20th century monochrome photographs showing plain and textured paper surfaces. In RECH3: Postprints. Ana Bailão, Frederico Henriques, Ana Bidarra (ed.). Porto: Escola Artística e Profissional Árvore, 2016, pp. 113-122. [4] LOUREIRO, Leonor – A Reintegração Cromática de Cromolitografias. In RECH1: I Encontro Internacional de Reintegração Cromática de Bens Culturais. Porto. Comissão Organizadora: Frederico Henriques / Ana Bailão / Escola Profissional Árvore. [5] SILVA, Cátia; LOUREIRO, Leonor; ANTUNES Fernando – Inpainting a Urania 19th century toy theatre: problems and solutions. In RECH2: 2nd International Meeting on Retouching of Cultural Heritage Proceedings. Ana Bailão, Frederico Henriques, Ana Bidarra (ed.), Porto: Escola Artística e Profissional Árvore, 2015, pp. 240-260. [6] SUSTIC, Sandra – Breve Manual sobre Reintegração Cromática / Brief Handbook about Mimetic Retouching. Porto: Escola Artística e Profissional Árvore, 2015. [7] SCHMINCKE Official website HORADAM watercolour chart. Available at: https://www.schmincke.de/fileadmin/ farbkarten/colour_chart__HORADAM_ watercolours.pdf [26 November 2017]. [8] LIQUITEX Official website. Available at: http://www.liquitex.com/AboutUs/ [26 November 2017]. [9] LIQUITEX MSDS Sheets - Heavy Body Artist Acrylic Safety Data Sheet. Available at: http://www.liquitex.com/uploadedFiles/ Content/Resources/Safety/MSDS_Sheets/ SDS%20LX%20HB%20All%20other%20 Colours%2023-07-15%20US.pdf [26 November 2017]. [10] WINSOR & NEWTON Official website – Professional Acrylic Colours. Available at: http://www.winsornewton. com/row/shop/acrylic-colour/professionalacrylic?colourid=5012572011556 [26 November 2017] [11] KOSEK, Joanna M. – Conservation Mountings for Prints and Drawings. A Manual Based on Current Practice at the British Museum. London: Archetype Publications, 2004. NOTES 1 Founded in 1955, Liquitex is one of the first brands to develop acrylic paints for artists: in 1956 developed “Soft Body” water-based acrylic paints, and in 1963 released the “Heavy Body” thicker consistency version. It is widely available. 2 This is called “esfuminho” in Portuguese, and “estompe” in French and German.
Nome artigo 175
Abstract Throughout the history of photography, many procedures have been used to attain a final photographic image. Since the very beginning, photographic retouching was one of those interventions. Most of the preserved archives both in institutions and private collections, contain negative and positive retouched photographs. However, the expression “photographic retouching”, suffers from an alarming lack of definition, even though it is an essential photographic procedure. Due to the negative-positive duality and the influence of retouching, the term THE PHOTOGRAPHIC RETOUCHING AS A FUNDAMENTAL INTERVENTION Rubén Morales González Universidad Complutense de Madrid; Madrid, (Spain)[email protected];
1. INTRODUCTION In 1839, the invention of photography as a technological advancement was presented at the Academy of Sciences in Paris; it was to radically change the way in which reality had been represented in two dimensions. Up until then, the responsibility of that representation fell solely on drawers and painters. Both science, which for centuries had studied and demonstrated that certain photosensitive salts could register light, and the socio-economic situation in the nineteenth century, eased the development of such an important invention. “original” in photography is quite hard to understand. Define terms and carry out an indepth analysis of the photographic techniques are essential if we want to be able to differentiate them from the “true retouching”. Keywords Photographic; Retouching; Technique; Manipulation; History; Photographic procedures. However, photography, presented in society through the daguerreotype, was born with two burdens: those who thought that it was an unnecessary vulgarity or even a disloyal rivalry, and a series of technical and practical challenges that were standing in the way of obtaining a reliable image of reality on a sensitized plate which rendered no color and which needed long-exposure times. These and other scarcities that will be analysed later required an extra-photographic contribution that consisted of several techniques and pictorial means to adapt the new invention to the inherited aesthetic canon of the miniaturists. Photo retouching is part of the photographic medium since its beginnings. Whether we consider an aesthetic or technical criteria, almost the entirety of photographs have had some intervention that has involved a transformation to a greater or lesser extent of what has been wrongly called original. However, this practice has usually, and still does, caused suspicion and is often a source of controversy. 1.1 State of the art Both darkroom techniques and the retouching itself have intertwined for many years, which has cause a great deal of terminological misunderstanding, as we will see in this paper. This has led to an unsupervised and unorganized dissemination of knowledge on the subject that has omitted one of the most important secrets of photographic production: photo retouching. Nowadays, the change in era regarding technological means has led to the popularization of photographic capture and editing, a term designated to include the set of tasks performed after the shot. Edition is mostly carried out with a computer, or even on a mobile phone, thus providing such an ease of use that a large part of the population often uses these methods. Every photo editing software sets its foundations on traditional methods of photographic copy intervention, manipulation and interpretation. In the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, in full development of
178 Rubén Morales González the Digital Age, Adobe Photoshop, the software that amateurs and professionals most use, continues to reference back to techniques or tools used in the dark room for decades. However, the new social and photographic model, controlled by the immediacy granted by technology, has resulted in a partly logical distancing from the origins of photographic production techniques; it is quite common to find that most people do not pay attention to the reason behind certain graphic icons. The formative trend in this field does not help much in establishing relationships that can be considered of great help for the deep understanding of certain actions or interventions. Due to the technological development that makes shooting and obtaining a copy easier, relaxation in the technical education which in turn has ended up in a tendency to focus on the project, edition or concept, and of course on photographic computing, has taken place. These reasons, among others that will be analyzed in this work, have generated over the years a confusing and generalized definition that has encompassed a set of techniques and interventions under the term of photo retouching. This phenomenon, despite of not being new, has been extolled by the ease of access and execution in terms of photographic edition, which in turn, has helped numerous manuals on digital retouching to proliferate in the last decade: i.e. Martin Evenning’s on Photoshop for photographers. Manuals that, when in the hands of unknowledgeable people, who do not know the origin of the techniques, can only execute, but with no understanding. Nowadays, the concept of retouching has a substantial negative burden, touched by recurring scandals in the media. A wrongfully understood conception of the finality, the authenticity, the documentary nature, and the history of photography in its commercial side, has led to put the term retouching in the eye of the storm. Available bibliography is scarce and limited to the late 19th century reference manuals and very few reviews and updates of those in the 20th. During the 21st century, many manuals have been published, but they focus on the current technology and lacking of any historical reference, which deems them unusable for this research. The main consulted sources are as follows. From the institutional point of view, the Library of Congress website which has allowed us to consult different treatises on photographic retouching dating back to the late Figure 1 • Retouching book in 1895
The photographic retouching as a fundamental intervention 179 19th century and beginning of the 20th. Another search for manuals on the art of photo retouching in the 19th and 20th century has been performed in the website www. archives.org. [Fig. 1] In Spain, la Biblioteca Nacional (BNEThe National Library) holds some main resources on this matter as well as historic retouched negatives and prints from several archives. At the Instituto de Patrimonio Español (Spanish Institute of Cultural Heritage) we can also find a large number of retouched negatives and prints from its many historic photographic archives. 2. TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PHOTO RETOUCHING When in the darkroom, many techniques can be applied to extract all possible information from a negative. Due to the miniaturization of the photographic negative and the popularization of photography itself, retouching was one of the techniques that would soon disappear outside the professional field. One of the main reasons for this lies in the difficulty of retouching a 4x5” plate or even more, a 35mm. Pates used professionally were of 4x5”, 5x7” or 8x10” a size big enough to comfortably intervene on it. Smaller negatives could not be printed by contact and they needed the use of an enlarger. The working method for these negatives is rather different from the contact printing due to the following factors: An optical element is placed between the paper and the negatives, which will in turn result in a lesser light intensity especially in the corners. The light projected onto the paper can be influenced due to parasite lights from rebounds on the many object present in the darkroom around the enlarger, which will decrease the contrast in the print. The grain perception and the sharpness sensation decreases as the enlarging factor increases. The projection onto the paper is generally big enough so it can allow to manually intervene between the paper and the negative, making burning and dodging to extract the maximum information from the negative easier, as well as to obtain the adequate contrast. It also allows softening of the corner’s light falling by what is called “close the print”. All these operations are performed with bare hands, cardboard, play dough or transparent inactinic elements. [Fig. 2] This all means that the print can be worked by areas. Multi-contrast papers allow for different contrast degrees to be used in the same print. [Fig. 3] The actual negative size does not determine the final size of the print or the possibility of making other sizes. Figure 2 • Burning and dodging scheme Figure 3 • Burning and dodging routine
180 Rubén Morales González It is clear that the enlarging process brings both advantages and disadvantages comparing to the contact printing method. Despite the greater flexibility of the enlarger, two determining factors helped retouching to continue being part of the process many decades after the first enlarger appeared: The idealization of the portrait demanded by clients made necessary the using of graphite and other elements applied in both the human features and the imperfections to reach the prevailing aesthetic degree. This is one of the interventions that cannot be performed when using an enlarger and that require certain expertise before the printing process. Dodging in the enlarger is made by applying an inactinic mask in low-density areas; burning, on the contrary, is performed by scraping the emulsion in high-density areas. Photographers kept their negatives in an archive with the client’s index card to be retrieved for future copies. Due to the idealization of the portrait obtained in the negative and the workflow of the time, having a readyto-print negative assured satisfactory results already approved by the client and in turn save means. 3. A HISTORICAL AND AESTHETIC STUDY OF THE PHOTO RETOUCHING The Greek beauty canon, accepted through centuries as the perfect aesthetic example has not been shared by every culture and has suffered some variations. However, it has always been present especially in the western society. One of the oldest photo retouching manuals, “A Complete Treatise On The Art Of Retouching Photographic Negatives And Clear Directions How To Finish & Color Photographs” from 1898 , takes the Greek canon as model: “The most beautiful mouth is generally understood to be of The Greek type, the lines of which follow the shape of the cupid’s bow “ 4 Painting, thanks to its nature and to the idealization and interpretation of the painter, allows for great possibilities of manipulation with no technical limitation. Miniaturist from the 18th and 19th century embellished and praised their models with very solemn poses. These miniatures where mainly directed to the emerging middle-class, eager to imitate the main symbols of nobility. One of those symbols was the small format portrait, which, especially in the first third of the 19th century, tried to imitate the old miniatures with staged scenes and vintage dresses, providing the portrayed with a higher social category and ceremony. The public presentation of the invention of photography was not by chance. As Publio López Mondejar, historian, points out “if photography had not burst into the scene earlier, was because society’s economical and industrial structures were not ready to implement it. Suddenly, after half a century of bourgeoisie ruling, which had opened the door for the economic liberalism and the industrial revolution, it seemed possible to turn that visionary invention into a source of commercial speculation. […] the technological advancement and the increasing political prominence of the rising middle-class turned into reality what the greater pioneers were already suspecting […]”.5 Figure 4 • Retouching in a negative
The photographic retouching as a fundamental intervention 181 Therefore, photography stepped in to cover an increasing demand in the first decades of the 19th century: to own a portrait as a status symbol. The first invention commercially exploited was the daguerreotype; it was an abstraction of reality, due to its own specific characteristics in size, exposure time or finishing techniques. Despite being presented as the mirror of memory, which “returned the viewer the exact representation of reality, with an accuracy degree unattainable to painting”6 , what the amalgamated silver showed was further from reality than many pictorial miniatures: rictus imperterritus, ghostly looks and an obvious rigidity, portrayed onto a support that forced the image to be viewed from a specific angle, which lacked color, and, which size, in most cases, did not allow for a detailed observation. The rapid advancement of photography was based in the quality and fidelity of reproduction, which allowed photography to attain a notable degree of perfection in only a few years. A fact that can be understood as positive was not well assimilated by the public as they saw how their portraits showed reality as it was. We can all picture a person, in the 1870’s, looking at his grandparents daguerreotype, romantically charged with the aesthetical characteristics of the process, and comparing it to his own portrait on a glass plate, with a greater depth of field and an almost insulting sharpness. Each pore and each wrinkle depicted with no mercy. It seems this was not of society’s liking, judging by the historical evolution of photographic studios. As Rosina Herrera, restorer, points out, the client “[…] started to demand being lied to and for the photographers to embellish reality by the means of traditional techniques, more on the line of drawing and painting”.7 There is evidence that photographer Emil Rabending was the pioneer in photo retouching in 1860. He was highly regarded among bourgeoisie and nobility. If his success encouraged others to introduce retouching among the techniques used, or if it was the clientele, which demanded a specific finishing in the portrait as the Carte de Visite spread out, or both, the fact is that intervention in the negative became standard. [Fig. 4] Due to the critics and controversy that this phenomenon originated, the propagation of this trade was scarce. Even the majority of the few published manuals, concurred that the best way to learn the profession was by learning from a retoucher: “The fastest, easiest and best way to learn how to retouch photographic Figure 5 • Print without retoching and retouched
182 Rubén Morales González negatives or prints is to subjects oneself to the training of a good teacher. Those ready to do this, will not need this book or any other; in three months of constant study and expertly guidance and even sooner if you are a natural, you could be a retoucher. This pamphlet is solely written for those who cannot or do not want to learn and train under direct supervision of a master, which, we repeat, is the fastest and surest way to learn this trade”.8 The scarcity of publications of that time and later, indicate an agreed secrecy and shared with the clientele, which began to know where they could be portrayed more favourably. Photographic studios were a lucrative business, though very competitive due to the large number of them that were in the cities in different periods. [Fig. 5] Cameras, lightning equipment, emulsions, etc. were the same for everybody. The photographer made a big difference, but the biggest one of them all was the negative retouching. According to what many reference manuals observe in their introductions, more than one retoucher was bound to surpass the logical limitations of any artistic process because of competition: However, the clientele, eager to have a portrait that will not show what the mirror at home showed seemed to not have limits. Some manuals acknowledge this aspect and implored photographers to put their taste and criteria before the demands of the clientele: “some indulgent sitters, to whom nature has provided with a rather unpleasant face, often demand their portraits to be improved and complying with that needs to be avoided. […] It does not work like that in portraits. No matter how good the original, people will always think higher of themselves and demand for his reproduction to be embellished and charming (they do not dare say the word and speak something similar). This feeling prevails especially among women: thus, every photographer has a retoucher who truly is an artist that can totally transform a portrait. But they should not be imitated as, you should only moderately correct nature’s work as it is always superior to men’s”.9 4. CONCLUSIONS The proposed objectives of this work have led to the execution of a thorough historical, technical and aesthetical study both of the examples found in different archives and the reference manuals and books that covered this matter. This study has produced several conclusions related with those goals which are the following: The origin of retouching, being an extra photographic contribution aimed to embellish or idealize the portrayed, or even to overcome specific limitations of the photographic system has been around since the beginning of photography. As seen before, daguerreotype already suffered different interventions, all of them extra photographic. The evolution of retouching has walk hand in hand with the coming of each new photographic process, which has led to the existence of some common techniques and process-specific ones. The techniques born from this evolution have merely become known with a very limited number of manuals and papers. One of the reasons to explain this is the controversy that certain interventions have always arisen, setting retouching as the perfect example of the deviation from authenticity of the medium. However, as shown in the study, retouching was not only accepted but also demanded by the clientele throughout history, like in an idealized and magical aesthetic quest. In spite of this acceptance, embellishment methods have been consensually accepted but hidden from the main public.
The photographic retouching as a fundamental intervention 183 This mystery has upheld until the popularization of digital photography and its computing edition; the technique’s lack of spread on the one hand, and the ease to access and use on the other, have generated a combination of terms where the word “retouching” encompass many techniques that, at the turn of the 20th century, were not considered as such. Therefore, today’s photo retouching perception is totally distorted with regards of the precepts that were accepted since mid-19th century until the beginning of the 21st century. The study of photographic objects observed during this research work, clearly define the term retouching as well as its use. Every contribution made on both negatives and prints was done in order to correct the process’ defects, make up for deficiencies, or to embellish the final print. All of them pursue the same goal even though the degree of use of these techniques is varied. Accordingly, retouching is a contribution following the development of the negative and every intervention that comes with it, and it is aimed to chasten defects or accidents in the developing process and to idealize what is being photographed, according to accepted aesthetic cannons. The origin of retouching lies in a need of the system itself, that even having being presented as the paradigm of a truthful and realistic capture, lacked particular extra photographic aids to fulfil its goal regarding the technique and the aesthetic. Painting techniques were used towards that goal with contributions made with graphite, aniline dyes and other materials, as painting was the closest fine art to photography Even knowing that today’s definition of retouching can still be very vague there is a noticeable difference between it, and the rest of the photographic techniques. Those intrinsic photographic techniques are used to extract the maximum amount of information from the shoot through different means; retouching is an outside and idealized contribution that is placed among the extrinsic contributions. In the same way, photo techniques have developed with the history of photography while retouching has remained hardly unaltered for virtually 100 years To shed some light and order to the matter at hand, a typology of interventions has been established to help us discern what should be considered retouching and what not. Besides the conclusions related to the objectives proposed in the first chapter, other complementary ones have also arisen: The term “original” also raises many doubts not only in the art market but also in the archival and historical terms. The “negative-positive” duality only makes the consensus more difficult. The widely accepted premise is that the negative is the original. Nevertheless, the negative is not capable of producing a high quality print by itself; it cannot be seen as a work of art, but rather as an object. A series of proofing methods are needed to obtain a final print. Therefore, in the case of photography the original would be the first print accepted by the printer that will set the way to obtain future prints. The negative thus will be a necessary complement of that original and can only be regarded as original if placed beside the print, because in other case, a different printer could interpret it in a different way at any time. In the case of a retouched negative, where masks, burnings and graphite contributions have been applied, that is ready to be printed with no further intervention, it could be considered original as these contributions make any other interpretation of the negative difficult. It has to be said that, in this case, the photographic negative along with the retouches forms the
184 Rubén Morales González original. This kind of mixed originals can be counted by the millions in the archives anywhere in the world, as they are the largest part of the known photographic production. They are idealized originals, more or less far from reality and the veracity of photography, but which hold a great importance in history. And it is for this reason, due to its technical, historical and aesthetical importance that a down-to-earth and correct dissemination that will help understand retouching is necessary, no matter the controversies that have followed photographic retouching in its evolution; and of course, to widely circulate and protect an intervention as old as photography itself. REFERENCES BRUNEL, J. Los fracasos y el retoque. Madrid: Librería Editorial de Bailly-Bailliere e Hijos, 1899. HERRERA, R. (2011). “Técnicas de retoque de negativos fotográficos: historia y conservación”. Pátina, Vol. 16 JOHNSON, R. A complete treatise on the art of retouching photographic negatives and clear directions how to finish & colour photographs. London: Marion & Co., 1898. JOHNSON, R. The art of retouching photographic negatives. Boston: American Photographic Publishing Co. 1936. KÂULAK, A. C. El retoque fotográfico. Madrid: Libreria Internacional de Romo, 1921. MONDEJAR, P. L. El rostro de las letras. Escritores y fotógrafos en España desde el Romanticismo hasta la generación de 1914. Madrid: Ediciones del Azar, 2014.
NOTAS 1 Measurements are given in inches as it is today’s standard. Correspondent measurements in centimeters are as follows: 8X10”=18x24cm. 5x7”=13x18cm. 4x5”=9x12cm Please note metric measurements do not mathematically correspond with those in the imperial system; this is because there were two systems that used different plate holders, which were progressively unified from the 1980s on. 2. Negatives smaller than 4x5”, originated from cut plates, have been found during the course of this research, although it is not the general trend. They specifically come from the Kâulak Archive at the BNE. 3. (Johnson, 1898) 4. (Johnson, 1898), page 26 5. (Mondejar, 2014) page 1 6. Ídem, page 4 7. (Herrera, 2011) page 112. 8. (Kâulak, 1921). 9. (Brunel, 1899) page 125. The photographic retouching as a fundamental intervention 185
186 Nome artigo
Nome artigo 187 POSTERS
Abstract Obtaining a good pictorial retouch depends on multiple factors directly related to its realization. The restorer´s perception influences in colour reintegration and light is also important in the colour perception. Therefore we can assume the type of lighting source will be genuinely important during this process, being able to modify the result of a pictorial retouch. However, restorers do not always consider which the most appropriate lighting for a retouching is, also ignoring that light may be warm, white or cold depending on their colour temperature, thus affecting directly on the result. It should not be thought that natural light is the most suitable for chromatic reintegration, as it is not a stable source of light. This will vary its colour temperature according to environmental, geographical and time conditions. The best choice is a stable lighting source that does not change our perception of colour during the pictorial retouching process. Thereby, warm light and cool light are discarded because they bring a yellowish tone and a blue tone, respectively, that influences our perception. That is why white/neutral light is the most suitable lighting since INFLUENCE OF LIGHTING SOURCES IN THE PROCESSES OF COLOUR REINTEGRATION Beatriz Doménech García (1) | Vicente Guerola Blay (1) | María Castell Agustí (1) 1. Instituto Universitario de Restauración del Patrimonio de la Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n 46022 València; beadomga@ gmail.com; [email protected]; [email protected]
1. INTRODUCTION Colour reintegration is a purely aesthetic restoration process that, when carried out improperly, can alter and make the reading of a work confusing. The realization of a good retouching is based on the principles of respect, discernibility and reversibility, as well as on several factors that influence its execution, such as choosing the most suitable materials, the ability and the criterion of the restorer and the quality it is the most similar to natural light and does not provide any additional tonality. The purpose of this research is to analyse the several types of lighting sources based on their colour temperature and to make a comparison of reintegration test specimen with distinct illuminations, in order to establish the chromatic differences that occur in their perception. This should disclose the evidence that the type of lighting source is a very important factor to keep in mind during these processes. Keywords Pictorial retouching; Colour reintegration; Reintegration criteria; Lighting sources; Colour temperature; Visual perception. of the stucco to be reintegrated [1]. Recent studies reveal that colours are not perceived in the same way by each individual [2], because visual perception also influences on this process [3]. In addition, it has been developed researches that demonstrate that visual impairments also affect chromatic reintegration [4]. Based on the theory of colour, we know that light is fundamental in the perception of colours [5]. However, in general terms, restorers do not usually take into account the type of lighting sources for the development of a pictorial retouching, ignoring in many cases that the final result may vary depending on the use of warm, neutral or cold light. Traditionally, sunlight has been considered the optimal light source for the reproduction of colours. However, it is not normalized since its spectral distribution varies according to the time of year, the time of day... [6]. Artificial light sources rarely approximate the spectral distribution of sunlight [7], but they are the most appropriate since they remain stable. There are a wide variety of lighting sources including incandescent, halogen, fluorescent and LED lamps [8]. The last one is the subject of recent studies in the field of conservation - restoration because it does not contribute to the chromatic degradation of the pigments [9]. It should be noted that, within this great diversity, the lighting sources can be differentiated according to their colour temperature, that is, according to a simplified form of indicating the predominant tone of a white light, expressed in Kelvin (K) degrees. Thus, the classification is set in warm light, between 2800K and 3500K; neutral light, between 3800K and 4500K; and cold light, between 5000K and 6500K [10] (see Table 1). Table 1 • Colour temperature of the light and its corresponding perceived colour tone
190 Beatriz Doménech García | Vicente Guerola Blay | María Castell Agustí Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that the tone of the lighting source can influence the retouching processes, so we have proposed test specimens to prove it. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS For the development of the experimental section, specimens of reintegration have been developed in distinct colours under warm, neutral and cold light, in order to establish a comparison between them and to determine which type of lighting source is most suitable to use during this process. A total of six colours have been chosen, which comprehend in general the diversity of the chromatic circle: Lemon yellow ++205X PY3 Scarlet ++334X PR112/PV19 Red violet +++545X PV19/PB29 Cobalt blue ultramarine +++512X PB29/PB15 Green ++600X PX74/PG7 Burnt umber ++409X PBr7/PBk11 Each of them has been reintegrated under the three types of illumination, making a total of 18 test specimens. These specimens have been made in white support of Studio Lavis® cardboard, with a size of 10 x 10 cm and it has been reserved a rectangle of 3 x 7 cm in the central area to execute the reintegration. The paint chosen for the realization of this experimental section has been the gouache from Talens® brand, due to its high hiding power and because, along with watercolour, is one of the most used in the reintegration of artworks. In addition, the retouch technique used has been the tratteggio by colour selection, which is made from a selective colour synthesis (see Fig.1). Regarding lighting sources, LED light bulbs have been chosen because they are proven to be the most suitable in the field of conservation and restoration. In this practical case, LEXMAN® brand has been used, in the tonalities of the warm light of 3000K, the neutral light of 4000K and the cold light of 6500K (see Fig.2). Figure 1 • Gouache paints from Talens® brand chosen for the pictorial retouch of the test pieces. Figure 2 • From left to right: warm lighting, neutral lighting and cool lighting.
Influence of lighting sources in the processes of colour reintegration 191 Figure 3 • Results of reintegration of the eighteen specimens: 1st row, warm light; 2nd row neutral light; and 3rd row cold light. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION By comparing the test pieces, differences can be established in the reintegration of the colours according to the lighting source used. Generally, warm light and cold light give to the support a yellowish and bluish hue respectively, also distorting our perception of colours. For this reason the specimens that intervened with these two types of illumination mostly have poorly adjusted reintegration, and may be due to our visual system trying to balance the excess of yellowish and the blue tonality through retouching. On the contrary, the use of neutral light does not interfere in the same way as the other types of lighting mentioned before. In general, the test pieces present fairly tight pictorial retouching, a fact that can be explained because the neutral light does not provide any type of tonality to the support. Therefore, the visual perception can focus on the purity of the colour to be reintegrated (see Fig.3). It is noteworthy that, regardless of the type of lighting source used, some colours have presented more difficulties or more facilities to be able to be adjusted properly. One of the notable cases is the lemon yellow colour which, observed for a long period of time, can cause visual fatigue, complicating the process of colour reintegration, especially when intervening with warm and cold light. On the other hand, it is remarkable the retouching of the burnt umber colour with warm light and the green with cold light, since they are presented as the least adjusted colours of the 18 specimens, showing an intervention of a tonality little similar to the original colour (see Fig. 4) Finally, it is important to emphasize the reintegration carried out in red violet as well, because it is the colour with better adjustment results, regardless of the lighting used. This could be explained because its Figure 4 • On the left, detail of the result of the reintegration of the burnt umber colour: on the right, detail of the result of the reintegration of the green colour.
192 Beatriz Doménech García | Vicente Guerola Blay | María Castell Agustí spectrum is midway between cool and warm colours. 4. CONCLUSIONS In general terms, the retouching specimens developed demonstrate that in the reintegration processes it is necessary to take into account the type of light source to be used based on its colour temperature. The use of warm or cold light distorts our perception of colours and provides the support with yellowish and bluish hues correspondingly, with the result that the pictorial retouching is not properly adjusted to the original colour. Therefore, it can be deduced that the most appropriate light source is the neutral light, which colour temperature ranges from 3800K to 4500K, because it does not provide any tone that interferes with the pictorial retouch process, nor does it differ in the process of visual perception. Proof of this is the excellent results obtained in the six colours reintegrated through such illumination, since all of them are presented well-adjusted in general. Furthermore, this study is open to future research with distinct types of paints because, due to their material characteristics, the retouching results through distinct types of lighting may vary. REFERENCES [1] VIVANCOS, Victoria – La conservación y restauración de pintura de caballete: Pintura sobre tabla. Madrid: Editorial Tecnos, 2007. [2] SAUNDERS, David – Retouching: colour vision and optical considerations. In Conference 2000: Retouching and Filling. Oxford: Association of British Picture Restorers, 2000, pp. 3-9. [3] ARNHEIM, Rudolf – Arte y percepción visual. Madrid: Alianza Forma, 2008. [4] BAILÃO, Ana; NASCIMENTO, Sérgio; CALVO, Ana; BRUQUETAS, Rocío – Estudo de deficiências visuais para a reintegração cromática. ECR - Estudos de Conservação e Restauro, nº6. Porto: Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2014, pp. 60-89. [5] MORENO, Teresa – El color. Historia, teoría y aplicaciones. Barcelona: Editorial Ariel, S.A., 1996. [6] BRILL, Thomas B. – Light: its interaction with art and antiquities. New York: Plenum Press, 1980. [7] DE LA ROJA, José Manuel – Sistema de reintegración cromática asistido por medios transferibles obtenidos por procedimientos fotomecánicos: aplicación en la restauración de pintura de caballete. Madrid: Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1999. [8] LEDIAGROUP. Available at: https:// lediagroup.com/tecnologia-led/la-temperaturade-color-como-conseguir-el-ambiente-idealcon-lamparas-led/ [12 January 2017]. [9] LUNZ, Manuela; TALGORN, Elise; BAKEN, Jannie; WAGEMANS, Wiebe; VELDMAN, Dirk – Can LEDs help with art conservation? Impact of different light spectra on paint pigment degradation. Studies in Conservation. Vol. 62, n.º 5 (2017), pp. 294-303. [10] MUCHOSLEDS. Available at: http://www. muchosleds.com/es/content/6-temperaturade-color-calido-neutro-frio [11 May 20017].
Nome artigo 193
194 Nome artigo Abstract Chromatic reintegration in photographs is an aesthetical treatment directly in original object that aim to fill and recover chromatically missing areas to return the correct reading in images. In this case study, different methodologies were applied in two photo-albums belongs to Calouste Gulbenkian (1869-1955), an important oil businessman and private art collector who was founder of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon (Portugal). These two objects containing numerous medium-large format albumen print and some of them with mechanical damages and losses in albumen layer. They have a great value for Gulbenkian ́s history and technical quality as vintage albums, with images of Europe and the Middle East belonging to emblematic photographic studies. For this reason, photoCHROMATIC REINTEGRATION IN LATE 19th CENTURY ALBUMEN PRINTS: ANALIZING AND TESTING DIFFERENT METHODOLOGIES IN CALOUSTE GULBENKIAN´S ALBUMS Alba Guerrero Photograph conservator and Phd researcher. Universidad de Murcia. Calle Santo Cristo, 1, 30009, Murcia (ESPAÑA). [email protected]
195 1. INTRODUCTION Albumen print was the most used photographic process in the second half of the Nineteenth Century, especially between 1855 and 1895 [1]. Albumen prints are photographs with two-layer structure (fig. 1): the paper support and a very thin binder albumen coating with photosensitive material (silver salts) which reacts easily to any change, especially in the presence of moisture [2]. For this reason, in our treatment choice we need to be aware of alteration factors that could affect this photographic process, taking into account respect for the original. Reversibility and albums needed a complete study and conservation treatment for its recovery and valorization, including the aesthetical context. Some dry and wet inpainting methods were tested and compared with the aim of interfere as little as possible in photographic stability. Keywords Chromatic reintegration; Albumen prints; 19th Century Photographs; Inpainting; Calouste Gulbenkian´s albums. stability are the most important criteria for chromatic reintegration, always thinking about compatibility between original and added materials. The Gulbenkian’s albums contain 177 albumen prints and a small sample of this (about 10%) present some losses in primary support. As a part of conservation treatment, we needed to restore the integrity in damaged photographs and we try to test and choose the best option in each case, taking into account the process characteristics and sensitivity. 1.1. Before chromatic reintegration in photographs Chromatic reintegration or inpainting could be a delicate and controversial treatment that must always be performed by an experienced conservator-restorer who takes into account all the factors, intrinsic and extrinsic, that can influence when making decisions about interventions in original artifacts [3]. When we need to do an inpainting in photographs we should know: • Type of photographic process: structure character, materials, coatings, emulsions, etc. • Level of sensitivity. • Aesthetical characteristics: tonality, opacity, gloss, surface character or reflectance. • State of conservation. • Materials suitable for conservation and compatibility. • Solubility parameters in photographic coatings and materials used for treatment. • Object purpose: exhibition, storage and preservation, use etc. 1.2. Treatment purpose Conservation of Calouste Gulbenkian´s photo albums: • To restore physical and aesthetical integrity. • To improve and to help the correct image legibility. • o test different materials and methods to obtain a quality results. Asses the outcome: analysing advantages, disadvantages and risks. 1.3. Diagnosis and general damages Inadequate environmental factors and poor handling are the most
196 Alba Guerrero TYPE, BRAND AND METHODS TESTED Dry Methods Wet Methods Rembrandt Carré Pastels (Royal Talens) Windsor & Newton Cotman tube watercolours Rembrandt Pencils (Aquarell, Lyra Germany) Windsor & Newton pan watercolours Figure 1 • Albumen print structure Figure 2 • Loss in albumen print. Paper fibers and cracks are clearly visibles*. common causes of deterioration in albumen prints: High humidity can cause cracks in albumen layer and molds, light exposure, contaminants and bad quality of seccondary supports and mounting materials can cause fading and yellowing, frequently in the edges. Bad handling and storage can cause wrinkles, folds and losses (fig.2). 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1. Chromatic reintegration process in photograph lost areas (Table 1). 2.2. Chromatic reintegration medium. Watercolors, pencils, inks, anilines and even, oil pigments, have been widely used by photographers during the history to retouch final images and give the sensation of color that could not be reached in black and white photographs [4]. Of course, retouching done by the photographer and chromatic reintegration do not follow the same principles. The first belongs to the author or photographer and the other belongs to the restorer. In this case, some considerations have been based on previous researches, follow restoration criteria. In order to choose the best option, we tested four different mediums and three brands (figure 3), classified in dry and wet methods (table 2). Dry methods (color pencils, pastels) do not use water or solvents in their application. Wet methods require solvent, in this case water, to be applied and fixed. We tested two types of watercolours, in tube and pan [5]. 2.3. General procedure and inpainting methodology After previous conservation treatment Table 1 • Steps in chromatic reintegration Table 2 • Inpainting Methods STEPS INTERVENTION PHOTOGRAPH LOST ÁREA LOCATED Localize the missing area (coating loss - primary support). Secondary support, paper in this case, is visible*. ISOLATING LAYER Protects photograph of inpainting media. Acts as a sizing agent on abraded paper fibers. Increase the reversibility process RETOUCHING Inpainting medium and technique: Watercolour, pastels, pencils, inks... Rigattino, tratteggio, puntello... Finished technique: Ágata, Teflon burnisher, final coatings...
Chomatic reintegration in late 19th century albumen prints 197 phases, inpainting is one of the last steps. In the two Calouste Gulbenkian´s albums were necessary a total of nineteenth reintegration interventions. First, we located the damage photographs and loss area. Previously to chromatic medium, we need to put on an isolating layer that was applied to protect losses areas and to help treatment reversibility if necessary. In this case, selected isolating media was a solution with a cellulose ether in a volatile solvent (4% Klucel-G in ethanol) in order to minimize the amount of moisture in photograph. This protection layer also acts as a sizing agent on exposed or abraded paper fibers [6]. If necessary, we can apply an extra coat. Then, we proceed to color reintegration with selected media (fig. 4) and more adequate restoration technique in each case (rigattino, tratteggio, puntello etc.). Finally, improve the results and modify the surface character according to photograph. In some cases, we need to increase gloss with a Teflon burnisher 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In all cases, we try to use reintegration materials for inpainting and Figure 3 • Watercolours, pastels and color pencils tested. Figure 4 • Chromatic reintegration in a photograph with colour pencils. brands previously tested in other scientific studies in the area [6] to avoid unwanted reactions between the retouching material and the photograph. 3.1. Dry Inpainiting Pastels and colour pencils tested provided different results. Despite of Rembrandt Pastels have a high quality like an artistic medium, we are not recommended pastels in photograph. They provide dificult control and poor grip on the area and pigment particles can be easily separated from the isolation layer. Not recommended in cases where albumen layer is craked because pigments can be embedded and remained permanently. Colour pencils LYRA Rembrandt can apply totally dry, do not add humidity to photography and this is an advantage. They are water soluble and if necessary, give the option to work dry/wet. Also, allow a glossy finish with a burnisher. Sometimes is difficult to achieve the desired shaded with dry methods, especially in light areas. Light stability of some colors has been questioned. 3.2. Wet inpainting Wet methods tested have a high compatibility with isolation layers. Water solubility in watercolours Windsor&Newton do not interfere with alcohol solubility of Klucel G in this layer. This permit to work easily with this medium. In some cases, pan watercolours have less opacity than tubes and this is because tubes have a big amount of pigments and a greater consistency. In shadows areas, watercolour tubes need less water quantity. In any case, humidity is a risk that must always be weighed. Under prolonged light exposure, colors could fade. 4. CONCLUSIONS Albumen prints are very sensitive materials, above all in high relativity humidity conditions. If wet techniques are used, is desirable to limit as much as posible the use of water. Despite with watercolours is easier to get the desired color, in mostly cases with color pencil had good results without the need to use water. Results presented here may not be determinative, depending on the case. They have been based on the author’s experience, experimental and scientific researches in similar studies mentioned [7]. For a more substantiated results, we need to
198 Alba Guerrero do specifical research and technical analysis about inpainting materials and long-term reaction between compounds and photographic chemistry. Conservation treatments must be preceded by a previous research of materials used and then, a subsequent monitoring of environmental conditions in storage, light exhibition parameters and avoid long exposure periods. REFERENCES [1] LAVEDRINE, Bertrand, Photographs of the past: Process and preservation, Los Angeles:Getty Conservation Institute, 2009. [2] MCCABE, Constance - Coatings on photographs: materials, techniques and conservation. Washington, DC: American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 2005. [3] APPELBAUM, Barbara - Conservation Treatment Methodology, London: Amazon. co.uk ltd., 2010. [4] NORRIS, Debra Hess, Gutierrez, Jae. Issues in the conservation of photographs. Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2010. [5] WILCOX, M. The Wilcox Guide to the Best Watercolor Paints. Perth: Artways, 1991. [6] NORRIS, Debra Hess (compiler) et al. Inpainting Outline, Photographic Materials Group Catalog, AIC, Wasingthon D.C., 1994. [7] AIC WIKI. Photographic Material. PMG Conservation Catalog (2009): Treatment Procedures: Inpainting. Available at: http:// www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/ PMG_Inpainting#4.4_Inpainting_Media [28 January 2017].
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Abstract Layered systems of retouching used in the Easel Paintings Conservation-Restoration Studio of The Arts Academy in Split (Croatia) are analysed. A critical evaluation of the possibility of selective removal of individual layers from the top down is given. The evaluation is based on the data on the solubility of the resins used for the preparation of varnish and of the materials used as paint binders, which was collected from the existing literature. The research showed that selective removal of layers with the use of pure solvents is possible in only one of the six systems employed. SELECTIVE REMOVAL OF LAYERS IN LAYERED SYSTEMS OF RETOUCHING: A RESEARCH PROJECT IN PROGRESS Sagita Mirjam Sunara | Dorotea Krstić University of Split, The Arts Academy, Conservation-Restoration Department; Fausta Vrancića 17a, 21000 Split – Croatia; E-mail address: [email protected]; [email protected] ^