MITRA Forum Question Details

The applicability of adhesives for this purpose is sort of out my area of expertise, but I do wonder if you could not just use a magnet on both the back and on the front of the work. They would hold each other in place. The hooks could be held into place by the magnet on the front. This would allow you a removable system that would not involve adding an adhesive that will likely be very difficult to completely remove without changing the feel of the canvas and/or paper as well as any possible darkening of the adhesive residue over time.

Hi

I do understand about not wanting to have a magnet on the front. Additionally, while I did not mention this in my last post, there are always issues of too much weight and stress when adhering heavy materials to un stretched and even stretched flexible supports. I only wrote what I did because I am not sure that there are really any adhesives that are both strong enough to hold relatively heavy materials like either rare earth magnets or metal strips that would really truly reversible (in the sense that their presence or residue would be invisible when removed) if they can be removed. I suggested the magnetic answer even though it may cause undue weight stress if not used judiciously; it is the only way that I can imagine such an attachment without long-term residual problems. Again, this may also cause long-term structural problems if the substrate cannot handle the weight or stress.

However, I am a lowly painting conservator who focuses on traditional paintings. Those well versed in objects conservation, mount making, and the conservation of contemporary art may have simple answers that I am not able to provide. We will shoot some of our contacts well versed in these areas an email to see if they can offer you some more useful advice.

I can only really answer regarding adhesives on paper, as paintings on canvas are not my area of expertise. Unfortunately, I do not think there are adhesives which are both reversible and strong enough to hold a magnet to the back of the paper. I would also imagine the heaviness of the magnets would cause distortion in the paper over time. One suggestion I have would be to adhere Japanese paper tabs to the paper with wheat starch paste, and then adhere the other end of the tab to the magnet using a stronger adhesive; this way, the tabs could be removed fairly easily from the paper support or cut away from the magnet when you want to remount. I'm not sure if this would be what you are going for aesthetically, though. 

​A critical issue in maintenance of the coating on the magnets, to prevent oxidation.  The magnets can be enclosed in pouches of Washi, or similarly strong paper and the edges of the pouch can be attached to the art with starch. You can heat bond the Washi to a spun bond  material, to ensure that the verso of the magnet pouch can stand up to traffic, while leaving enough Washi exposed at the edges to provide hinging areas. I worked this out for the Guggenheim, when I was consulting, there, but don’t know weather they ever used it. The metal in the wall must also be oxidation proof and the magnets can be released with a stack of similar magnets. 
Hugh Phibbs