Presentation Abstracts
Session 1 – Research
Compilation on Pile Rugs, Untying Restoration from Current Conservation Practices (AnnaLivia McCarthy)
The pile rug has a unique status unlike
all other textiles. It has been studied as a utilitarian object, artwork,
product of trade, and prized collectable. The restoration and conservation of
pile rugs is an equally complicated history blurred by parallel treatment and
preservation methods. The uniqueness of pile rugs cannot be attributed to a
single factor. The scope of this research is limited to the structural
stability and compensation of visual loss in pile rugs. Construction, material,
history, and previous care compound their complexity and allure. The goal of
this research is to create a compilation on the methods in conservation and
restoration of pile rugs from 1990 to present. In 1990, the Textile Museum in
Washington D.C. hosted a symposium on the conservation of Oriental rugs. While
the goal of the symposium was to spark further dialogue on the subject,
published literature has since been sparse. My methods of examination are
two-fold. Firstly, my research reviews the papers of the symposium and case
studies published subsequently to create a literature review. Secondly,
interviews with experienced conservators and restorers glean further insight,
which is then compared to the information found in the literature review.
Conclusions will draw on changes to practice over time and similarities and
differences between current methods in conservation and restoration.
Bridging Textile Conservation and Chemistry: Structural Elucidation of
Dye Complexes/Lakes (Rachel Dunscomb)
Metal salts called mordants have been included in textile
dyeing to enhance the color and/or stability of the dye and in lake pigment
production as part of the insoluble substrate to which the dye is bonded.
Although there are reports on the chemistry between mordants and dyes that
assume bonding between the dye and metal center, this bonding remains to be
fully elucidated. Focusing on red anthraquinone dyes and a potassium aluminum
sulfate (alum) mordant, this research sought to investigate the molecular structure
of lake pigments using solution and solid state 1H, 13C,
and 27Al nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and X-ray
diffraction (XRD). Synthesis of model compounds through the reaction between
alum with madder (alizarin, purpurin) and cochineal (carminic acid) suggested
the importance of an alkaline solution for solubility purposes, as indicated by
all applicable historical lake recipes which include an alkali. So far, the
carminic acid complex without an added alkali seems to be a uniform hexacoordinated
chelate. In addition, both the carminic acid and alizarin show a shift in color
demonstrating a change in the electronics of the chromophore due to the
presence of the metal ion. Although quality crystals for XRD are yet to be
fully characterized, early results with NMR show that this ongoing project will
shed light on the structure of natural dye lakes.
X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Copper-Organic Interactions Related
to Cultural Heritage Collections (Emma Heath)
This ongoing project aims to investigate the role
of copper-organic interactions within the accelerated degradation of
historically relevant materials, such as verdigris watercolors and cellulose
mordanted with copper sulfate. This project uses X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy
(XPS), supplemented with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and
Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). Results from this
investigation will be applied to historic collections and the development of
conservation treatments for cultural heritage materials.
Session 2 – Preventive and Treatment
Making a Mount: Preserving the American Flag from the Matthew Henson
North Pole Diorama (Vivien Barnett)
During the ARTC-464 Paintings
Conservation Internship, and in addition to on paintings conservation, I
performed a preventive treatment. Under the supervision of Dr. Joyce Hill
Stoner and Laura Mina, I created a mount for the shattered American flag that
was part of one of the African American dioramas from the Tuskegee Legacy
Museum, too fragile to reattach to the diorama. After discussing my goals with
my supervisors and William Donnelly (Textile Conservation Studio), we decided
to create a pressure mount as a sealed package because it would be the least
invasive and visually distracting method suitable for both storage and display. I created a prototype of my mount to
ensure that this method would work, using a sample of shattered silk to
represent the flag. The layers of the mount consisted of a padded board made
with polyester batting and a blue, plain-weave cotton show fabric over
mat-board, Optium Acrylic as a substitute for glass, and layers of blue board
and Coroplast to fill out the space in the frame. The package was sealed with
J-Lar tape so that the layers can be seen from the sides and to maintain even
pressure for the flag to be mounted. Once I saw that this method was a success,
I created my final mount. I also had a reproduction flag digitally printed to
insert into the diorama in its place.
A summer at Curatorial Assistance – Digital and Physical Cleaning of Photographs (Hannah Blank)
E.O. Hoppé was an English travel photographer who was active around the turn of the nineteenth century. Graham Howe, Curatorial Assistance's CEO, acquired Hoppé's collection from a photographic library after they were mixed in with stock photos. During the summer of 2018, I was employed by this company. At the time I was working, we were focusing on an Hoppé's exhibit that will to travel to Australia. My main focus was on cleaning (both physical and digital) photographs. Although the digital cleaning made up the bulk of my work, I also did physical cleaning. For digital cleaning, I used several photoshop techniques to remove scratches, dust, and make high-tech revisions of some of Hoppé's own low-tech corrections, e.g. he was very fond of scribbling things he didn't like out on his negatives with pencil. It is interesting to consider what digital restoration might mean for preserving the artist's intent while also preventing unnecessary interference. Physical cleaning, on the other hand, involved de-silvering and de-pinking the negatives, which were fragile after a hundred years.
Inpainting for a 19th-century Thai Painting (Sydney Cole)
This presentation will
discuss inpainting materials and approaches for ACP 1645, Buddha Descending from Tavatimsa, owned by the Walters Art Museum. I
have been carrying out retouching on this painting since early July 2018. The
painting formerly belonged to Doris Duke and was stored in her New Jersey
residence where it sustained damage during a hurricane. This large
two-piece panel painting has been in the paintings conservation studio at
Winterthur since February 2016. Upon arrival, it had to stay in a horizontal
position because much of the paint was flaking off. The technical
examination of the painting and the design for consolidation was carried out by
Ellen Nigro (WUDPAC, class of 2018); consolidation was carried out by a number
of students and was finished in December 2017 by Paula Pérez-Benito, a visiting
doctoral student from Valencia, Spain. Pérez-Benito also suggested using
Golden Qor paints (soluble in water, ethanol, or acetone) and inpainted a small
test triangle in the upper left. After approval of this approach was by the
Walters Museum’s curators and conservators, and given my interest in the
conservation of East Asian paintings, I have used combinations of the Italian
tratteggio approach and slight suppression of selected drips with glazing.
The Treatment of a Pinto-Gila Polychrome Vessel:
Problem-solving during the 2018 Arizona State Museum Pottery Blitz (Bellie Fichtner)
During the summer of 2018, I
participated in the Arizona State Museum Preservation Division’s Pottery Blitz.
During the Blitz, supervised by Dr. Nancy Odegaard, the lab completed the bulk
and systematic treatment of approximately 70 Southwest Indian ceramics. The
majority of these ceramics were poorly reconstructed and restored prior to
being donated to the museum. Each posed differing conservation issues. In
addition to addressing the valuable treatment atmosphere fostered by the Blitz,
I will discuss the complete conservation treatment of one ceramic: a Pinto-Gila
polychrome bowl that posed unique challenges and required inventive solutions. I will explain the full treatment of
the vessel, which included tape and adhesive identification and removal, disassembly,
reassembly, filling, and inpainting. I will also touch briefly on the ethics
associated with treating archaeological ceramics.
