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Painting Conservation Department An Insight into Tate’s Painting Conservation Department TEACHER AND STUDENT NOTES DOWNLOADABLE FULL COLOUR A4 IMAGES SUITABLE FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF KEY STAGE 3-5 By Maddy Jacobs and Alice Higgins, AS students Supervision: Rachel Barker, Annette King, Laura Mills, Painting Conservators Coordination: Pascale Guychard, Schools and Teachers Curator All photographs ©Maddy Jacobs Close up of Cornelius Johnson Unknown Lady 1659 AN INSIGHT INTO TatE’S PaiNtiNG CONSERVatiON DEpaRTMENT FOREWORD An Insight into Tate’s Painting Conservation Department was written by two AS students, Maddy Jacobs and Alice Higgins, who were given an exclusive insight into the fascinating world of conservation. Maddy and Alice spent a week at Tate Britain in July 2009 researching this pack which is aimed at teachers and students who want to know more about what it is like to work in an art gallery. We hope that these teachers’ notes will increase awareness of the fascinating life of art works behind the scenes, and inspire many young people to become conservators. Most of Maddy and Alice’s week with Tate’s Conservation Department was spent focussing on paintings, but they also looked at other areas, including the work of administrators, technicians and practical conservators. This provided Maddy and Alice with an understanding of the huge variety of work that is required to make this essential part of Tate run smoothly. 1944-47 The Hanging Gardens of Hammersmith, No.1 Pasmore Laura Mills, Painting Conservation Fellow, demonstrating the surface cleaning of Victor Acknowledgement This pack could not have been produced without three members of the conservation team who have overseen the writing: Rachel Barker (Paintings Conservator), Annette King (Paintings Conservator) and Laura Mills (Painting Conservation Fellow). I would like to thank them warmly for their precious contribution. Tate Online www.tate.org.uk Tate Schools and Teachers www.tate.org.uk/schoolsteachers 2 TatE CONSERVatiON DEpaRTMENT: AN INTRODUctiON For every painting, drawing, sculpture or installation in a gallery, there is a team of specialists working behind the scenes, ensuring that the artworks are kept in the best possible condition not just for the present, but for the future too. Tate has a large conservation department that has grown from three members just over 50 years ago to nearly 60 today. It is split into seven teams - science, painting, frames, paper, sculpture, time- based media and a technicians’ workshop - each of which has a very different approach and a wide range of skills. The conservation department aims to care for Tate’s extensive collection so that future generations can continue to enjoy it as we do today. The transportation of works when they go on loan, and their daily exposure to artificial light and dust, take a considerable toll. The conservation team works hard to prevent damage before it happens, whilst honouring the artist’s original intentions. Although most of the studios are based at Tate Britain, the conservation department also looks after artworks at Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St. Ives, as well as spending valuable time at the Tate Store – checking artworks in minute detail for imperfections before they are shipped around the world. A good conservator needs both a wide knowledge of art and an awareness of the latest scientific and technological developments to ensure that artworks receive the most appropriate and effective treatments. The training can take over seven years, making conservation a challenging, but hugely satisfying, field to work in. Rebecca Hellen, Painting Conservator cleaning J.M.W Turner Mercury sent to Admonish Aeneas 1850 3 CONSERVATION PRINCIPLES PRESERVatiON A conservator aims to preserve a unique work of art in perpetuity. Both the physical art object and the ideas behind it. It is a key factor of conservation that an artwork is preserved within the specific context of the time of the artist, and that it is shown in the most authentic way possible – as it was at the moment of its completion. A conservator needs to have a sound grasp of art history and be sensitive to the artist’s intentions. REVERSIBilitY When conserving an artwork, the conservator must be able to justify every intervention, no matter how minor it may appear. To preserve the original features and materials, the vast majority of procedures should be reversible. A conservator must have a strong justification for any permanent change, and should document this clearly. CONSERVatiON OR RESTORatiON? Conservation is a blanket term which covers all aspects of preserving and caring for artworks. Restoration is a conservation process which generally involves making physical additions to artworks as a way of preserving them. A variety of methods are used to repair damage and stabilise artworks and restoration can be approached in several ways. For example, painting conservators sometimes cover an area that has been damaged or lost with a neutral colour to reduce its impact; at other times they imitate the original paint to disguise it. It is an important principle of conservation that the conservator should stay true to the artist’s style, technique and intentions. Conservation also involves preventing the deterioration of an artwork, and this is a large part of the Tate conservators’ work. Activities that might be considered preventive conservation range from adding backboards to paintings to advising on packing and display conditions. INdiVIDUalitY It is important that conservators look at each artwork in isolation. They should never make assumptions about the materials and techniques used in a particular work based on an artist’s general output, in case the artist is experimenting and the work does not conform to type. A thorough analysis of the individual artwork is essential to find the appropriate treatment. This highlights one of the advantages of working on art by living practitioners, who can give exact details of the materials and techniques they have used. View Britain of Tate painting conservation studio 4 MaRK ROTHKO CASE StUDY BY AlicE HiGGINS During my time with the Paintings Conservation department, I was lucky enough to visit the Tate Store where all art works are kept when not on display or loan, and where paintings are packed and checked before being sent on loan elsewhere. At Tate Store, I was able to witness some Rothko conservation. Having been delivered back from Japan, three enormous Rothko paintings were waiting, concealed in their special packaging. With the help of specialist art handlers, Rothko’s work was delicately unwrapped. It was possible to see how important transportation is, as there were many protective layers to help the painting if it was accidently dropped or knocked during its travels. Paintings are fitted into wooden transit frames which are then wrapped in polythene. Foam padding inside the wooden case limits any possible damage, but the paintings fare best if they are allowed a certain amount of movement. Watching each painting being unpacked was nerve-racking, as this is the point at which the conservators need to check whether any of the paintings have been damaged or altered in any way while on loan. Each painting has its own special file, which gives conservators every detail about the painting in question. They unpacked Black on Maroon first. The notes in the file showed that the painting had been re-stretched and reworked. Shining a torch light across the surface, it was possible to look at the canvas in more detail. This enabled us to see whether there was any new damage or change. Having a photo of the painting before it travelled made it possible to compare the state in which it is now to its previous state. Moving the light at an angle above and across the surface, it was possible to see parts of the painting that normally would not be visible in a gallery. Being this close to Rothko’s work was incredible, as it showed his work from a different point of view. Lastly the conservators had to record and date any new changes to the painting; we did not find any major changes. The next two Rothko paintings were both called Red on Maroon. We used an ultraviolet light to show the different layers of paint used, making them fluoresce in different colours. Wearing protective glasses, it was possible to see what was original as the light spread across the surface. Seeing the painting in this special light was amazing, as there were so many inconspicuous details that usually would not be noticed with the naked eye. Under the light I noticed brush strokes and some cross hatching that I hadn’t noticed when standing at a distance. By looking at all three paintings in these conditions it was apparent that no damage needed to be recorded. As the paintings were very light sensitive, they could only be in bright light for a very short time as there was a risk of damage to the pigments. To reduce the risk of the paint colour fading, the Rothkos will be kept at the Tate store for six to twelve months to give them a rest from light exposure. 5 Checking Mark Rothko Black on Maroon 1958 6 CORNEliUS JOHNSON CASE StUDY BY MaddY JacOBS One of the more common processes that a conservator carries out is cleaning paintings. Those on display in the galleries collect surface dust at an astonishing rate, so a basic surface clean is a routine part of any conservator’s work. However, sometimes paintings will be taken off display, or out of the store, so that conservators can carry out a more thorough clean using a variety of methods, including saliva - rather crude perhaps, but extremely effective. Looking around the department, I can see a painting by Cornelius Johnson (Unknown Lady, 1659) being cleaned.
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