Conserving Canvas Real Time: Days 5 & 6
One aspect of an international workshop that is deeply valuable is the opportunity to make connections with other conservators from around the world. Not only with our amazing French hosts, but also with the other workshop participants. Our small group has come together from all different countries around the world: Canada, United States, the U.K., Italy, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan, and all have unique experiences and perspectives to share. In Canada, Queen's University is the only school in the country that offers a Masters of Art Conservation program, so most Canadian conservators receive similar foundational training, and then by default your local professional network has similar thought processes and approaches. Developing an international professional network allows you to bounce ideas off those with alternative thinking and experiences, which in turn broadens your own ability to approach challenges. Our fellow workshop participant who comes from Italy employs the Florentine gluepaste lining method in his studio, and so he gave a short presentation to the whole group about that method, for comparison. We found it amusing when one of our French hosts commented at the end of the presentation "it's not so different!", when really, it's very different! Different paste recipe, different preparatory steps, etc. But it was fun to compare because when you're first introduced to gluepaste lining, every step seems crucial - but then when you're taught that there are other methods in existence, your eyes are opened to the ways different conservators push and pull these materials and techniques in different ways, for different reasons - so instead of looking at the process like a step-by-step instruction manual or a one-size-fits-all solution, you can see where different avenues of thought can be introduced to meet the needs of your particular painting. And if you have an international professional network, you can then contact those particular conservators who have more experience in a particular area, so you can make a better informed decision for your own treatment direction of any particular painting.
We've of course had many opportunities to present questions to our instructors, and we have made full use of those opportunities, peppering them with questions at every turn. One question I had was the idea of a conservator removing an old gluepaste lining, seeing the canvas retained strength, and then deciding that the painting really didn't need to be lined in the first place, and so making the treatment decision to leave the painting in an unlined state. All the French conservators agreed that one can never do this, because once a painting has been gluepaste lined, the verso of the canvas will be permanently reactive due to the presence of collagen glue on the verso. Even if you reduce the adhesive, there will always be residues. This is why one must always re-line. I see now that this is why some people call the process "Relining". If a French conservator only ever removes an older gluepaste lining, and then re-lines the painting, never actually completing a gluepaste lining on a previously untouched canvas, by default, they are Re-lining. And in fact, the French have different words for historical gluepaste lining (Rentoilage) and modern synthetic lining (Doublage). A second question I posed was related to two of the paintings that were being currently treated in the studios: they had been gluepaste lined in the 1960s, and that lining was failing, and so they are being re-lined. I asked about the stability of this method, why were those two linings failing (in their expert opinion), and how long were they expecting their own gluepaste linings to last. They explained that as gluepaste linings fell out of favour amongst curators and conservators, less and less people were doing it, and skills were lost, resulting in poor technique. They are not able to say exactly why these 1960s gluepaste linings failed, but they attribute it completely to the person who executed the lining - they did something wrong. Whether it be their paste recipe, possibly skipping steps in the process either to lessen the treatment time, or because they didn't understand the necessity of some steps, or something else entirely, a gluepaste lining should not fail after 60 years, and our instructors aim for their own linings to last 150-200 years. They say they know it can last that long, because there are paintings that were lined in the 1700s that lasted that long. These structural conservators are also always doing research and tests to back up these claims.
On Saturday morning we were given a VIP tour of Musée d'Orsay, being led by another structural conservator that works regularly out of this museum. We were given special passes that allowed us to bypass the lineups (the museum was packed to the rafters with visitors) and our guide spoke about some of the structural treatments he has completed on paintings there. It was really fascinating to hear from this different conservator, because almost none of the paintings in Musée d'Orsay are lined - this is because this museum holds paintings from the industrial revolution (circa Impressionism era) to just prior to World War 2. So by default, very few of these paintings qualify for the gluepaste lining method; they are too new. So he talked in great length to us about alternative structural treatments, like localized consolidations from the front over a low pressure suction table, and also preventive measures like backing boards, vibration inhibitors during transport for loans, and loose linings (doubling up the canvas, but with no adhesive). He talked about restretching a 22 square metre (198 square foot, roughly 16' x 12') Courbet painting and needing really strong hands for that to achieve adequate tension. At one point we asked him if he thought he'd prefer to work for Musée d'Orsay instead of being freelance and having to compete for every contract, and he replied (in French, so this is roughly translated): "No, if you work for a museum, then you have to do all the little things and small jobs; I want to do only the big treatments". And once again, he thinks it's very important that the people doing these big treatments are doing them all the time in order to master the skills, and not divide their time between less specialized tasks.
For the afternoon we were given free time. So what did we do? Shopping of course! But not shopping for clothes or trinkets... we went to art and conservation supply stores! First we visited Sennelier, across from the Louvre - this is the historic art supply store where Degas and many other French artists purchased their paints and materials. Then we went to Marin, an awesome big art supply store that specializes in stretchers and canvases, which many of the structural conservators in France use. I've never seen so many options for different canvases in my life, I was like a kid in a candy store. I wish we had a store like that back in Canada! So no clothes or trinkets for me. My Paris souvenirs are varnish brushes and high purity dammar resin and high purity collagen glue.
