Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.17018/portal.2019.9
Use of Neodymium Magnets for Mounting Large Artworks on Paper
Majda Begić Jarić
orcid.org/0000-0002-9343-4662
; Croatian Conservation Institute, Section for Paper and Leather, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Conservation and restoration of two 19th-century ceiling medallions (160 cm in diameter) from the AdamovićHellenbach-Mikšić manor house in Sveta Helena near Zagreb took three years (2013–2016). The work was carried out at the Section for Paper and Leather of the Croatian Conservation Institute. Medallion I and Medallion II, which were heavily damaged, consist of a decorative wooden frame and a gouache painting on an industrial paper carrier which was glued to another paper carrier. The paintings were glued and nailed to wooden boards of the decorative wooden frame. Even though the conservation process was quite challenging, solving the problem of mounting gouache paintings on paper into frames, possible final presentation, storage and returning the restored paintings on paper to the existing wooden decorative frame led me to a more innovative mounting method. An art-friendly, simple, fast, reversible and easy-to-execute design needed to be devised in order to avoid the usual method of mounting restored gouache paintings on paper by placing them directly on the baseboards of a decorative wooden frame. A prototype for mounting a gouache painting on paper into a wooden decorative frame was designed and monitored for several months in varying climatic conditions (from winter to early autumn). Satisfactory results of the mounting method showed that a circular painting on paper of large dimensions can be safely glued to Japanese paper that serves as a new support and assumes the role of the carrier that is additionally mounted in a circle on a solid support made out of acid-free cardboard using strips of Japanese paper. The paper-mounted gouache painting on its paper carrier is stable and fixed, so neodymium magnets of adjusted strength can be glued to the back of the cardboard in a radial arrangement. The magnets are mirrored on the wooden base of the corresponding decorative frame and the archival cardboard that serves as the support for the restored artwork. The painting on paper and archival cardboard is very carefully lowered, connecting two different materials that do not touch. This was the first time that this simple, reversible and financially acceptable method of mounting a painting with neodymium magnets was performed at the Department for Textiles, Paper and Leather of the Croatian Conservation Institute.
Keywords
magnets; mounting; prototype; art on paper; large format; manipulation; conservation and restoration; gouache
Hrčak ID:
231892
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2019.
Visits: 1.580 *