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hello my name is Chris Russell I’m chief

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preparator a conservator of the Art

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Gallery Greater Victoria and I’m

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responsible for the care of Emily cards

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artwork in the collection when artists

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work in a traditional manner with

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traditional media generally conservators

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are happy because things don’t go wrong

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it’s when they step outside the

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boundaries and experiment with new media

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and techniques that sometimes we run

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into difficulties and this is what

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happened with Emily cars our work

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earliest work generally our watercolors

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with traditional watercolor paper and

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good quality paints and we’ve survived

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very well for almost 100 years

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Emin his big breakthrough became in the

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1930s when she developed a technique

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invented a technique of painting with

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oil colors drastically thinned down with

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gasoline to give the effect of

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watercolor but in a much more dramatic

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color and tone although this new

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technique liberated her artistically the

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downside was that she used the poorest

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quality materials cheap Manila paper

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very thin paper which yellowed over time

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the paper which was initially

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cream color was often left unpainted in

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areas the color of the paper would have

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glowed through the paint this

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unfortunately has now turned brown over

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the years the problem for the

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conservator with a painting such as this

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which is mounted on a very very heavy

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but very acidic cardboard is to remove

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the paper without damage the processing

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involves a series of water baths

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distilled water the first bath generally

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loosens the paper the second bath then

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dissolves most of the paste or the glue

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but still a hearing then another bath is

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more of the discoloration finally when

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it seems to be as clean as can be the

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papers dear certified in a bath to give

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it an alkaline buffer at this stage the

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paper has lost the deep deep brown color

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and returned to a lighter yellow that

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unfortunately or never would completely

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the same as it was originally then of

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course it has to be framed and glazed we

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frame and clays the works using a an

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ultraviolet filtering glass or

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plexiglass finally we have to control

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the rate of humidity and temperature in

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the space in which it’s stored or

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exhibited the higher the humidity the

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more rapid the deterioration and then of

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course it’s always a danger of mold

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actual mold growing on the surface of

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paper which really disastrous ideally if

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the if the works could be kept but

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almost freezing important you’d preserve

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them from very much longer

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but it makes it very difficult for us to

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see them so

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