Inpainting a Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec print

Paper Conservation

Paper means a lot of things.

Our conservators can help with anything paper-based, from 17th-century deeds to modern works of art.

We’ve helped local governments stabilize their 18th-century document records, flattening creases and creating long-term storage boxes. We’ve brought one-of-a-kind watercolors back to life through careful surface cleaning and stain reduction. One time, we uncovered previously-unknown sketches by Cezanne. 

We’ve treated:

  • graphite and ink drawings
  • watercolor paintings
  • pastels
  • etchings, engravings, woodcuts, lithographs, and other prints
  • maps
  • fraktur
  • screens
  • letters and other hand-written documents
  • posters
  • architectural drawings and blueprints
  • scrolls
  • historic wallpaper
  • diplomas
  • parchment deeds/documents
  • modern art on paper
  • baseball cards
  • paper globes, lanterns, and other three-dimensional paper objects

Services include:

  • surface cleaning
  • tape removal and adhesive reduction
  • varnish and lamination removal
  • mold remediation
  • stain reduction
  • inpainting and media consolidation
  • washing
  • calcium phytate treatment
  • removing damaging linings and mounts
  • mending tears and filling losses
  • humidification and flattening

Related

Inpainting a pastel

Treatment FOCUS: Amos Ashanti Johnson's Pastels

Treating pastels is always challenging due to the delicate, crumbly nature of the media. They also present handling and transport issues that must be considered during housing. When two large pastels from the University of Delaware Museums came to CCAHA, conservators had to balance improving their...
Cleaning surface dirt with grated white vinyl erasers

Treatment FOCUS: Dali's Playing Cards

The name Salvador Dalí often conjures up images completely removed from reality—melting clocks, spindle-legged elephants, or disembodied limbs. But a recent treatment at the Center reminded us that the works of Dalí were far more nuanced than we often think, toying with reality in different and...
Removing tape from a sketch

Treatment FOCUS: Feliks Topolski's Wartime Sketches

Born in Warsaw in 1907, Feliks Topolski moved to England in 1935. Topolski is remembered as a talented draughtsman, muralist, and chronicler. He painted the 1959 Coronation murals of Buckingham Palace and ran a serialized publication, Topolski’s Chronicle , for several decades toward the end of his...
Rare earth metal mounting of folded album

Treatment FOCUS: Mounting Ilya Kabakov's The Short Man

Russian artist Ilya Kabakov lived through three tumultuous decades in Moscow during the height of the USSR. From the 1950s to the 1980s, his work spanned a variety of media and subjects as he fell in and out of favor with the Soviet regime. In his capacity as a member of the prestigious Union of...