Another Oversized Problem

[Framar]

Boy oh boy do I have a problem for all you experts to chew on! Yesterday a customer brought in some artwork done by her grandfather, a local artist of some note (A. Raphael Beck, 1860-1948), and one of the items she showed me was a piece of thin cloth, 42x99, with an image 41x93. This cloth is thinner than sign cloth, thicker than a bedsheet. It has thin ground and I am guessing casein paint with gold oil-based accents. It is a painting of one of the stations of the cross. And yes, she has all twelve! The painting has never been stretched onto bars (no creases) but it does have holes along the top edge from thumb-tacks.

This artwork has been folded loosely for over 50 years, some creases, but not bad. The cloth seems fairly strong. She wants to preserve these paintings, perhaps donate them to a church. I don't think she is ready to frame them, but we did discuss stretching them. I was thinking about polyflute on top of a strainer, or maybe AF foam?

If I were to affix this to a strainer, what should I use? Obviously stapling would be out, I am flummoxed.

H E L P !!!!!!!

[thanks!]

 

[preservator]

Stretching paintings puts great strain on
the fabric and the paint layers. This is
especially true in the corners of the stretcher. Paintings that are done on fabric
that is thinner than artist's canvas should
be stretched by a conservator, so that the
risks involved can be managed. This can be
a problem in the case of tourist quality
paintings done in the Third World that have
little initial value but which are difficult
to replace. In your case, the paintings have
enough value that careful storage makes more
sense until their ultimate destination has
been determined.

Hugh

 

[Framar]

Since I already described the customer and her artist grandfather, I thought I might add my latest dilemma to this thread. BTW, the large ones we decided to roll for now, I prepared a long tube, covered it with acid-free-paper, covered it with acid free tissue and gave the customer a Light Impressions catalog so she can order some long acid-free boxes and some tissue. We are making a collection of items for her to take to a conservator. In the mean time...

She is framing a number of small paintings on paper, board and canvas. Most of these are straightforward jobs, but she has 7 9x12ish paintings on heavy linen canvas. These I have cleaned (they have been stored in a basement for 60 years, covered with soot.) The problem with these is that they have never been stretched and the artwork is to the edge. They are quite stiff. I want to frame them with linen liners, then glass, then outer frames.

Does anyone forsee any warping problems? My plan is to back them with 4-ply rag and corroplast. They are small enough that I don't THINK they will need any form of fastening to the backing, but I am not sure. They have endearing little price stickers on the back ($10 and $15) plus several are signed there as well.

My customer's goal seems to be to preserve these historic paintings for eventual presentation (ie a retrospective showing) and to enjoy them in the meantime.

I would appreciate any ideas y'all might have for framing these little paintings. They are simply fabuluous and if they were for sale at, heck, even $20 I would buy them all!

Thanks!

 

[Framar]

Ok, fellow grumblers, I just noticed that those little symbols at the top of each post would now lead one to believe that I have a "homepage." When clicked on, "This page cannot be displayed" comes up, because I DO NOT HAVE A HOMEPAGE. I just redid my profile to include the name of my shop in the part that said "name of business OR address of homepage."

 

[Susan May]

Framar, without seeing the actuall canvas, it is hard for me to know how to frame these paintings... but with that said...

My concerns with the paintings is, if they are not mounted in any way, they might sag in the frame, and that will crack the paint. Canvas is designed to bend. Putting paint on it will only make it stiffer. Most paint has a little bit of bending properties, but it will crack if bent too far. Standing the painting on it's edge, even in a frame, without mounting, will put stress on the canvas, and cause it to bend.