Caring for Art

Courtesy of Joseph James Patti,
www.artrestoration.biz

     One of the nice things about getting older is experience.  And that is no less true in the art restoration world.  After all these years of restoring art I am no longer surprised by the surprising and often strange things that have been done to try to fix paintings.

      There was the client who varnished his own painting -- with shellac.  The customers who tried cleaning their paintings with soapy water (dried soap leaves an ugly white film that seeps into cracks and hardens -- called clouding.)  Or the customer who tried cleaning a painting with a potato (an old wife's tale and unfortunately, very bad and very costly).

      I've seen paintings slashed by angry spouses, paintings soaking wet from being left on the floor in a garage, paintings stuck to bubble wrap and and even one painting stored in an attic which came into the studio with a gaping hole made by a little mouse who had used it as a doorway to his home in the wall.

    So, even though I would love your business to repair these problems, I love art even more and don't want to see any painting damaged.  So...here's some do's and don'ts in caring for your valuable -- and even not-so-valuable -- art.

Art don'ts (please don't even think about doing these):

• Never clean a painting with soap and water

• Never hang watercolors or pastels in direct sunlight

• Never spray Windex� or any other glass cleaner (or even water) directly on a frame or the glass covering a painting

• Never hang on a painting on just a nail in the wall (use a hook and nail)

• Never clean paintings by rubbing them with paper, towels or your hands

• Never try to clean either the back or front of a painting using chemicals. Chemicals can leach through the back of fabric and damage the paint.  Also, using improper chemicals can be extremely dangerous to your health and the health of the painting.  Art restorers wear protective masks and gloves and are trained and experienced to use the right chemicals on the right paintings in the right quantity with the right protection.

• Never assume a rip or tear can't be repaired and dirt can't be removed.  Ninety-five percent of the time a painting can be repaired.

• Never use cheap mat board or backing on valuable or antique paintings.  Good art needs conservation mat board and will only cost a few dollars more.

• Never use scotch tape of any kind of tape to mount a painting to a backer board or mat board.

• Never allow pastel or watercolors to touch the glass.  An experienced framer will place a spacer to allow "breathing" room.

ART DO'S

• Treat your art with care.  They are treasures from the past and heirlooms for your children and their children. 

• Clean dust off canvas surfaces with a feather duster only.

• Clean glass by gently using a paper towel or soft cloth sprayed with glass cleaner.

• Hang paintings by using proper sized frame hooks only.

• The backs of oil canvases and frames should not be completely sealed.  Use a dust cover that is secured to the top of the back frame and loose on the bottom.

• Have repairs done as soon as possible for any painting showing visual signs of flaking to prevent further -- and more expensive -- repairs.

Several years ago someone gave me a t-shirt with this wonderful saying.  How true.

"Good art doesn't have to match your sofa."

Thank you for browsing our pages of Fine American Antiques.  Page and photographs copyright 2007 by Neal Collier and Flomaton Antique Auction. Feel free to print these pages for personal use. Article copyright Joseph J. Patti.  Any commercial use of code or images is forbidden without permission. Hi-resolution images are available for license.