Paper treatment
Photograph (silver gelatin), Flemington Racecourse Melbourne Cup Day 1903
This photograph was treated in 2008 as part of CCMC's fee-for-service conservation program.
Condition
Frame in good general condition, minor losses to outer edge moulding at top right, and lower right and lower central. Frame is planar and sound. Minor surface dirt and few dots of paint. The presence of silicon sealant, packing strips made from an old mirror and the chipboard backboard indicate that the photograph was taken out of the frame at some stage and reframed with these modifications.
AUXILIARY SUPPORT:
Yellowed and brittle with numerous losses around edges, de-laminating slightly in some areas. Grey facing paper is faded
and yellowed within the area that was exposed in the frame (is darker around edges). Vertically aligned stains and tide lines
in left margin and left half of lower margin of mount suggest that water damage has occurred in the past.
On the verso, there are three bands of brown discolouration and some circular stains suggesting that there was once a
previous backboard made from wooden panels. There are also 6 vertically aligned strips of adhesive residue from double
sided tape. There are some remnants of silicon sealant around the edges.
SUPPORT:
A light buff coloured paper is visible in a few areas where there are deeper losses. It is coated with a white baryta layer. There
are some areas where loss of the baryta layer has occurred.
There are five areas around the perimeter of the photograph where the support is lifting away from the auxiliary support - one
at the lower right corner, two areas along the top edge and two areas at the left side.
MEDIA:
The emulsion layer is extremely fragile and desiccated. In the sky area there is flaking and large areas of loss. There are
numerous small losses of the emulsion scattered throughout revealing the white baryta layer beneath. Some areas appear to
have been retouched in the past. Some of these old retouchings were done on the negative and some appear to have been done
onto the photographic print.
The emulsion layer has some vertically aligned stains in the lower left and large brown patches of discolouration. There are some horizontally aligned whitish streaks from the right edge. There are a few small patches of silver mirroring in the high density areas of the image. Overall the brownish colour of the image suggests silver sulphiding has occurred. There is a black line approximately 6cm long in the lower left (beginning in the image area of the striped umbrella) - this does not appear to be a surface mark on the emulsion but is rather a mark that was in the original negative.
Treatment
FRAME:
Surface clean frame using deionised water, fill minor losses using liquitex modelling paste and balsa wood, inpaint to match
existing frame using acrylic paints. The glass was held firmly in place by the silicon sealant - it was cleaned insitu and not
removed due to the risk of breaking the old glass.
PAPER:
Surface cleaning - Surface dust and dirt was removed from the margins of the mount using a soft brush. A soft brush was also
used to clean stable areas of the photographic emulsion. Working under magnification, accretions were removed mechanically
and picked up with a pointed piece of kneadable eraser. Use of white vinyl erasers was tested to reduce dirt and staining but was
unsuccessful. Best results were achieved by surface cleaning with cotton swabs slightly dampened in 50:50 deionised water and
ethanol solution, although this was restricted because of the fragility of the emulsion. However, the tidelines at the left hand side
and the white streaks at the right edge were considerably reduced.
Consolidation - 1.5% w/v solution of gelatin in deionised water was tested in the sky area but found to cause slight darkening.
A 1.0% w/v solution in 75% deionised water and 25% ethanol was found to relax flaking areas and improve stability.
Application with the ultrasonic mister did not prove successful so the solution was applied selectively to the flaking areas in the
sky using a brush. It was also used to consolidate losses in the image area as well as losses around the edges.
The five areas where the support was lifting away from the mount were re-adhered by feeding starch paste underneath.
Retouching - Losses in the image area were inpainted with watercolours. The sky area was not retouched due to it’s fragility.
N.B. The verso of the auxiliary support was not cleaned as the photograph is too fragile to be placed face-down.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Ensure the work on paper is kept in a stable environment without fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity. For example, avoid direct sunlight and other sources of heat (fires, heaters, ducts) and humidity (bathrooms, kitchens or external walls). Despite consolidation, the work remains extremely fragile. It should not be placed face-down and should not be displayed for long periods.
Treated by Tracey Golds; frame treated by Jordi Casasyaas.