Since 2007 all unframed works have been assessed and 190 items selected for conservation treatment.
Many of these are on cartridge paper torn from sketchbooks. There are handmade papers, ‘Ingres’ laid and ‘Fabriano’ wove papers. Whatman papers and boards were used for some of the earlier works. There are also lower grade papers, for example tracing and school exercise book pages. The wide variety of materials used by Kyffin include (often thickly applied) soft pencil, chalk, charcoal, pen or brush and Indian ink, watercolour pigment, gouache, fixatives and more recently felt pens.
Damage consists of surface dirt, pest debris, tears, losses and creasing; deterioration from self adhesive tapes and blu-tack. Many objects have oil paint splashes, liquid staining and finger marks; though these characteristics are regarded as part of the original art work. Evidence of poor storage and handling is predominant. Some of the thickest inks and gouache have cracked and lifted, and certain papers have mould, foxing and acidity.
The aim is to implement minimal preservation treatment to stabilise: surface cleaning, tape and glue removal, lifting from extraneous papers and boards, Japanese tissue repair of damage and removal of disfiguring creases. The use of 2200mic museum board for mounting will give protection to thicker papers, inks and pigments.
Kate Newton