Visit to Manchester City Galleries archive and restoration centre

To understand the concerns of the conservators and to see the restoration of some of the posters they had chosen to show in the exhibition, participants of the In Translation project visited Manchester City Galleries conservation studios.

Claire Grundy (Works on Paper Conservator)

“The EMB posters were printed on very thin paper that had been creased and slightly torn at the edges. I used long fibred Japanese papers of similar weight to the original poster paper with thin wheat starch paste. Once the poster was on the suction table and pressure was applied, the artwork was held securely, and could be repaired following the grain direction of the original. The suction was left constant until the repairs were fully dry so that there was no undulation across the sheet and the poster remained flat.

In terms of framing and display I wanted to give the impression that the posters were ‘floating’ in the frames, with the edges still visible. A traditional over mount would have hidden the edges, and since these posters were seen as immediate objects rather than Gallery Artworks, I wanted to replicate the ephemeral message as far as possible. I decided on a stamp hinge style with Japanese Kozo paper, which allowed the poster to be secured to a backboard, but would be invisible. The mounted items were then framed with an unobtrusive simple beech frame moulding.

I’m glad the posters have been well received, and would love to work on more of the collection in the future.” Claire Grundy