Interview with fine art conservator Lynn Campbell (Part 1)

As part of our occasional series of articles interviewing professionals working in the New Zealand art industry (see for example an industry snapshot of digital fine art printing and last year's interview with Auckland studio photographer Bret Lucas on how to photograph paintings ) this week NZ Art Print News talks to paper conservator Lynn Campbell. A paper conservator's job is concerned with the preservation, cleaning and repair of art works on paper like prints.

Lynn was incredibly generous with her time and sent through some superb background information about her work in art conservation and what is actually involved in training to be an art restorer like her. So in this first article we'll meet Lynn, let you know a bit about her background and describe how you train to be a paper conservator plus try and give our readers an idea of what it's like to work in art restoration.  In our next piece Lynn will then tell us what is best practice for the long term storage and display of artworks on paper such as prints.

Lynn Campbell - Paper Conservator 

Lynn removing dirt from an artwork

When we wanted to find the best advice on how to care for fine art prints there is no better source of expertise than New Zealand's own globetrotting paper conservator Lynn Campbell.  Lynn's company here in Christchurch, Campbell Conservation, offers a full range of paper conservation, alongside fine art works on paper like old prints she also works on repairing and preserving documents, archives and even wallpaper.

Lynn teaches preventative conservation processes including disaster preparedness for collections, good handling, risk mitigation including storage and does conservation surveys of collections along with general care of art works advice for collectors.

Lynn's recent projects

Campbell has just returned from her time as a Getty Guest Scholar at the Getty Conservation Institute (motto "Preserving the world's cultural heritage to advance civil society") where she shared her professional response to the Christchurch earthquakes in the paper An Investigation into New and Recent Methods and Processes Involved in the Salvage of Heritage Collections in an Earthquake Zone. The Getty Institute has a global focus working to advance "conservation practice in the visual arts, …serving the conservation community through scientific research, education and training, model field projects, and the broad dissemination of the results of both its own work and the work of others in the field."

Another career highlight was three trips to Antarctica, as Lynn told us "I was one of the first conservators to travel to Antarctica to work on the three historic huts there. I returned twice after this to continue work on the huts of Scott and Shackleton".

Why did you become a paper conservator?

Antique print prior to restoration (courtesy Campbell Conservation)

We asked Lynn to tell us a bit about her background and how she became an art conservator who specialises in paper.  She told us that she originally came from the UK and initially obtained a BA (Hons) in fine art printmaking.  Lynn says "I was always interested in conservation but it was only after I had finished my degree that I realised there were courses available to train in paper conservation in particular".  Although she had been fascinated by museums as a child it was not until her teaching degree year that she "realised that there were courses in conservation. So I immediately applied to the Newcastle course [the "Post Graduate Certificate in Fine Art Conservation" from Newcastle University] and was accepted the next year".

Post graduate degrees in both teaching and the conservation of fine art led to her first position at the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh. Campbell then returned to teach on the Masters degree course in Conservation at Newcastle upon Tynne and just before she immigrated to New Zealand she taught basic conservation skills to archivists from throughout Africa in Zanzibar. In NZ she worked at what was the then Robert McDougall Art Gallery (now Christchurch Art Gallery) before launching her independant art conservation practice, Campbell Conservation.

What training do you need to work in Fine Art Conservation?

We asked Lynn what is taught at a post graduate course in fine art conservation.  She told us "when studying in the conservation of Fine Art on paper one has to learn a great deal about practical methods and processes including the study of chemistry and physics".   She quoted the fine art conservation course at Northumbria University which states "The ultimate goal of a paper conservator is to stabilise objects to ensure their continual existence. This not only entails state of the art treatment techniques on individual items but extends to the preservation needs of an entire collection."

"The scope of the paper conservators’ work has widened in recent years and they are often involved with issues relating to collections care such as developing and maintaining archival housing standards, exhibitions, advocacy and project management." Paper objects are particularly vulnerable to light, humidity and air pollutants as well as contact with harmful materials such as acidic backboards, pressure sensitive tapes and ill-fitting frames. Deterioration can also occur through improper handling and exposure to active mould spores. "

Next article we look forward to talking with Lynn about how to best preserve your works on paper (such as antique or artists' prints) for long term storage and display. UPDATE 12/4/12: As promised the second part of this article, "How to look after fine art prints", has now been published.

The Heaphy Lithographs

Charles Heaphy's Wellington, lithograph by Thomas Allom

International Art Centre's impending sale of "The John Leech Collection" (February 27 2013) contains a treasure trove of artworks from the stockroom of Auckland's oldest dealer gallery.  Among the lots on offer are a fine selection of early NZ prints, including lots 141-143, a set of Charles Heaphy's prints of Wellington and Nelson.  These prints feel like part of this writer's family, I have in front of me a newspaper article featuring my mother (Enid) in her late twenties where she is pictured holding one of the Heaphy lithographs of Wellington from the Alexander Turnball library (similar to the one illustrating this post) and the project that resulted in the publication of Tony Murray-Oliver's enormous book of Heaphy's watercolours loomed large in my childhood (it didn't go smoothly).  Both Don and Enid delighted in teaching us kids to spot differences both between Heaphy's original watercolours and the lithographs by Thomas Allom and the more subtle changes that occurred between editions of this set of prints.  This demonstrated to us the way the New Zealand Company sought to project a certain image of NZ to potential immigrants which we found fascinating, not viewing this embellishment as propaganda but as marketing!  So as soon as I spotted the set for sale in International Art Centre's catalogue I resolved to tell the story of this famous set of NZ prints (and for potential bidders at the sale - how to tell them apart).

Charles Heaphy

Artist - Charles Heaphy

Foremost among the surveyor-artists whom the New Zealand Company brought to New Zealand was Charles Heaphy, their draughtsman on that first voyage of the Tory. Though the details naturally differ, Heaphy's career was in many ways typical of the lives of the surveyors and artists who came to New Zealand — men of more than usual ability, drive, and foresight, who made history in their adopted country and contributed in large measure to its development and prosperity.  Heaphy came of an artistic family, and had had five years training before his appointment as artist and draughtsman — at the age of nineteen — to the New Zealand Company. After his initial landing at Wellington, Heaphy visited the Hokianga and Kaipara, and in 1840 the Chatham Islands before assisting in the first surveys of Nelson in 1841. He went back to England in November 1841, taking with him the portfolio of water-colour drawings which were to form the basis of several prints of the New Zealand Company settlements. Whilst in England he published his Narrative of a Residence in Various Parts of New Zealand.

Heaphy returned to New Zealand in 1843, and took up land near Nelson, but farming soon took second place to his passion for exploration. In February 1846, with Fox (later Sir William Fox) and a Maori guide, Kehu, he explored part way down the Buller River. The following month, with Brunner, Heaphy began a trip down the West Coast which lasted for five months, and which ranks as an epic in the history of New Zealand exploration. On his return from this expedition, Heaphy was again employed as a surveyor in Nelson until May, 1848, when Governor Grey appointed him draughtsman at the Auckland Survey Office. The next four years were spent in general survey work, but with the discovery of gold Heaphy was appointed Commissioner of the Goldfields in 1852. The next year he was appointed District Surveyor by the Auckland Provincial Council, and received promotion to Provincial Surveyor in September 1856. During the New Zealand Wars of the next decade Heaphy played a conspicuous part; a member of the Auckland Rifle Volunteers, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant and rose to the rank of Major. Heaphy won his Victoria Cross at the battle of Rangiriri, becoming the first colonial soldier and the first volunteer so honoured. After the Waikato War Heaphy's duties included a year surveying the land confiscated from the Maoris, before he was reappointed Provincial Surveyor. He now entered political life, representing Parnell (Auckland) in the House of Representatives from 1867 to 1869, and, after his retirement from the House, taking up the position of Commissioner of Native Reserves. In 1878 Heaphy was appointed a Government Insurance Commissioner and Judge of the Native Land Court, but he resigned all his positions in June 1881, and left New Zealand for retirement in Brisbane, where he died on 3rd August the same year.


The Wellington & Nelson Lithographs

Lithographer - Thomas Allom

Among the best known and most valuable New Zealand prints are the four lithographs by Thomas Allom after the watercolour drawings by Charles Heaphy. Comparison of his watercolours (now in the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington - we have some prints of Heaphy's paintings available here) with the New Zealand Company lithographs produced from them reveals several variations, the most notable being the addition of figures to the landscape. The New Zealand Company felt it necessary to show colonists actively engaged in the building of their settlements — it was feared those used to the benefits of civilisation would hesitate to come to an obviously empty country! The Heaphy lithographs appeared in several issues. Subsequent editions may have been published without intent to deceive, but the passage of time and increasing monetary value of the prints has caused them to be sold as originals, and for the purposes of this note they are termed 'redrawn'.

The most exhaustive examination of their background was published by Tony Murray-Oliver in the Turnbull Library Record, October 1971. All four views were advertised, available either tinted or coloured, as published by Smith, Elder and Company. However, they seem to have actually published only two of the four (Part of Lambton Harbour and Mount Egmont), the other two (View of a part of the town of Wellington and View of Nelson Haven) being published by Trelawny Saunders and also issued without a publication line at all, apparently from the same stones. At some later date (possibly 1891 as the fiftieth anniversary of the first edition) the pair of Wellington views and the Nelson print were redrawn and reissued. It is possible that the Egmont view was also redrawn, but no examples have been seen.  Another issue of Part of Lambton Harbour is known, published possibly about 1940 (the centenary of the Treaty of Waitangi would seem a likely occasion on which to reissue the print.) It is on modern paper, with very fresh colours, and is from the 1891 Smith Elder redrawing.  According to "Early Prints of New Zealand" in November 1970 the Alexander Turnbull Library purchased a set of the two Wellington and the Nelson view which would seem to have been a deliberate forgery. From the 1891 redrawn set, the prints are not only vividly coloured, but printed on very heavy modern paper, showing platemarks and signs of offsetting of titles — extremely unlikely on genuine lithographs, to say the least!

Whilst all these issues do not necessarily make the redrawn prints less valuable, collectors would be well advised to examine the Heaphy lithographs on offer very closely before buying from the sale at International Art Centre.

Differences between the prints
The two Wellington and the Nelson views all have several differences between original and re-drawn issues. The quickest to check are: Part of Lambton Harbour — original issue, the standing Maori at the right holds a spear with feathers near tip; redrawn version the feathers are replaced by a circle like a collar.  Part of the Town of Wellington — original issue, the house on the beach, second to the left from Willis Street, has four windows; redrawn version has only three. View of Nelson Haven — original issue has very indistinct "sunbeams"; redrawn version has marked light area.  Although obviously not the coloured prints in the upcoming auction The Part of Lambton Harbour view was also engraved, and lithographed in black and white in reduced form, for use as book illustration, (300), and in addition appeared in the Illustrated London News.

The Alexander Turnbull Library issued photolithographic reproductions of three of the original Heaphy watercolour drawings in 1963. Limited to a hand-numbered edition of 1500 sets of the two Wellington and the Nelson view, and issued at one guinea a print, the edition sold out within six weeks.  This is the set commonly known as the "Queen's Prints"; they were issued to mark the opening by H.M. the Queen of New Zealand House in London. Avon Fine Prints reproduced the lithographs, as a comparison with the Turnbull Library watercolours: the Wellington and Nelson views in 1971 in editions limited to 2000 copies, and the Egmont view in 1975 in an edition limited to 1000 copies.

Sketches by Peter Arnold - original artworks or prints?

For many years New Zealand Fine Prints along with many other galleries and picture framers stocked prints of pencil sketches by NZ artist Peter Arnold.  Arnold's drawings of popular places and buildings around NZ were originally published as prints in the 1980s. The different titles have gradually sold out over the past few years and are now completely out of print (sold out).

"One Tree Hill, Auckland"
Print of a sketch by NZ artist Peter Arnold

However as a consequence of advertising Peter Arnold prints for sale at prints.co.nz until we sold out of the very last one just a few weeks ago we received a fairly steady stream of enquiries about whether a sketch by Peter Arnold was an original artwork or not - and also enquiries as to the value of what looks at first glance like an original pencil sketch by this artist.  So if you are looking for information about this artist's work - perhaps having inherited a framed print/sketch - the perhaps unwelcome news is that you are almost certainly the owner of a reproduction print rather than an original artwork.

Confusingly these prints were sold both as black and white images and hand coloured (by the publisher, not the artist). Either coloured or uncoloured they are reproduction prints, not original (i.e. handmade - for example an etching) prints or sketches.  Their value is decorative rather than investment, nicely framed they are worth around $NZ50 each.

An example of the artists' style is the print of Auckland's One Tree Hill illustrated here - there were at least a couple of dozen scenes published in this technique and of similar appearance.

If you are still convinced that you may have an original sketch rather than a reproduction we'd recommend getting an expert in paintings and drawings to take a look at the artwork in real life, try contacting an auctioneer of fine art near you or your local city council run art gallery.

First prints of Pat Hanly paintings for 20 years!

Print of Pat Hanly's 1988 Painting "Doing It"
480 x 480mm image size $NZ69.95

Just published and available to buy today from NZ Fine Prints are the first fine art reproduction prints of paintings by NZ artist Pat Hanly to be available since the late 1980s!  In the words of the publisher "Over a career spanning four decades, Pat Hanly proposed a new manner of looking at New Zealand - the land and its people. His art heralded new ways of thinking about this country - as a nation that belonged to the young and the adventurous, to the dreamers and to those who could see the vital place the island nation could have within Polynesia and the broader Pacific."

The two paintings that have been chosen for reproduction feature on the covers of the standard and limited edition versions of "Pat Hanly", a book recently published by Ron Sang Publications. The chosen paintings are Hanly's 1988 work "Doing It" (illustrated at left) and a 1973 still life painting "Telephone Table".

The large-scale reproductions showcase two paintings from an output which "must stand as the most vivid, animated body of paintings by a single artist to have yet hailed from New Zealand."

The Printing Process - Etching

This article is the first in an occasional series of posts about printmaking techniques, this time we look at answering the common question "What is an etching?".

An etching is a print taken from a metal plate, usually copper. The design consists of lines "bitten" in to the plate by acid. When copper is placed in nitric acid it corrodes, but the acid will not harm wax or resinous substances. A ground of various mixtures is laid on the plate, and the etcher makes his design through this ground with a fine-pointed needle to expose the copper to the acid. Depending on the depth of line needed, the plate is left in the acid bath for a longer or shorter period. When a particular area of the plate is "bitten" enough, this area is coated with varnish and the acid thus prevented from further action. The plate is returned to the acid bath for deeper biting of the exposed copper, these "biting" and "stopping out" processes being repeated until the plate is judged ready for printing.

Printing is done under sufficient pressure to force the paper into the grooves cut by the needle to take up the ink: lines on an etching may often be felt with the fingers. Designs must be drawn on the plate in reverse to print correctly, and some masters of the art, such as Charles Meryon, used mirrors to copy accurately from their original sketches.