July Issue 2002
Conservation Efforts Key to Future of The
Birds of America
Museum's Audubon Exhibition
Calls Attention to the Frail Condition of this Rare Work
Two hundred and seventy three species of birds around the world are either endangered or threatened, according to the U. Fish and Wildlife Service, and recovery plans are underway for 75 species in the United States. While the 435 "portraits" of birds in the North Carolina Museum of Art's collection are hardly threatened with extinction, the need for conservation efforts in this regard remains critical - as demonstrated clearly in the Museum's exhibition Selections from The Birds of America by John James Audubon, on view July 14 through Dec. 1, 2002.
"The Carolina parrot became extinct in the early 1900s and the ivory-billed woodpecker has long been feared extinct as well," said exhibition curator Huston Paschal, the Museum's associate curator of modern art. "But in Audubon's work, these species live on, with seven Carolina parrots perched on a 'cockle-bur' and a trio of ivory-billed woodpeckers displaying their distinctive plumage. The beauty of Audubon's work transcends the current condition of the prints, which have deteriorated over the last century and a half, and significant conservation work has been done for the prints on view in this exhibition. But it has long been the Museum's dream to have the entire double-elephant folio restored as closely as possible to its original grandeur."
Fewer than 200 bound sets of The Birds of America - termed "double-elephant folios" because of their monumental size - are known to exist today. The State of North Carolina purchased its copy of the books in 1846, and until their transfer to the Museum's collection in 1974, the books were available for general public use in the State Library. As a result of more than a century of handling and the oxidation associated with aging paper, the plates have suffered damage including soiled, creased and torn paper, and the half-leather and paper bindings of the books themselves have deteriorated beyond repair.
Years ago, the Museum began conservation efforts on the prints by unbinding several of them from the folios, surface-cleaning them and framing them. For this year's exhibition of these works, more substantial repair work was completed on this selection of prints.
"We completed two phases of conservation work on the prints in this exhibition," said Bill Brown, the Museum's chief conservator. "Remedial treatment was completed on some prints in-house while others were treated by a paper specialist in Greensboro, NC. And all of the prints on view will be reframed with new mat board, glazing and frames. But while this has ensured a beautiful presentation of these prints for our visitors, we have 400 more prints and the folio bindings themselves still in need of considerable attention."
As the first page of the first volume, the Wild Turkey received significant handling over the years and was the most in need of repair work in preparation for this exhibition. Michael Lee, a Greensboro conservator specializing in works on paper, extensively restored this print, redoing older conservation work, correcting long tears to the paper, cleaning soiled edges and rebacking the print with "kozo" Japanese paper to stabilize the integrity of the new treatments.
"We sent a total of 12 prints to Michael for repair work that took over two months," said Brown. "In addition to tears and soiling, Michael also addressed issues of cockling, or wrinkled paper, and corrected general distortions to the image."
In addition to the Wild Turkey works sent to Greensboro included the Carolina Parrot, Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, American White Pelican and Vigor's Warbler. These newly conserved works - along with an additional 11 prints, including Bachman's Warbler, Canadian Goose, Snowy Heron or White Egret, Trumpeter Swan and Golden-Eye Duck - will be hinged with small Japanese paper tabs onto rag board in preparation for final framing for the show.
To frame the prints, David Beaudin, the Museum's frame conservator, is not only using an oak burl veneer frame and new mat board but is also taking a novel approach to the process and drawing on new technologies.
"In the past, we've treated these prints in the conventional way of presenting them within a matted window," said Beaudin. "This time, we're floating the prints on top of the matte, creating almost a shadowbox effect, where you'll be able to see the page in its entirety, even the wrinkling around the edges."
Beaudin is also using new glazing technology donated by Tru Vue, a leader in conservation framing. These anti-reflective acrylic sheets are installed to preserve approximately a quarter-inch of air space between the inner surface of the acrylic and the surface of the print. A lightweight, less expensive alternative to more costly framing procedures, this glazing not only provides a protective buffer for these fragile images but also eliminates glare to ensure an improved viewing experience.
In the exhibition, two untreated folios on display in glass cases within the galleries will underscore the need for further conservation work on this important document. Restoration of the folios will require unbinding the more than 400 plates still bound, treating them and rebinding them - an expensive, time-consuming process complicated by the presence of hand coloring on these pages.
"A full restoration of our The Birds of America would cost more than $250,000 and require at least a full year of work," said Brown. "Because our staff doesn't specialize in works on paper, our conservation laboratory is not equipped to handle a project of this scope, and we don't currently have the funding to commission such a major undertaking."
A campaign is underway to raise the funds needed for this project, and the Conservation Department has already identified experts who would be able to complete the work - laying the foundation for realizing this long-standing goal.
The Birds of America is one of the landmarks of American art and of publishing history," said Paschal. "Our set of these books remains a significant part of the state's history just as Audubon's accomplishment is a glorious part of our nation's cultural legacy. As custodians of this work, we should make a concerted effort to conserve this remarkable document."
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