Michael Autumn is unusual in that he has invested a great deal of time and thought into the conservation and presentation of his work. This is a very technical field but he wants to preserve his art and people's investment in it. He is all too aware that conservation is about physics and chemistry and without using the right materials and techniques digital art and photography will fade within tens of years - with little or no chance of it lasting a life-time. Art, in his view, should, on the contrary, preferably last several generations - hundreds of years. This is what he has to say about it:
Art should last for ever
“Art should last for ever - or as long as technically possible. Or put another another way - why wouldn’t one want art to last forever? Some of the oldest art discovered was created tens of thousands of years ago with the most primitive tools and materials. We seem to have regressed in this respect in that a lot of the most technically advanced art we produce today only lasts tens of years!
When I talk about longevity of a piece of art I am referring to the work remaining in its original condition - its original colours, brightness, and contrast. Imagine taking a perfect digital scan of a flat work of art and storing it on a computer's hard disk. (I am of the opinion we have some scanners today that can take a ‘perfect’ scan in that a print from them are indistinguishable from the original. This is a very skilled and technical process and few people and their equipment are capable of it.) It will not fade on the hard disk because it is stored electro-magnetically or optically as millions of zeros and ones. These numbers will never fade and so in theory the image will remain in its original condition indefinitely. Now suppose in two hundred years time we scan the piece of art again (which in the meantime has been hung on a wall with average sunlight and artificial light) and directly compare the two-hundred year old scan with the new one. If the two images appear identical to the human eye then that would satisfy me that the image hasn't faded or degraded at all.
What I have outlined here is a perfect means of testing if a flat piece of art has faded over time. A perfect scan is like taking a snapshot in time of what the image looks like. The snapshot itself will never fade, whereas the art itself almost certainly will. The key question is by how much and how quickly?
How ever great a masterpiece, like Botticelli’s Primavera, may look to us today, it will have almost certainly faded since it was created. How much a painting or drawing fades depends on the materials used and the storage conditions. (And, of course, whether they have been restored at all.) Most masterpieces we see in important art galleries and museums today are kept in extremely good conditions at considerable cost. The rate of fading and degradation has been slowed down as much as technically possible while still being able to see the work. (It would be possible to reduce facing to an extreme degree - like storing the art in complete darkness in liquid nitrogen or some totally inert but removable casing - but then we wouldn't be able to see it!)”
Photography and Digital Art
“You might be surprised how short-lived photographs and digital images are. Most photographs under normal viewing conditions will show signs of fading within ten years! The same applies to digital prints from digital printers. What is it that causes this fading?
Ink: some inks last longer than others. Many companies make ink and there are various techniques for applying them to paper or canvas. Of the various ink technologies available today - dye-sublimation, pigmented inks, dye inks, thermal, solid inks, laser (digital photo processor) - certain pigmented inks give by far the best quality/colour/longevity performance.
Material: there are hundreds of different papers and canvases available today - each with their own properties and longevity characteristics. Any paper that is wood-based (i.e. most of them!) has a chemical in it called lignin which is acidic and eats away at anything its in contact with - including the ink printed on it. Cotton, pure cotton, is the best material we know that can take ink and maintain its colour and brightness. This is the brightness of the paper itself as well as the brightness of the inks on it. It is naturally insert and acid free, and we have been using cotton paper for water colour painting for hundreds of years - so we know its qualities very well.
Environment: the best print can come unstuck if it is kept in the wrong environment. Humidity, extremes of temperature, ultraviolet light, contact with malign substances, organic contamination, insects, etc. - are all enemies of conservation. Museums go to great (and expensive!) lengths to create the best environment for their works of art. Ultraviolet absorbing glass in front of the work, framing so the work doesn't come into contact with wood or glass - in fact anything other than cotton and non-harming glues - are standard practice.”
Conservation Used in Michael Autumn's Work
“I want my art to last as long as possible - what artist doesn't? But I also want to give the best possible value to my customers. I want my art to be a good investment - not something that has a limited shelf life. I have done a considerable amount of research into printing, papers, inks, and framing and have spared no expense in getting the best combination of these to produce both the highest quality and longest lasting currently available. There is a compromise between longevity of some printing/ink combinations and the quality of the reproduction. As an artist I want the best colour reproduction, vibrancy, and highest resolution. So I have steered away from very long lasting solutions where the resolution and colour reproduction is poor. I believe I use the best quality/longevity combination solution available today and continually monitor the industry to ensure I keep at the forefront of art technology.
I primarily use two print materials:
Paper: The combination of Somerset Velvet™ 100% cotton paper with Epson 9600/9800 Ultrachrome™ pigment ink, PremierART™ Print Shield coating, and UV filtered glass - has been independently tested to resist fading for >200 years for colour prints and >300 years for B&W prints. See test results
Canvas: The combination of Epson canvas with Epson 9600 Ultrachrome™ or Epson 9800 Ultrachrome K3 ™ pigment ink, PremierART™ Eco Print Shield coating has been independently tested to resist fading for >100 years for colour prints. See test results
The technology I use is as follows:
Printer: Epson 9600 & 9800. It could be argued there are better printers on the market - the Durst Lamba 130™ for example - but its prints start fading within 40 years as confirmed by independent tests and its colour reproduction is very inferior.
Inks: Epson Ultrachrome™ K3 pigment inks - currently the best colour/resolution/longevity combination available.
Paper: 100% pure cotton Somerset Velvet™ produced by the best and one of the oldest paper Mills - St. Cuthberts, UK. This paper gets the highest longevity rating by Wilhem Imaging Research.
Canvas: 100% pure cotton.
Coating: PremierART™ spray coatings are designed specifically for Epson ink jet print protection. Its low solid’s formulation protects all ink jet prints from moisture, UV light, humidity, atmospheric contaminants, and even fingerprints, while maintaining the original look. It typically doubles the life of any print it is applied to as verified by Wilhem Imaging Research.
Framing: Framing has two purposes. First and foremost it protects the art. Secondly it can enhance the art if tastefully and proportionally executed. All my framing is either done by me personally or supervised by me. I aim for the highest museum standards of conservation and the best aesthetic. Museum standards are very exacting, time-consuming, and expensive - but I firmly believe it adds considerable value to my work in the long run. All my work in the frame is surrounded by 100% pure, unbleached, cotton; never comes into contact with wooden frames, is never touched by hand.
Paper prints have a 100% cotton sink mount - the same heavyweight paper as the print itself - so it is the same thickness. Water-soluble non-distructive japanese hinges fix the print to the sink mount which is then stretched around a heavyweight 100% unbleached cotton backing mountboard. This is to stop the print from rippling. A heavyweight 100% unbleached cotton mountboard is used for the front window with a bevel window cut out. This overlaps slightly with the print and helps keep it flat. The glass is then laid on top of these three layers and all four layers are sealed with archival tape creating a virtually impenetrable unit - preventing dust, dirt, and and bugs from entering. The frame rebate is lined with aluminum archival tape so the sealed unit doesn't come into contact with the acidic wooden frame. A very sturdy, flat, and Ph-neutral backing board forms the rear structure that sandwiches the 4 layer sealed unit into the frame and provides stiffness and strength when fixed to the frame. Finally the edge of this backing board is sealed with archival tape to prevent bugs and dirt entering the frame from behind.
Canvases are stretched from behind using the non-destructive tie method with 100% unbleached cotton. Canvases are not pinned or stapled - these will only rust and eventually destroy the canvas. The stretcher is wrapped with 100% unbleached calico (cotton) so the canvas doesn't come into contact with the stretcher. The frame rebate is lined with aluminum archival tape so the canvas doesn't come into contact with the acidic wooden frame. The back of the frame is covered in 100% cotton paper for back protection and to prevent any bugs making a home there and eating/burrowing into the canvas.
Glass: The glass I use is more expensive than many prints - limited edition or not - on the market! It is the clearest, purest, non-colouring glass available (allowing > 99% of light compared to ~90% of ordinary glass). Moreover it absorbs >99% of ultraviolet radiation and >99% of reflections. It is virtually invisible - which can be a problem when handling! I firmly believe that a piece of art should be seen as the artist intended and not be subject to unpredictable and constantly changing reflections and colour shifts from glass. I'd rather not use glass at all but given that it is so important for protection and UV filtration - I want it to be as invisible as possible.”
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Michael Autumn
Cambridge, UK
March 2006
References
Conservation Mounting for Prints and Drawings by Joanna M. Kosek: published by Archetype Publications & British Museum: ISBN 1-873132-59-X
Glazing Over: A Review of Glazing Options for Works of Art on Paper by Rosie Freemantle: Tate Papers: Spring 2005
The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs: Traditional and Digital Color Prints, Color Negatives, Slides, and Motion Pictures by Henry Wilhelm with Carol Brower:
How Long Will They Last? An Overview of the Light Fading Stability of Inkjet Prints and Traditional Color Photographs by Henry Wilhelm: Read
A Review of Accelerated Test Methods for Predicting the Image Life of Digitally-Printed Photographs - Part II by Henry Wilhelm: Read
Progress Towards a NEW Test Method Based on CIELAB Colorimetry for Evaluating the Image Stability of Photographs by Mark McCormick-Goodhart and Henry Wilhelm: Read
New Test Methods for Evaluating the Humidity-Fastness of Inkjet Prints by Mark McCormick-Goodhart and Henry Wilhelm: Read
An Overview of the Permanence of Inkjet Prints Compared with Traditional Color Prints by Henry Wilhelm and Mark McCormick-Goodhart: Read
Conservation Framing: published by the Fine Art Trade Guild
Framing Fabric Art: published by the Fine Art Trade Guild: ISBN 0-9526294-1-0
Conservation Framing by Vivian Kistler: published by Columba Publishing Company: ISBN 0-938655-03-5
Framing Photography by Allan R. Lamb: published by Columba Publishing Company: ISBN 0-93865-5-05-1