** I grow tired of pupils from the "no linen-backing, no restoration" school
applying their "rules" to larger "art" items like movie paper filled with
acid. This is a zero-tolerance attitude that feels TOO absolute. If you
collect antiquarian hardbacks, comic books or magazines, you can't restore
without hurting value. But what good is owning larger movie paper that will
crack or crumble to dust even if handled with latex gloves?
** We're not talking about furniture or a Tiffany lamp whose value plunges
after its "patina" is cleaned off or "restored." Parchment lasts longer,
but it isn't paper. The life span of paper decorated with colored inks is
near zero by comparison. As I've said before, for some people, presentation
is everything. To me, there's nothing wrong about linen- or paper-backing
items that will extend its life and make 'em look better with a few minor
touch-ups. Slabbing would drive me out of the hobby because you can't
display slabbed posters and it opens up a can of worms about UV and fading
and other crap. Besides, Rich is correct. Poster collectors are a tiny
bunch that wouldn't fill a nice-sized yacht. It'd take an ocean liner to
accommodate the number of comic and coin collectors who live in the USA
alone.
** Look at how museum curators in NY or SFO treat their paintings and
drawings and even movie paper. In some cases, they're looking at
preservation AND restoration. Without restoration, Vermeer's "Girl with a
Pearl Earring," Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" or Rembrandt's "Night Watch" would be
non-existent today or display with many flakes of pigment missing. There's
controversy about restoring frescoes like Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, but
less debate about restoring framed art. So when I hear people declare that
movie paper restoration is "illogical" -- I respond with this: IF restoring
art on canvas, a material MORE more durable than an acid-filled poster -- is
embraced by museum curators, than WHY NOT framed paper as well, so long as
it's NOT over done? For ex., at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, there are
several three-sheets on display. They're linen-backed and not over painted.
At the Academy Awards' corporate offices on Wilshire Blvd., there are a
mix of linen-backed/restored and unrestored posters also on display. Some
I've seen even look dry mounted on foam core.
** I prefer unrestored paper, but I've got NO problems buying vintage
posters backed and "touched up" so long I know what was done, as now
practiced by Bruce and Heritage. Yet some declare sacrilegious -- the
practice of de-acidifying, cleaning, backing and conservatively restoring
old movie paper. They insist flaws ADD "character." ADD what? Flaws can
underline how old a poster is, and in some cases, they may add "charm,"
whatever that subjective word means. But the type of flaws on a poster --
and how many -- will determine whether anything can be ADDED and PUSHED into
the "plus" side of the column while judging the sum total of a poster's
sentimental or $$$ value.
** Yet I know people who will "die on the hill" -- declaring tears, folds,
stains, creases aren't "really" defects -- IF a poster is at least (fill in
the blank) years old. Well, I won't display an unrestored insert on paper
or linen that's crinkled and looks like it was sprayed with rust water.
"Rust" and about 30 tape stains and crinkle "chunks" may ADD "character" --
but at what point do they transform a poster into a large and brittle
newspaper with colored inks -- held together by linen with zero touch-ups?
The reason I think collecting newspapers and pulp magazines is mostly
inexpensive is because the acid has turned 'em into yellowed crap and few
exist, defect-free, despite being printed by the thousands. I collect 'em
for historical reasons, but I won't display 'em.
** I agree bad restoration of an old poster is more horrific than leaving
that same poster untouched. But in my view, there will ALWAYS be a need for
great poster restorers. So any effort to start a tidal wave against
restoration of movie posters -- will always be a non-starter for me.
-koose.
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