Amen, David.
Dario.
David Kusumoto wrote:
** 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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