PAPER / PAINTINGS / DOCUMENTS

Color printed posters marked the advent of modern-day lithography. At the bottom edge of the print a serial number, and the title are printed in Italian, English and German. The print had a glossy finish. Philip Sakwa our client, is a Ugandan national who lives and works in Kenya. He acquired this print in an extremely poor condition and has since then kept it as a treasured memory of his grandmother and her home.

Madonna of Good Counsel
Color print, made in Germany
Print – Size 30cm x 39cm
Frame – Machine carved hard-wood
Hard wood frame – Size 42cm x 50.5cm
Hard wood backer secured print with iron nails
Both frame and backer are 1cm thick

Charred From Sunlight, Ingrained Soil, Bird and Insect Droppings
The Madonna was framed in a carved hardwood frame, with a wooden backer. The print was exposed to strong sunlight, with holes, tears, creases with ingrained soil and water damage. Plus, the print and frame had bird and insect droppings. Both the verso and recto were severely damaged. The framed print was brought to us all taped with newspaper and regular cello tape.

The Color Print Of Madonna Of Good Counsel, Hard Wood Frame And Backer Restored
First the print was carefully removed from the wooden backer and frame. Rust from the iron nails was mechanically removed to pry the print from the wooden backer. After humidification, the print underwent 11 rounds of washing, closely watching the stability of the print media as well as the threshold of the paper. After which we decided to stop chemical treatment after preliminary de-acidification and finished with re-sizing. The print was reinforced with strong Japanese tissue, holes filled and all tears mended before completing systematic color matching on all parts of loss of print media. The original wooden frame and backer were restored. The hard wood of the frame and backer were in good condition underneath all the caked dirt.

This is what the client had to say!
“This is of sentimental value to me because it is the only piece that is left of the history of my grandmother – it was donated to her by Catholic sisters when she was getting married – almost 80 years ago.”

Philip Sakwa
Nairobi, Kenya

Eleonara’s Garden By Pierre Alechinsky
Famous Belgian artist – Pierre Alechinsky’s ‘Eleonora’s Garden’ is a 20th century contemporary art. This unique style of combining aqua tints in free hand on Japanese rice paper is Pierre’s abstract style. ‘Eleonara’s Garden’ in black, green, yellow and brown colors gives one the sense of a fenced garden. This 1988 limited edition number 66/70, and dated and signed by Pierre Alekinsky is a priceless artwork. Our client Xavier Verhoest a Belgian artist himself has a collection of Pierre’s limited editions. Xavier currently resides in Kenya.

Stains, Holes And Loss Of Paper
This priceless original artwork was damaged from a poor framing job. The top corners were stained leaving translucent yellow rectangular marks, and the bottom corners had a hole and loss of paper when the cello tape was removed. This 90cm x 54cm artwork was framed on a highly acidic chip board that caused yellowing of the artwork.

Eleonara’s Garden After Restoration
By isolating the effects of the yellowed stains from the verso and recto of/on top corners in preparation of restoring the stains; and, returning the rice paper to original state – was carried out. The artwork was humidified, washed and re-sized in a constructed treatment tank. The damage spots were color matched on the top corners, while the bottom corners were filled with matching Japanese tissue and lined on to a Ph neutral board, before being re-framed.

This is what the client had to say!
“This artwork by Belgian artist Pierre Alechinsky is the first of a small group of etchings I have gathered over the years. After collecting the artwork from the frame maker, I noticed that he had used tape (cello tape) to fix the artwork on the board thus damaging the artwork printed on a very thin Japanese rice paper. In Feb 2016, I took the work to La Casa Sphinx- where Dipti Fernandes assessed the extent of the damage and gave me a complete report on how to proceed to restore the artwork which she did diligently enabling me to enjoy the artwork in its almost original condition.”

Xavier Verhoest
Belgian Resident In Nairobi, Kenya