AIC 53rd Annual Meeting

The Heritage Conservation Centre (HCC), Singapore, an institution of the National Heritage Board (NHB) is the centralized storage and conservation facility of Singapore in charge of managing, preserving, documenting, conserving and supporting access to more than 230,000 works of the National Collection of Singapore. Within this collection, oversize paintings, some spanning up to ten meters, have been stored in rolled form due to space constraints at HCC. Anticipating the continued acquisitions of oversize paintings, a senior collections officer’s enquiry to the Paintings conservators about reducing the diameter of the rollers to maximise storage capacity, prompted a three-year study on improving the care and storage of large paintings in the National Collection. 

Collaboratively, the conservators and senior collections officer surveyed a total of sixty-one rolled paintings encompassing traditional easel works to opera theatre and puppet backdrops on different supports and mediums. Among these paintings are works by renowned Southeast Asian artists such as Semsar Siahaan, Basoeki Abdullah, Maria Taniguchi, and others. The team meticulously documented the whole process of unrolling and rerolling of the paintings, examining and recording details such as the dimension of the rollers, interleaving materials and storage systems. 

During the assessment of the paintings' condition, historically known and expected damages resulting from the rolling system proved to be true as the members observed a rhombus-like pattern imprinted on the paintings, undulations and deformations across the paint surface and support on many works. The findings propelled the team to embark on research for solutions to improve the methods and materials used. They explored alternative storage spaces, developed a guideline on rolling paintings and established a protocol on storing newly acquired large paintings. Additionally, they aimed to raise awareness on the adverse effects of permanently storing paintings rolled among the various stakeholders including collections officers, paintings conservators, curators and art handlers. Importantly, this collaborative effort also enables collections officers and conservators to work together to prioritize paintings for stretching and storage, taking into account the available storage space and planning for areas that can accommodate stretched paintings in the future.