A Technical Study and Conservation Project of Roy Lichtenstein’s Screen
were taken under microscope, as was a sample of the clear plastic support, shaved from the very edge of the object. A sample of each type of tape was also taken at the lifting edges (Fig. 3).
FTIR, Raman, GC-MS and LDI-MS (Laser Desorp-tion IonizaDesorp-tion-Mass Spectrometry) were used in order to determine the composition of the plas-tic support, pigments (red and blue) and tapes (carrier and adhesive).
Results
After GC-MS, the results show that the clear support is not made of acetate as stipulated in all the descriptions, catalogues or even on the invoices the printing company sent to the Wad-sworth Athenaeum, but it is polystyrene. It is in-teresting to note that today it appears that PVC, polyethylene, mylar, and acetate have mostly replaced polystyrene as clear and thin plastic printing surface. Polystyrene is now mostly sold as extruded white foam. LDI suggests that the blue pigment used is PB15 (phthalocyanine blue) which was a pigment commonly used for print-ing ink. The red ink sample contains chrome red, PR63, and barium sulfate. The binder of the inks, both red and blue, is made of polystyrenes; it is a plastic ink which is specifically for printing on plastic. GC-MS identified the carrier and adhesive components of the Filmoplast-like tape as a cel-lulosic material as assumed it was; and the office tape as PVA.
These results were interesting as they led us
to develop a conservation procedure. Because the support and the ink binders were both poly-styrene and thus probably well bonded, we felt more confident that the bond was strong enough to support gentle mechanical removal of the tape.
Conservation project
After various tests, the best option was to me-chanically remove the tape and tape adhesive.
Attempts were carried out using tweezers peel-ing at an acute angle to remove the tape and various white vinyl eraser pencils of different hardness and shape were used to reduce the ad-hesive residues. Every step was carried out under microscopic observation to prevent any scratches or physical damage on the surface of the prints.
On one copy, it was possible to remove the Filmoplast-like tape carrier first by applying warm water with a very small brush; this soft-ened the tape carrier, making it removable without affecting the ink. The tape carrier was then removed with tweezers. Then, some cellu-lose powder 1 was scattered on top of the sticky residual adhesive and the adhesive plus cellulose powder was pushed away with a color shaper tool 2 without scratching the surface or removing ink. It appeared that in this case, instead of using an eraser pencil, a color shaper tool was more successful in reducing the adhesive residues. The results were very satisfying (Fig. 4).
For the acrylic-based office tape on the other
Fig. 2: Filmoplast® tape attached on the ink layer on the verso of one of the prints
Fig. 3: Sampling under microscope of the tape carrier
copy, the same treatment (without the applica-tion of warm water on the tape carrier) was car-ried out with great success as well.
Conclusion
This object had a ground breaking role in Pop Art and in art history, in terms of materials, techniques and subject matter. Sandwich and Soda was one of Lichtenstein’s first attempts to use an unusual support, in this case a thin clear plastic.
Sandwich and Soda was one of many screen prints on unusual supports, he started making in 1964.
He kept using plastic as a support, like for Sea-scape I (1964), MoonSea-scape (1965), LandSea-scape 5 (1967) that are screen prints on Rowlux, a multi-lensed effect film that can create Moire-like visual pat-terns.
Artworks on plastic and their inherent degra-dation processes is still a very relevant topic for museum’s staff. For example, at the MFA, Hous-ton, there was very recently a gallery talk called:
Spotlight on “Synthetic Supports: Is Plastic the New Paper?” (December 2011) which shows how this research falls into the trend.
Conservators now have to deal with unusual surfaces and materials, which is challenging and interesting, and requires being very adaptable in our work. This project also served to remind this author that collegiality is the most effective way to understand a complex object and its damages and chose the best option for treatment. It was very helpful to be able to ask questions about
plastics to object conservators and conservation scientists at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies to better understand the objects and treatment options.
Endnotes
1 alpha-cellulose powder, Sigma Chemical Co., No. c-8002
2 Royal Sovereign Ltd UK, Color Sharper, Firm, Taper Point, #2
References
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Fig. 4: Removal of the tapes adhesive residues with cellulose powder and a color shaper tool
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Aknowledgments
At the Harvard Art Museums: Susan Dackerman, Anne Driesse, Kathleen Ken-nelly, Narayan Khandekar, Dan Kirby, Penley Knipe, Henry Lie, Sean Lunsford, Erin Mysak, Jens Stenger
At the Philadelphia Muesum of Art:
Nancy Ash, Scott Homolka, Betty Fiske, Shelly Langdale
At the Museum of Modern Art: Karl Bu-chberg
At the Morgan Library and Museum: Mar-garet Holben Ellis
At the Brooklyn Museum: Toni Owen At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: An-nette Manick
At the Library of Congress: Linda More-nus, Elisa O’ Loughlin
At the Wadsworth Atheneum: Ulrich Birkmaier
At the Yale University Art Gallery: The-resa Fairbanks-Harris
R. Lichtenstein’s assistant: Jerry Simon
Author
Marion Verborg
Neuhöfferstraße 27-29, 50679 Köln, Germany
marion.verborg@gmail.com