Restoration of Pastels, Drawings and Works on Paper in Paris
A pastel holds to nothing. No binder keeps the color in place: it rests on the grain of the paper alone, and the lightest touch carries it away. It is the most fragile technique there is — and that is exactly what gives it its bloom.
Pastels, drawings, gouaches, works on paper and on vellum: these sheets are treated without ever being touched with a finger or wetted. Everything is done dry, at a remove, and most often from the back of the sheet.
What À L’Atelier takes on
Stains, tidelines and water damage
Water migrates into the sheet and leaves tidelines, a gray veil, sometimes foxing. These are drawn out by degrees, through indirect contact and controlled drying, without the colored matter ever being wetted.
Tears, losses and weakened paper
A tear is closed from the back, fiber by fiber, in a paper compatible with the original. The sheet regains its continuity with no pressure whatever brought to bear on the pastel face.
Foxing, mold and micro-organisms
The brown spots that appear on old paper come from damp and from impurities in the support. They can be treated, but the urgent thing is to stop what feeds them — otherwise they return.
Yellowed paper, acidic board, original mounts
Many old sheets were pasted down whole onto a board that acidifies and slowly browns them. Lifting the sheet and remounting it on a neutral support often does more for the work than any retouching could.
Flattening and remounting
The sheet is brought flat again and hinged with reversible mounts, never pasted down whole: it has to be able to move, and to be taken off one day.
Framing and long-term care
A pastel framed against the glass is a pastel condemned. The air gap, the mount, the glass and the hanging are all part of the work: they are what decides the state of the piece twenty years from now.
Work carried out
Real commissions, photographed as they came in and as they left.
Worth knowing
Should a pastel be fixed?
No, and it is the firmest rule in the technique. A fixative would make the surface more stable, but it would put out the bloom that is the whole worth of a pastel — precisely what the artist was after. A fragile work left intact is better than a sound one gone dead.
My pastel has brown spots. Is that serious?
That is foxing, caused by damp and by impurities in the paper. It is not dire in itself, but it signals conditions of keeping that are still at work. That is what has to be dealt with first.
Can I dust a pastel myself?
No. There is nothing to be done to a pastel by hand: no cloth, no brush, no breath. The colored powder adheres to nothing and goes at the first contact. When in doubt, leave the sheet flat, out of the light, and bring it in exactly as it is.
Talk to me about your work
The condition report and the estimate are free of charge at À L’Atelier, and commit you to nothing. Describe the work — artist, support, period, dimensions — and its condition, and we will arrange a time.
Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. — by appointment only
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