Mag. Martina Spiegl
Professional Care of the Artistic Estate
The professional care includes conservational- concerned solely with the maintenance of the assets- and restorative- correcting the damages that already existed- measures. In general it has to be mentioned that the main part of the artistic estate is in a very good condition. The paintings as well as the graphic works by Hermann Falke do not show any damages at all. Therefore, maintenance measures were made a priority in order to secure the good condition of the paintings.
An important step in the maintenance is the fixing of acid-free cardboard on the backside of all paintings. Especially paintings on canvas react very strongly to unprofessional handling during transportation, exhibition built-up and other forms of handling. Acid-free cardboards form a protection again vibrations on the one hand and also act as a buffer for the climatically sensitive backsides of the canvases on the other hand.
A professional cleaning of the front- and backsides, as well as the removing of dust and dirt are compulsory parts of the care of all objects. A special focus has also been put on the improvement of the fixing of the paintings within the frames as the painting could be rubbed off through chafing movements resulting from inadequate fixing.
Single, loose parts on certain paintings could partially be fixed within a short amount of time and small breaks in the painting could be retouched with water-colors. Damages on the corresponding frames were also newly colored. Small flaws and holes were glued and missing colors added after the color levels had been adjusted.
Thanks to all the measures described above and the subsequent professional packaging of the single objects in soft, air-permeable fleece the original substance of the objects can be secured long-term from a restorative point of view.
For the optimal storage of the graphic works of the artist in the cupboards that already exist, adequate folders made of acid-free cardboard will be manufactured.