Mounting wall paintings

The artwork is placed inside the gym on the wall near the edge of
the ceiling, at height of 5 meters. It is painted with egg tempera
on 9 pieces of canvas each 150 cm by 220 cm and one 150 cm by 50 cm,
making all together 19,80 meters long piece of artwork.

Each piece of canvas is glued onto concrete wall (which is also
exterior) using flour glue. The artwork is placed without any wedges
(brackets) or other holders.

The school was renovated in 2005. The gym has new air conditioning
unit which is placed on the adjacent wall to the artwork and it
blows the air right on the left side of the artwork. Some time ago
the left part fell on the floor and got some fractures. All and all
it was soon clear that the whole artwork would needed to be
reattached to the wall.

After researching the possibility of attaching the pieces without
taking down the whole row, it seemed safer to take it all down and
remove the old glue from the canvases and the wall. After that the
artwork could be reglued again.

Because of the new air conditioning unit the microclimate has
changed in the gym, it might be better to attach the pieces first on
the boards and then on to the wall. Therefore, in the future, damage
to the artwork caused by changes of the climate outside  could be
prevented.

I'd like to find out if anybody has similar experiences? Could you
tell me how you managed? Are there any approved methods or materials
that you might know?

Liisa Helle-Wlodarczyk
Art Conservator
Konservointi Helle
1200 Oitti
Finland
+358 4047746404


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:4
                   Distributed: Friday, May 11, 2007
                        Message Id: cdl-21-4-025
                                  ***