May 2018 – Page 4 – Drypigment.net

Tackling Water Damage and Our Mission

The mission of Historic Stage Services LLC is to help clients make informed decisions about their historic backstage area, especially when considering the repair and restoration of damaged scenery collections. Selecting an individual, or company, to restore water-damaged areas to their original brilliance necessitates decades of experience and an in-depth knowledge of historical scenic art techniques. It is crucial that the individual hired to restore water-damaged areas really understands the original dry pigment paint media and historical paint application techniques.

This article is intended as a resource to help you understand how historical scenery was manufactured, the precautionary measures to take when handling these large-scale artworks, and the various levels of restoration offered by Historic Stage Services LLC. Why? It may be one of the most important decisions that you will make in regards to your stage, as it will directly affect the health of your performers and audience members, in addition to the overall longevity of your scenery collection.

Water damage to roll drop at the Scottish Rite in Danville, Virginia.

Water damage is often perceived as a death sentence to any historical backdrop. Colors can dust or mold can form in damaged areas. Some may suggest that dry rot has set in and the scene is beyond repair. The damaged scenes are thrown out, or left unused high above the stage floor. Restoring a water-damaged drop is never simple, but it is always an option. Almost everything is reparable, no matter how unsightly and fragile it may appear. We have the techniques to restore severely water-damaged scenes.

The process to remove or conceal the water-damaged area is time consuming and complicated. This article is not intended as a do-it-yourself guide, or any instructional manual. It will give you a working knowledge of the process. If a proposed budget and timeline seem too good to be true, it may indicate that the individual or organization is inexperienced and will take short cuts. Restoring a water-damaged area to its original appearance takes time, talent, historical materials and years of training. We will provide you with options.

Distemper Painting

Most historical scenery collections were painted with a combination of dry pigment (powdered color) and size water (diluted animal hide glue). This process is also referred to as distemper painting. The powdered color was transformed into a paste and then mixed with size on the scenic artists’ palette before applying the mixture to a backdrop. It is a complicated process that demanded years of training.

The type of paint used by scenic artists to create stage settings included only three ingredients: color, water and binder. When a roof leaks or a pipe bursts above the stage, any backdrop below is in immediate peril – especially if it was created with distemper paint. If smoke doors accidentally open up above a stage during a rainstorm, historical backdrops can be destroyed in an instant. When water touches a painting produced with dry pigment and size, the colors are immediately reconstituted into a soft state. The painted surface can return to its liquid form rather quickly. We specialize in the use of dry pigment and size water. All of our repairs and restoration techniques use historical materials and paint mediums, don’t settle for anything less.

The Dye Line

There are only two ways to conceal the heavy concentration of color that is characteristic of a dye line resulting from water damage – removal or sealing. One method is to remove the line of consolidated pigment; this necessitates scraping it off of the fabric as depicted in the photograph below.

Another way to conceal a dye line is to apply a sealant on top of the concentrated pigment. This approach attempts to ensure that the color will not continue to permeate the top surface of any new painting. In other words the dye line will continue to reappear in the top layer of paint, even after dozens of coats, unless it is sealed or removed. Historic Stage Services LLC specializes in both methods after evaluating the condition of the fabric and severity of the dye ring.

Cleaning

Regardless of the water damage, the entire painted composition needs to be cleaned prior to any repair or restoration. If the dye line was scraped off, the surface must be cleaned a second time, as any loose paint particles will contaminate the surrounding areas. First, a low-suction dust extractor is used on both the painted surface and backside to remove most of the contaminants. This process necessitates using a HEPA filter in your dust extractor to prevent any potential toxins from becoming airborne. Particle masks must be worn during this entire process – not only by those working on the drop, but also by everyone in the room.

Removing loose surface contaminants with a low-suction dust extractor

It is imperative to understand that over time, a variety of pollutants have settled on the surface of both front and back of a painted drop. These contaminants range from mortar dust and flash powder to bat guano and pigeon excrement. The typical color of the dirt layer can range from a mid-tone grey to a soot black. This layer of filth darkens the light areas and lightens the dark areas, thus reducing the overall contrast of values in the composition. In addition to removing the loose surface contaminants, there is often a layer of deeply embedded dirt and grime that needs to be extracted prior to any repair. Simple dust extraction with a vacuum will not remove this embedded layer of filth.

It requires the use of additional cleaning methods, such as dry chemical sponges and archival putty. The appropriate product cannot be determined until after close inspection of the damage and evaluation of the painted surface. No color should ever come off of the drop while cleaning it, especially with a sponge. If color does come off, it indicates that the binder has failed and is indicative of a much larger problem.

Removing deeply-embedded contaminants with archival putty

Consolidating the Painted Surface

When the binder of distemper paint fails, the color begins to fall off of the fabric. Backdrops with this problem must have the loose particles consolidated to prevent further deterioration. In other words, the dusting colors need to be stabilized so that they will not flake off of the fabric. To stop the dusting of dry colors, an application of the original binder, or diluted hide glue called “size,” must be sprayed onto the painted surface.

Spraying the painted surface with a diluted hide glue solution to consolidate the loose dry pigment

If left untreated, the backdrop’s color and composition will lose all depth and vibrancy. The composition then takes on the appearance of stained fabric. In this situation, only the color absorbed into the fabric during initial paint application remains visible. All of the color on the surface falls to the stage floor or becomes airborne. Some colors are hazardous when they become airborne.

The inhalation or ingestion of dry pigment may carry toxins, posing a potential health threat to all who inhale it. The overall hazard is dependent on the specific color and its chemical properties. Some colors are primarily inert and pose no imminent health threat, while others may contain harmful ingredients such as lead, arsenic or cadmium. Only a scientific analysis of each color can verify the pigment’s origin and define its toxicity. All dusting pigments should be considered dangerous until proven otherwise.

Examples of Our Work

Below are before and after pictures of a severely damaged backdrop owned by the Church of St. Patrick in Shieldsville, Minnesota. Wendy Waszut-Barrett, president of Historic Stage Services LLC and former founder of Bella Scena LLC, completed the work during February 2018.

Before restoration by Historic Stage Services LLC

After restoration by Historic Stage Services LLC

Here is another example of restoring a scene and concealing water damage for the York Rite of Freemasonry in Duluth, Minnesota.

Damaged scene being prepared for restoration at Historic Stage Services Studio

Part 402: “Scenery and Scene-Painters” 1871, first section

E. L. Blanchard wrote the article “Scenery and Scene-Painters” in 1871 for “The Era Almanack.” Blanchard was an author of Drury Lane Pantomimes from 1852-1888. He established a style of rhyming verse and wit that was often topical. Contemporary pantomimes seldom have rhyming couplets beyond the prologue. I find it fascinating that he wrote a substantial article about the history of scenery and scene-painters in 1871 – right in the middle of his pantomime-writing career.

This article is one of three that I transcribed a few months ago as I examined a series of newspaper publications describing the scenic art and design process for the theatre. I just completed a five-section series titles “A Gossip about Scenery and Scene-Painters” that was published in “The Era” (February 4, 1866). This second article gives another viewpoint of scenic art five years later. Much of the information is the same about the history of theatre scenery and scenic artists as in the previous article – almost a little too similar, but it is a delightful addition for historical context. I am posting it in four sections, as there are lovey gems of information about our craft.

“The ancient scenery employed for open-air representations at first consisted of mere boughs, but afterwards of tapestry, not painted canvas. The Greek stage consisted of three parts,- the scena, across the Theatre, upon the line of the curtain in our Theatres; the proscenium, where the actors perform; and the postscenium, the part behind the house. To form parts of the scenes there were prisms of framework, turning upon pivots, upon each face of which was stained a distinct picture, one for tragedy, consisting of large buildings, with columns, statues, and other corresponding ornaments; a second face, with houses, windows, statues, and balconies, for comedy; a third applied to farce, with cottages, grottoes, and rural scenes. These were the scenes versatiles of Servius.

Besides these there were scena ductiles, which drew backwards and forwards, and opened a view of the house, which was built upon the stage, and contained apartments for machinery and retirement of actors. As to the patterns of the scenes in comedy, the most considerable building was in the centre, that on the right hand was a little less elevated, and that on the left generally represented an inn. In satirical pieces they had always a cave in the middle, a wretched cabin on the right, and on the left and old ruined temple or landscape. In these representations perspective was observed, for Vitruvius remarks that “the rules of it were invented and practiced from the time of Æschylus by a painter names Agarachus, who has even left a treatise upon it.”

After the downfall of the Roman Empire these decorations for the stage were neglected till Peruzzi, a Siennese, who died in 1536, revived them. Classical scholars will readily understand the various opportunities for scenic effect afforded by the Greek dramatists, and there is some reason for believing the illusions of the ancient stage were much more perfect than has been generally supposed. There were three entries in front, and two on the sides. The middle entry was always that of the principle actor; thus, in tragedy, it was commonly the gate of a palace. Those on the right and left were destined to the second-rate actors; and the two others on the sides, one to people from the country, and other to those from the harbor, or any other public place.

Sipareum was the significance of the tapestry curtain; it was let down, not raised, when the performance commenced, and at the beginning of new acts. The auleum was probably a drop scene or curtain, to draw before doors, and contract the stage; choragium, the property room, where were kept the dresses, scenes, and musical instruments, and where were sometimes disposed the choir of musicians. In the Greek Theatre it was a place behind the scenes, used also for a dressing-room. This was an inner dressing-room named postsceniun. Thus even at a remote period we see that attention to the comforts of the performers was by no means overlooked by the theatrical architects of that period.

That the scene-painter’s accommodations has been, down to very recent times, completely lost sight of by those who have had the arrangement of our theatres, may be mentioned in curious contracts with the reliance now placed on the result of the artist’s powers. According to Malone, moveable scenes were not in use in England till 1605, when three plays were performed at Oxford before James I, thus described by a contemporary writer:- “The stage was built at the upper end of the hall, as it seemed at the first sight, but, indeed, it was but a false wall, faire painted; which pillars would turn about, by reason whereof, with other painted clothes, the stage did vary three times in one tragedy.” It was observed the writer was not acquainted with the word scene, but used “painted clothes” in that sense. In the early part of Shakespeare’s time, as is well known, the want of scenery was supplied by writing the names of the different places of action on the boards, which were so placed as to be visible to the audience. Thus [Sir William] Davenant, in the introduction to The Siege of Rhodes, 1656, says, “In the middle of the freeze was a compartment wherein was written Rhodes.” Movable scenes were first used in Rome in 1508. The first who painted moveable scenery in England was Richard Aggas, a specimen of whose work may be seen at Painter-Stainers’ Hall, in Little Trinity-lane.”

A few comments about Davenant’s production:

“The Siege of Rhodes” was actually titled, “The Siege of Rhodes Made a Representative by the Art in Prospective in Scenes, and the Story Sung in Recitative Musick.” The plot was based on the 1522 siege of Rhodes, when the island was taken by Suleiman the Magnificent’s Ottoman fleet. The score was by five composers; the vocal music by Henry Lawes, Matthew Locke and Captain Henry Cooke, with the instrumental music by Charles Coleman and George Hudson. Davenant is credited with the first attempt to revive English drama after Oliver Cromwell’s ban closed dramatic performances and closed public theaters.

He secured special permission from Cromwell for his production for his first dramatic work was “The First Day’s Entertainment,” a work disguised under the title “Declamations and Musik” and labeled the production as recitative music. He then created the first public opera in England, “The Siege of Rhodes” and is credited with introducing three innovations to the public stage: opera, painted stage sets, and a female actress singer.

The opera was first performed in a small private theatre constructed in the back portion of Davenant’s home at Rutland House in the upper end of Aldersgate-Street, London. The 1659 reprinting gives the location at the Cock-pit in Drury Lane. Although the score has been lost to time, the original designs by John Webb, a pupil of Inigo Jones are extant. They are available at https://restorationstaging.com/2014/01/26/john-webb-scene-designs-for-the-siege-of-rhodes/