Map of the World, by Jan Wijga

Jan Wijga was a Dutch commercial artist known mostly for his work with the Royal Dutch Indies Airways. He also produced a large body of imagery for various beer companies in Amsterdam. His work was largely inspired by the stylistic atmosphere of the 20s and 30s, including the inter-war period which saw him producing graphics in the company of other designers who were all borrowing from cubist and surrealist sensibilities. This map, designed by him, is owned by the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System. I adopted this treatment from a student a few classes above me, who had begun by photographing and surface cleaning it.

Before treatment images

Taken by Khanh Nguyen (Buffalo State class of 2023), these before treatment images show a large crease at the center of the print, and distracting tape segments and adhesive residue along the left edge.

Adhesive residue reduction

A scalpel was used under a stereomicroscope to reduce dry adhesive residue.

Color matching for paper fills

The cyan printing ink was tricky to match, but by taking close notes of my color combinations, I was able to get close using Golden Fluid Acrylics. I used my matched color to tone a medium weight Western wove paper to make fills for losses along the edges of the print.

Reducing the appearance of the center crease

Even though the height and severity of the crease was lessened by humidification and flatting during the treatment, small losses to the printing ink along the crease were still visually distracting. I applied a barrier layer of methyl cellulose to the white exposed fibers before toning back the losses with watercolor.

After treatment images

After treatment, the center crease was successfully flattened, losses were filled, and adhesive residues were reduced. Before treatment images are seen above the after treatment images.