Restoring Vintage Art and Photography

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Renata and Jan have had the honor of restoring art from Getty Images, We have been fortunate to work on great images from some of the
National Geographic, the Henry Ford Museum, the Science Museum in masters. Many of the works in our art restoration portfolio range from
Britain and other collections. We offer flexible work flow for the tightest the 1900s to the 1960s and the artists include Alfons Mucha,
deadlines and great value because of our experience. Our tasks Georgii and Vladimir Stenberg, Bernard Villemot, Leonardo Cappiello,
include: Tom Purvis and many others.

image restoration for large format reproductions News
archive organization, advanced image editing, and digitalization 12/2009...Relocating to San Francisco, 94107
focus on fine art photography and vintage poster art 01/2010...Working on the Patrick Nagel archive
website design and other marketing materials
project planning and management

It is our belief that a specialized approach brings better results. That is
why we primarily focus on image restoration of prints, black and
white photography and vintage poster art.

© The images shown in this portfolio are subject to copyright by their
owners, are for viewing only and are not intended for reproduction.

B A C K G R O U N D

Our passion for digital art restoration began in 2005 while working for The image archives were organized and tracked by a central web-based
Vintage Arte, LLC. This rapidaly expanding art publishing company database and stored on in-house servers. Besides building and running
based in Southern California hired us to handle the intake of new the pre-production department responsible for the intake of new archives,
archives. Over the course of the next two years we worked in-house Renata and Jan collaborated on other projects throughout the company
at their Santa Barbara facility and expanded the company database day-to-day operations:
by more than 20,000 new images.

With our arrival most of the company business centered on partnerships 1. Finishing work on limited edition posters and other projects with
with image suppliers, producing print-per-order limited edition print runs Michael Hagler, the company art director;
and selling the posters online through the company web sites as well as 2. Providing feedback for the IT department regarding the usability
third party resellers such as art.com. The company also offered third party of the back end and workflow;
image editing, retouching and production services (Bridgeman, Artkey and 3. Designing front ends for customer web sites;
others). Renata and Jan were directly involved in the production process. 4. Sizing and printing for head of production (largely giclee printing
process on eight Epson 9800 printers);
Towards the end of 2005, the CEO of Vintage Arte Richard Weedn 5. Content editing and keywording for marketing director;
launched ArteHouse, LLC. Within several months this new direction even 6. Generating contact sheets and review web sites for the CEO
further diversified the company business and scope of projects we worked and key partners;
on. The new company now produced personalized web sites and content for 7. Streamlining the intake of new images (please see next page).
Henry Ford Museum, Ducati, Primedia and many other customers.

W O R K F L O W

Adobe Photoshop is the main tool of our trade. Other tools include
Adobe Acrobat, Bridge, CSS coding, Dreamweaver, InDesign and other
software. Renata and Jan were directly involved with the whole intake
process:

A. Handling large batches of transparencies from image suppliers;
B. Scanning on the FUJI F5000 flat bed scanner;
C. Assigning SKUs to batches and keeping track of the images;
D. Uploading the images into different parts of the system;
E. Researching and writing keywords for indexability;
F. Exporting into several formats (from web jpegs to tiffs for storage
on servers)
G. Evaluating which images will get priority treatment based on
their quality;
H. Sending updates to other people at company about new content;
I. Producing large format master files (the digital image restoration
process is broken down on the following pages).

S T O R Y O F A N I M A G E

Let's consider an image of an English travel poster from the 1920s. Scanning technology has progressed since that time. Now the archive owner
A lovely image of the Orient! It's a large format poster that was printed in is keen to print a set of limited edition posters that are of considerably
two pieces. The print run was not ideal, but the poster was displayed larger format.
outside a travel agency for holidaymakers to see. After a couple of ...........................................................................................................................
seasons passed (the poster was exposed to sun and rain) it was torn Damage to the image took place on four levels. One level consisted of
down and brought home by one of the agency clerks. The paper held tears, water, fading, mold, dirt collected in folds and other damage to the
together for the most part and the poster was mounted and displayed in original art work. Shortcomings in the photography (color shift, shooting
her family living room for several years before it made its way to the attic. angle and flash reflection) were the second level. Damage to the
There it remained folded for several decades. transparency (scratches, hair, dust, fingerprints and color shift) is level
three. Poor scan quality lead to loss of data (edge detail and color) and
The poster was discovered by her grandson in the 1980s and later represented the last level of damage. Occasionally, there is an additional
sold in an auction. The auction photographer, shooting under adverse factor to consider: The quality of the original print!
conditions, was rushed and used flash. The picture did not sit straight on ...........................................................................................................................
its easel, the color checker stayed tucked away in the kit bag and luckily Before image restoration began we had to decide if we would treat the
the image came out relatively sharp. The transparency migrated through poster as an artefact and remove only the damage caused in the
several archives (let's say boxes on the shelf!) of different publishing capturing process or we if would go much deeper and get the image as
houses and was handled by a number of people along the way. At its close as possible to what the artist had intended before he brought it to the
final destination nearly a decade ago, the transparency was scanned for printing company.
a small format publishing project (reproduction for magazine).

P O R T F O L I O S A M P L E

[...portfolio sample 1/14...] This British Railways poster from 1980 propagates passenger safety on
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. train station platforms. It's in the 1950s comic book retro style. Although
the artist used solid blocks of color in its design, the print actually
required many local repairs due to its original medium and printing
© The images shown on this page are subject to copyright by their owners, are
for viewing only and are not intended for reproduction.
method. Bucketing techniques possible in other similar artwork were
off limits during the art restoration process.


[...portfolio sample 2/14...] This is a photograph taken before Amelia Earhart's last flight. Departing
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. New Guinea on July 2, 1937 during her cross-world flight, she and
navigator Fred Noonan never arrived at their next destination. When
restoring the images of historical personages, the art restorer needs to
respect the character of the subject. Earhart's rugged beauty, including
her lips chapped from winds and sea water, remains unaltered.


[...portfolio sample 3/14...] Our Centenary 1825-1925 was designed by Fred Taylor. In the design
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. Taylor incorporated the artwork of Terence Tenison Cuneo. For
decades, many such vintage posters were stored in less than ideal
conditions before finding their way into museums or private collections
and mold is fairly common. Please note the image detail.


[...portfolio sample 4/14...] Unfortunately, many posters were stored "efficiently" over the years and
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. folds are very common as is the case of this Capacity Mobility poster
designed by H.G. Gawthorn for London & North Eastern Railway. The
better case scenario is when the folds leave only lines and avoid the
detailed part of the image and typography. In this case, the folds
actually protrude and the light during the photographing left a glare along
some of the folds. It is recommended to use diffused light and avoid
flash when capturing images for art reproduction.


[...portfolio sample 5/14...] A cool and smoggy day in December 1929. Five flights up, mechanics
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. are testing race cars on the roof of the Fiat factory in Turin, Italy. The
turns of this full oval rooftop racetrack were actually designed to
appease the laws of physics. Historical photographs such as this one
are always a challenge for the restorer. Over the decades, the image is
passed down from archive to archive and before it reaches your desk it
usually shows much wear.


[...portfolio sample 6/14...] Edouard Alexandre Bernard designed this poster for a Ford dealership
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. in Paris. A skilled caricaturist, Bernard is largely unknown today; his
client is long out of business and the street where the dealership was
located no longer exists, making a historical reconstruction of the
context for this artwork an exercise in sentiment.
What is left is a beautifully detailed image filled with movement and
humor. When restoring artwork in this highly detailed style it is important
to divide the image into sections so no part is left untreated.


[...portfolio sample 7/14...] Much has been written about the high level of morale and discipline of
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. the British armed forces. Here, an officer is jumping over twenty
members of the Royal Artillery Regiment on a motorcycle. How would
you like to be lying down at the end of this line-up? When sharpening
faded black and white photographs, less generally means more and the
digital image restorer must proceed with caution to bring out the image
and avoid pixel maps at the same time.


[...portfolio sample 8/14...] Tom Purvis designed East Coast Joys, a series of posters, for LNER.
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. Purvis's dynamic style and the use of vibrant solid color surfaces are
a pleasure to work with. Tom Purvis and Frank Newbould are some of
our favorite British commercial poster illustrators. When preparing
artwork for publishing, the art restorer can either treat the poster as
an artefact and include the white border that usually includes the
printer's information or crop the artwork and reprint only what the
author originally submitted.


[...portfolio sample 9/14...] Pieter Irwin Brown designed the Your Continental Holiday poster for
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. a railway company. Along with prints and other artwork, Brown created
a number of travel posters with destinations in the UK, continental
Europe and worldwide, especially the Far East. Night scenes are not
common in vintage poster art and Brown brilliantly makes use of bright
colors to illustrate the excitement of your next holiday. Typography poses
a particular challenge here because writing black on white is somewhat
more forgiving during the image restoration process.


[...portfolio sample 10/14...] Bernard Villemot, one of the most influential French commercial poster
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. artists of all time, is well known for his commercial art posters for
Orangina and Perrier. During his fruitful career ranging from the 1930s
to the 1980s, he also created this advertising poster for Vivorange
soda. The poster is not well known, but from the use of geometry,
negative space and realistic portrayal of the product our guess is that it
dates to the early 1950s.


[...portfolio sample 11/14...] Swiss engineer Gerder is on his way to Spain inside his motor wheel.
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. Publishing black and white photography on the internet brings up an
interesting discussion. If you're viewing this page on a Mac you might
see it as somewhat light. If you're on a Windows based system it may
appear as slightly dark. One solution is to create two separate web sites
..] with an entry on the launch page with jpegs adjusted accordingly for
both screens. Remember those awkward presentations from the 1990s
with a separate entry for HTML and Flash? The other solution is to aim
down the middle and hope for the best, because the screen will not
replace the silver gelatin in the real thing any time soon.


[...portfolio sample 12/14...] This 1926 avant-garde film poster was a collaboration between the
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. Stenberg Brothers (Georgii and Vladimir) and Yakov Rukelski. Boxer's
Bride, a German romantic comedy now forgotten by most, is made
eternal by one of its promotional posters designed by masters of the
trade. Some of the greatest work in the film poster genre was created in
the Soviet Union beginning in the mid 1920s and ending with the rise of
Stalin. We have had the privilege of resoring a number of the Stenberg
posters and artwork of other leading artists of the era to their original
state.


[...portfolio sample 13/14...] This American Airlines to New York poster (1950s) by Weimer Pursell
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. is a great example of the artist's layered geometric style. The inks and
paper stock of the original poster, passage of time, the lighting used by
the photographer to capture the image, handling and age of the
photograph transparency, image profiles and other factors can all
contribute to the fading of the color black.


[...portfolio sample 14/14...] Boris Bilinsky, a Russian émigré, lived and worked as a costume and set
The image as well as a selected detail before and after restoration. designer and poster artist in Germany and France. This particular vintage
poster for the film Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang, is one of our favorites
and was a challenge to restore. The artwork is composed from two halves.
The question remains as to whether the discrepancies are caused by
a misprint or if at one point so meone joined the two poster halves from
separate print runs. Please note the image detail.

C O N T A C T

Jan and Renata Jonak
1695 18th Street #410
SF, CA, 94107
(415) 395-6875
(347) 284-9576
skype: ideamaking
digitalartfix@gmail.com
www.digitalartfix.com

Restoring Vintage Art and Photography

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