A Bill Brandt's vintage print is turning brownish

A collector friend of mine show me a 1950's photo by Bill Brandt, vintage print, for my opinion, he is worried because it is turning brown, overall, not just an isolated stain. My first guess is that it was badly washed and the fixer remains are turning the print darker, brownish. The question is: if it's really bad washed, it will turn the whole print dark?, dark enough to ruin the photo completely?; could it be stopped?; or could it be fixed?, no pun intended. Another consideration is: could it be another reason for the brownish darkening?.

Me, and my friend of course, would appreciate any advise.

Your buddy isn't a heavy smoker, I hope.

I would not do anything to it before talking to a museum type restorer, I think their is 1 or 2 on apug here.

Thanks mike c, hope that we could make contact with a restorer, specialized on photo, of course. Here in Mexico we have a good deal of restorers, but don't know if there is someone that could restore photos.

Mark Osterman is due in Mexico City for a talk soon, if my memory serves me. If I am wrong, he either is there now or just returned.

His schedule is probably on the GEH web site. Sorry, but I really don't remember. I just bother him by calling on the phone!

PE

Here's a great resource on vintage prints and the various ways they age and deteriorate:

http://gawainweaver.com/images/uploads/Weaver_Guide_to_Gelatin_Silver.pdf

If it's in Mexico City, it's probably air pollutants, but you don't want to discount exposure to that brutal sun. The print would be 60-70 years old now. If it's pollutants, that's still a long time for a B&W print that may or may not have been processed/mounted/displayed properly. Restoring a photograph is not like restoring a painting or a traditional art print. Probably the best that can be hoped for is to stabilize it, if possible. Once the emulsion or paper itself is discoloured..... It will not be cheap to address the problem, no matter what the reason.

Photographic gelatin emulsion is organic, so it ain't gonna last forever, especially if it's been displayed all this time. Or, it may not even be an emulsion, depending on what type of photographic printing process was used. If it's resin, it will turn brown. Could be a glue that was used on the back. So it could be many, many reasons, and finding out what type of print he has is the first place to start. Again, since it's Mexico, pollutants, out gassing from the mounting, matting and framing, and heat/sun are the first suspects. See links below for more info. He should make a copy of it ASAP.

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/p...pdf_publications/pdf/atlas_silver_gelatin.pdf

http://worldturndupsidedown.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-preserve-old-photographs.html

Is it mounted? Or might not have ever been toned for permanence,so the smog got to it. Underfixed, perhaps. Hard to say. There wasn't much attention paid to "archival" considerations back then.

If it had been unproperly processed (bad fixing bad washing) problems should have risen around the time the print had been made, that is decades ago, right?

Isn't the sudden unstability of the print due to air pollution? I mean where I live (Europe) the stone statues of the Opera are compeltely eaten away by air pollution.
You know what? They had been restored in... 2000! If pollution can destroy stone I cannot imagine what it can do to gelatin and paper...

Jose, before doing anything else, have your friend get a high quality scan of his print. Then at least he can have a good copy of the photograph as it is now before any further deterioration.

Jose A Martinez said:

A collector friend of mine show me a 1950's photo by Bill Brandt, vintage print, for my opinion, he is worried because it is turning brown, overall, not just an isolated stain. My first guess is that it was badly washed and the fixer remains are turning the print darker, brownish. The question is: if it's really bad washed, it will turn the whole print dark?, dark enough to ruin the photo completely?; could it be stopped?; or could it be fixed?, no pun intended. Another consideration is: could it be another reason for the brownish darkening?.

Me, and my friend of course, would appreciate any advise.

Click to expand...

underfixed and underwashed are the most typical culprits;also skipping toning could be an issue;unfortunately,there is little that can be done now without potentially doing more damage.I'd suggest to scan itand store it in dark, cool and dry conditions to avoid further decay;too bad. handle with care and all the best.

It never fails to amaze me the number of framed photographic prints that are not sealed at the back with framers tape.

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited.

In addition to scanning, I would make or have made a copy negative in medium format or 4x5.

A few years ago a friend of mine showed me an old negative of his late father. The negative was full of all those nasty litle silver sulfide spots, but fortunately no major area was completely damaged. I scanned the negative and started to retouch the picture with the clone-tool in photoshop ( please forgive me for mentioning the name ) . It was a dreadfull job but when it was done, I had a photolab to print a new negative from the repaird file. From this new negative I made new prints in my darkroom and the result turned out to be really good. My friend was very satisfied.

Karl-Gustaf

K-G said:

A few years ago a friend of mine showed me an old negative of his late father. The negative was full of all those nasty litle silver sulfide spots, but fortunately no major area was completely damaged. I scanned the negative and started to retouch the picture with the clone-tool in photoshop ( please forgive me for mentioning the name ) . It was a dreadfull job but when it was done, I had a photolab to print a new negative from the repaird file. From this new negative I made new prints in my darkroom and the result turned out to be really good. My friend was very satisfied.

Karl-Gustaf

Click to expand...

making a digital negative comes to mind.