THE ALCHEMY OF PRESERVATION: MERGING ART, SCIENCE, AND TRADITION

July 20, 2025

THE ALCHEMY OF PRESERVATION: MERGING ART, SCIENCE, AND TRADITION

This interview offers an in-depth look into the world of a distinguished paper conservator, Luis CRESPO (National Library Madrid, Spain). From 15th-century manuscripts to modern audiovisual materials, discover how this expert navigates the complex challenges of cultural heritage preservation. The discussion highlights a unique synthesis of Western and East Asian restoration techniques, the importance of balancing tradition with innovation, and addresses the alarming loss of artisanal knowledge. Their reflections reveal not only a technical mastery but also a deeply humanistic approach to preserving cultural heritage, one that advocates for a conservation philosophy rooted in sustainability, simplicity, and a profound respect for craftsmanship.

1. What’s the main difference between conserving East Asian materials and European paper artifacts?

On my side, the experience of comparing artworks and/or documents and books between Japan and the West is limited to certain types of artworks and documents. On the one hand, we have the types of materials on which they ar made: the Japanese have traditionally used silks as well as papers to create their works and documents. Their silks and papers are made with local fibers of excellent quality. This quality is determined by their manufacture, which determines both their durability and permanence over time. Even today, it is possible to find handcrafted materials of the same quality; this allows Japanese colleagues to restore works from the past with the certainty that the materials used today ensure the maximum life and enjoyment of their Cultural Heritage.

In the case of Western works and documents made on cellulosic supports, their quality has varied greatly over the centuries. It is generally believed that old documents are more fragile precisely because of their age compared to those closer to us. In reality, it is just the opposite. The technical difficulty of restoring materials on modern papers (also associated with inks, pigments, etc.) is a tremendous challenge for Western professionals. Added to this is the disappearance of artisans (a global phenomenon) who produce high-quality materials to restore our Western Heritage.

2. What’s been your most challenging restoration project and how did you handle it?

It’s hard to say which job is more or less difficult. I’ve been fortunate enough to restore very valuable works and documents, from letters from Christopher Columbus to works by Picasso… If I had to choose two particularly significant types of work, on the one hand, it would be a 15th-century choir book that belonged to Queen Isabella the Catholic (the Queen who financed the discovery of America). This project took me about eight months of technically very difficult work. On the other hand, I was working on some bullfighting posters from the late 19th century. They were about 3m in size and attached to a rigid support. The posters were extremely deteriorated and weak.

Getting them off the support and reassembling them in their original format took me many sleepless nights!

3. How has your role changed since you joined the National Library in 2008?

When I started at NL of Spain, my work was primarily for the Department of Music and Audio-visuals (AV). I was fully dedicated to the preservation and restoration of that department’s collections for about 10 years. There, I worked with both traditional media (paper, parchment, bookbinding) and AV media. In fact, the fascination with them and lack of specially trained professionals in their variety in Spain led me to consider dedicating myself exclusively to them, although ultimately, after my ICCROM training course in Japan, I opted for traditional media, essentially paper. During that period, I participated in several mass digitization projects, which gave me a broader vision of how to modify and adapt intervention criteria depending on the type of object being restored

4. What makes parchment conservation more difficult tha paper?

I don’t think there’s a technical difference in the difficulty of preserving one medium or another. Perhaps the biggest problem is that the artisans who manufactured excellent- quality leathers, which allow parchment to be restored with guarantees, are disappearing, I believe this is due to social changes and customs. This problem is leading restorers to seek innovative technical solutions.

In my case, I have been able to restore many parchments, especially in my previous work at the National Historical Archive, as well as relevant documents from the Catholic Church. This has led me to learn from restorers of the past who used natural techniques and materials with results of incredible quality and durability.

As far as my experience allows me to understand parchment treatments, I believe that lately, there isn’t enough observation and perseverance to try to learn and test the techniques and recipes of the past — something that isn’t easy but also not impossible —leading to the use of synthetic materials that are easier to use but much less sympathetic to historical parchment. In the case of documents and works on paper, I believe that, just as with parchment, synthetic materials and highly sophisticated techniques are being used, forgetting that the foundation lies in understanding that we are truly Water Conservators. This term refers to the fact that if we are able to find water balance in all technical aspects, we can avoid the use (and abuse) of non-traditional products and materials.

5. Can you describe a project where you restored old sound recordings like piano rolls?

The project to digitize the rolls of the NL of Spain collections which has been supported by the communications company Telefónic was undertaken in conjunction with the Department of Art and Musicology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, addressing a wide range of aspects: digitization, software engineering, restoration of the original media, digital preservation, and musicology.

The rolls have perforations that automatically play the pianola. This makes them a medium for the mechanical reproduction of music. However, the graphical indications printed on the paper itself make them very similar to a score, open to infinite interpretive possibilities. Historically, these graphical indications allowed the piano player to modify the speed and intensity of the music using manual controls located in front of the keyboard, thus creating their own interpretation of the piece contained in the roll.

All this complex framework strongly influences preservation tasks and requires highly specialized work by engineers, musicologists, librarians, and restorers. To digitize its collection, the BNE has deployed a novel computer vision system jointly designed by the Department of Art and Musicology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the Center for Computer Vision (CVC), pioneering institutions in research on piano roll preservation. The restoration was approached using some of the techniques and materials used by restorers of Japanese scroll paintings known as kakejiku or kakemono.

6. What’s the most important thing you teach young conservators?

This is a complicated question to answer because my vision of the profession is very similar to that of the Japanese or, more closely related to us, to that of European artisans of the past. This point of view is not common among the colleagues I know, nor is it common in Western educational systems. I think it could be summed up as:

That they try to understand as much as possible the nature of the materials they employ, and the consequences of their use.
That they try to talk about and understand how those responsible for different institutions and/or individuals use objects.
That they study holistically, beyond the merely technical, so they can explain to themselves, and by extension to non-professionals, the possibilities and consequences of their actions.
That they strive to give their best at all times, without expecting any recognition.
That they practice some type of activity that allows them to control their minds and calm them so they can focus on what they are doing, without anxiety, when performing complicated tasks.
Always start by looking for the simplest and most sustainable solutions, as there is an excessive and growing tendency to overcomplicate everything, seeking unnecessarily complex and unsustainable solutions.

7. How has conservation training changed in the past 10 years?

As Jonathan Ashley-Smith pointed out in his paper “Losing the Edge: The Risk of a Decline in Practical Conservation Skills,” I have observed that the training of new professionals is increasingly focused on scientific and theoretical aspects of various kinds, with a growing lack of practical study hours in restoration. This phenomenon, from what I have been able to discuss with several colleagues in Europe and in South and North America, is becoming increasingly widespread. The danger is precisely that knowledge and skills will be lost, making it impossible in the future to restore objects for their use and enjoyment.

Let’s say we have moved from an era known by Anglo-Saxons as “hands- on” to that of “hands-off.” For example, one of the first things I have to teach the new generations who pass through my internship workshop — almost always the most brilliant on their academic CVs — is how to moisten and assess the moisture content of paper. Without this knowledge, it is very difficult to carry out a correct and sustainable treatment.

8. How has working and training abroad influenced your conservation work?

Absolutely. From my training with my Japanese teachers in Japan and the courses they taught at the Asian Museum in Berlin, I understood the importance of learning how to prepare and use traditional materials. And the need to cultivate delicacy in gestures in order to transmit it to the objects I restore.

In the area of simplifying, preparing, and adapting Japanese tools and techniques to the West, the ICCROM course in Mexico City undoubtedly marked a turning point. I was one of the designers and a visiting professor since its creation in 2011. Thanks to this course, I understood that Western restorers in “rich” countries live in a kind ofbubble, as we have access to materials, tools, and training that are unmatched by a vast number of colleagues in less economically advantaged countries. That’s when I began to coin the term “learning to restore in the jungle.” It refers to the question: if I lack all of those things described in the papers, will I not be able to restore properly? And my answer is resounding: false. With very little you can achieve great performances on all kinds of objects.

9. You specialize in Japanese conservation techniques, can you describe some of the key methods you use and how they differ from Western approaches?

I think I’ve already provided many of these keys in some of the previous answers. Obviously, what professionals strive for, regardless of their country of origin, is to provide the best possible treatment to the works they are going to preserve or restore What I think differs greatly between the West and Japan is the teaching method (I dare say I could include other Asian countries in this approach): in Japan, traditionally, there has been a lot of emphasis on developing sensitivity through the cultivation of the unconscious. This is not only true in restoration, but also in any art form, be it the tea ceremony, martial arts, etc.

From there, they learn to prepare their materials, make and maintain their tools, and develop technical processes with a strong emphasis on the highest quality materials created by their artisans, whom they protect by purchasing their papers, brushes, etc. I’m not saying they lack scientific knowledge at all; they’re incredible in that regard!

In the West, this approach was also common among artisans, but with the arrival isn’t such a deep understanding of materials or tools, of the connection between them and the professional.Hence, I like to define myself as a scientific artisan. A term that I realizemany professional colleagues don’t like, who believe it demeans us or devalues our work. Personally, I believe it’s just the opposite. But this is a long debate…of the academic world in the 18th century, I believe this form of learning was lost

10. Which of your publications has had the biggest impact?

I’m not really sure about the impact of my writings. I know that the most widely read were two posts on the NL blog years ago titled “The Art of Hyogushi in the National Library of Spain” (I know this because my colleagues at the Digital Library gave me the statistics).

However, thinking about professional colleagues, I believe the most influential have been my writings on the conservation, restoration, and mounting of parchment in both Spain and Latin America. Among book lovers, the most influential has been the manual I wrote with my master and friend, John McCleary. This book was the first manual in Spanish dedicated to book conservation. We tried to create a manual very much in the American style: with rigorous, yet accessible, information for restorers, bookbinders, and, in general, for book collectors and lovers.

11. What changes or innovations do you see coming in paper conservation?

On the one hand, I observe the growing and increasingly influential presence of digital reproductions of documents and works of paper and parchment. This in itself is excellent, because I believe society is not sufficiently informed about where tax money is being directed when it comes to preserving Cultural Heritage. The dissemination and relevance of these works, when properly designed and facilitated, greatly helps generate a dialogue of understanding. Obviously, this includes bringing us closer to a more free-thinking society, free from ignorance.

On the other hand, I believe the future of possible restoration interventions will depend largely on the future of the materials available to us. Some of older professionals, like me, observe, alarmed, the disappearance of companies and artisans who are the source of our technical possibilities. I often say that even if one possesses excellent technique, without the appropriate materials, the results can never be optimal. This phenomenon is spreading like a stain across the planet. We’ll see where it leads us and if it can be reversed before it’s too late…

July 20, 2025