Packing Crate for Paintings

Once I was an expert witness in a trial about damage to a painting moved across the country. A client engaged a moving company based on the understanding that the company had the expertise to properly pack a painting. The moving company built a shallow cage of wooden slats and laid cardboard directly on the painting surface. The painting was not well protected and damage occurred - some caused by the packing materials. Although there are widely recognized standards  for proper painting packing - the movers had obviously not read them.  

Before transporting and deciding on the appropriate packing method for a painting, consider the destination, environmental changes, number of venues and mode of transport. A detailed condition report of the painting prior to packing should help you determine potential problems. Try to mitigate the risk by choosing protective packing materials and techniques.  

Common hazards 

Transport always involves some degree of vibration. Vibration presents few problems for most stable paintings, but can damage unstable works. Other physical forces, such as impact from being dropped, present another hazard. Thermal shock may occur from environmental changes, despite materials used in packing to reduce such risks. A painting left on a hot or rainy airport tarmac for hours can be subjected to such environmental changes despite best efforts to ensure safe passage. If transport is by truck, the truck should be equipped with air-ride suspension to minimize vibrations and temperature control to minimize thermal shock.  

Transit 

Before transit, wrap the painting in polyethylene, whether it will be traveling in a crate or not.  (See Wrapping a Painting, CCI Notes 10/16) 

For short distance moves, paintings may be soft-packed using padding materials and cardboard sleeves or boxes. However, this may not provide enough support, depending on the location, environment, or other relevant conditions. In these instances, it is  better to have a 'travel crate.' Though travel crates look somewhat like cages, they provide a bit more support and protection. Support is enhanced by placing the painting in a soft-pack box inside the travel crate.  

Special crates are often constructed to transport paintings any distance. White pine is better than plywood for wood crates. When unpacking crates, carefully observe how the packing was done. Often paintings are double packed - that is packed inside a box inside a box (or crate). Artworks often "float" packed in a box or crate with corners supporting the painting in place. These corners are usually made of polyurethane ester foam. The Canadian Conservation Institute has an excellent article on the specifics of such corners for packing, Corner Pads for Double Case Packages. Some materials provide better insulation and shock absorption than others. Polyurethane foam is an excellent insulator, better than polyethylene foam. However, polyurethane foam is not an inert material and should not be used for long-term storage.

Make labels and other markings on cases easy to read. Use arrows to show the correct orientation for the crate. Include packing instructions inside the crate. Condition reports and photos should also accompany the packed painting.  

If you need to pack and transport a painting, consult the Art in Transit Handbook. It is an excellent resource for a thorough discussion of proper art packing. Chapters include:

Security and Insurance 

Besides methods, materials and transport mode, consider security during transit, including time of transfer between transports and on loading docks. Insurance, based on the painting's appraised value, is another necessity. Most insurance coverage requires proper packing to be in effect.  

(Excerpt from the course MS227 Care of Paintings.)

Victoria Montana Ryan is a former Assistant Professor for the Conservation of Paintings at Queen's University Kingston, Ontario and former adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver where she was conservator of paintings at the Rocky Mountain Conservation Center for over a decade. She received her Master of Art Conservation from Queen's University and a Master of Arts degree with an emphasis in Art Education/Museum Studies from the University of New Mexico. Ms. Ryan has authored papers on the care of paintings, integrated pest management, and the importance of working with appraisers. She has appeared on the Discovery Channel to discuss care of personal treasures. A Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation, Ms. Ryan is also a member of the Western Association for Art Conservation and the Canadian Association for Conservation. She resides in Colorado Springs, CO where she operates her private conservation practice, Art Care Services, to serve the conservation needs of museums, historical societies, public and private collectors, institutions, corporations, and municipalities, focusing on the care and preservation of works of art. For more information visit her web site  Art Care Services.     

By Helen Alten & Lori Benson     

The best storage space follows principles of good design. It should be cost effective to build and cost effective to use and maintain. It should protect the collection. Climate controls have the single largest impact on collection longevity. Climate control is among the first sacrifices by penny-pinching architects. 

Vertical Screens

Well-designed storage should be easy to monitor and clean. My father, an architect, suggested that the most efficient room was round -- cleaning was quick because it had no corners. How will staff keep floors clean? This includes the area under storage shelves and cabinets. Compactor units may allow easy cleaning of the entire floor. So, too, may rolling cabinets or cabinets raised high enough to allow cleaning underneath. One museum developed an innovative room for storing wet collections. It incorporated a grillwork floor so broken jars and alcohol could flow out of the space. However, shoes stick in the holes, carts vibrate excessively, the grill cannot be lifted for easy cleaning (after a couple years the floor under the grill is disgusting), and many of the collection items, even in containers, are small enough to fall through. What seemed a smart, innovative, storage solution has turned into a maintenance nightmare.

Storage Design Team 

(Excerpt from the course MS 202: Museum Storage Facilities & Furniture, developed by Helen Alten and revised and taught by Lori Benson.) 

Lori Benson, is an independent museum professional based in Maine. After a series of project positions at the Minnesota Historical Society, including Assistant Moving Coordinator, she was hired by the Science Museum of Minnesota as their first Collections Manager in 1994. She was Project Director in the Research and Collections Division for the new facility planning and move. The project was published as Moving the Mountain, the Science Museum of Minnesota Guide to Moving Collections. For years, she has taught museum studies to undergraduates and given many talks and lectures on preservation, deaccessioning, project planning and moving. She is a member of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections and the Registrars' Committee of the American Association of Museums. Ms. Benson teaches MS201: Storage for Infinity, MS202: Museum Storage Facilities & Furniture, and  MS262: Moving Collections.