AIM Pilgrim Trust Remedial Conservation Grant – Gairloch Museum

£1,700
Conservation of WW1 Finlay Mackinnon artist album 

Gairloch Museum applied to AIM Pilgrim Trust to conserve an album of watercolour paintings from the First World War by Finlay Mackinnon (1863 – 1931). The album contains 43 small scale watercolour paintings executed during Finlay’s service in the trenches, along with pencil notes and letters which document the difficulties of plying his trade on the Front Line.

The paintings themselves were in good condition, but the album and its pages required extensive repairs.  The original binding had separated from the text block and pages and paintings had come loose from the original guards. Mackinnon is the only historic artist of any note who hails from Gairloch parish and his works are of considerable significance to our collection, both for their provenance and subject matter.

Conservation was undertaken by High Life Highland Conservation Service. As well as repairing the pages and re-sewing them, a piece of calico cloth was dyed with Sellaset dyes to match the original cover.

The loose artwork was placed into polyester sleeves (trimmed to size using a scalpel, ruler and cutting mat) and a folder made from manilla card with a folding box board cover to add further protection. A bespoke box was also made from archival folding boxboard to house the volume after treatment.

“Working on the album was overall a great learning experience of working on a modern (20^th Century) binding. The material is a valuable record of Finlay MacKinnon’s time in France (serving as a Captain in the Seaforth Highlanders in WW1) through beautiful watercolour paintings and it was fascinating looking at all the landscapes and places he’s captured. It was also a great opportunity to help preserve the artwork for future generations to enjoy,” Carrie Farnell, Conservator, High Life Highland Conservation Service.

Digital images of the album have also been created, paid for by the museum. These will be used on our website with the Museum from Home section to draw attention to the album. We’ve even entered this digital exhibition of the album into the BBC’s Art That Made Us, which takes place in April, so are looking forward to hearing more about that.

As well as the digital legacy of the project, we are currently discussing with some of the other Highland museums the possibility of a joint touring exhibition in 2023 that showcases paintings of the First World War trenches by Highland artists. The exhibition will not only be an opportunity to showcase our newly conserved acquisition, it will also be a chance to develop a common theme with our fellow Highland museums.

Dr Karen Buchnan, Curator, Gairloch Museum 

Pictured: Finlay Mackinnon WW1 watercolour depicting a soldier at the Front.

The AIM Pilgrim Trust conservation grants support small to medium sized museums to care for their collections more effectively and efficiently and to meet the standards required for Accreditation. Click here to find out more and apply>>