Ever wondered how the artworks and artefacts in our National Collection are kept in pristine conditions – almost as if time never passed? This new travelling exhibition will give you an insider's look and bring you into the world of the conservators at the Heritage Conservation Centre (HCC). On show at the Central Public Library from now till August 30, the exhibition showcases case studies of how items in the National Collection are conserved in four fields – paintings, textiles, objects and paper – alongside displays of a conservator’s tools of the trade.
The exhibition profiles four of HCC's conservators, each specialising in one of four conservation fields, to demonstrate the process of interventive and preventive work on artwork and artefacts in our National Collection. The four artefacts highlighted in the case studies include a 19th-century painting of an opium clipper at sea against the backdrop of the Singapore waterfront, an orange floral lace cheongsam from the mid-20th century, a toothbrush used by a prisoner of war during the Japanese Occupation, and a panorama of Singapore's cityscape hand-drawn on paper from memory.
The 19th-century painting, Red Rover off Singapore depicts the opium clipper at sea with the Singapore waterfront in the background. It's a rare piece of Chinese export art, which frequently depicted scenes of the waterfronts of treaty ports and of vessels involved in China's trade. This one from the collection of the National Museum of Singapore, however, is a rarity that can be attributed to the identification of the Red Rover and the scarcity of such paintings depicting Singapore itself as a port of call.
During the conservation process, a second 'hidden' layer of overpaint was discovered, complicating its cleaning and restoration. "I was able to determine that the painting was actually in very bad condition, it was heavily overpainted, and there were tiny details like this Red Rover inscription that were hidden and I suppose it was original," says Senior Conservator Damian Lizun.
Another artefact is a toothbrush that belonged to a former POW, Sergeant John Ritchie Johnston from the 2/9th Field Ambulance in the Australian Army's 8th Division, who participated in the defence of Malay and Singapore from 1941 to 1942. Johnston was captured by the Japanese during the fall of Singapore on February 15 and spent the rest of the Japanese Occupation in Changi as a prisoner of war until 1945.
During the conservation process, the bristles of the brush were found to resemble the brooms made in Changi Broom Factory in the POW camp during the Japanese Occupation
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"We spoke to the curators, we did research and we found out that during the Second World War in Changi prison, there were different companies that were formed by the different inmates and POWs. Each company was responsible for a different aspect of prison life," says Assistant Conservator Sophia Lee.
"One company, called the Changi Broom Factory, were in charge of making all kinds of brooms. Brooms that you use to sweep floors, the scrubs and of course, toothbrushes. The toothbrushes that were manufactured in Changi Prison were made using bamboo handles and coconut fibre bristles. Resources that they could find within the prison compound," she adds.
The other two artefacts are a cheongsam and jacket ensemble that belonged to Datin Aw Cheng Hu (the late daughter of Aw Boon Par), which was made by Shanghainese tailors with fabric bought from High Street in Singapore, and Panorama of Singapore which was drawn from memory by British artist Stephen Wiltshire.
The World of Heritage Conservation: Sneak Peeks into Safeguarding Singapore's National Collection is the 13th and latest addition to NHB's ongoing Heritage on the Move series of travelling exhibitions. It will be on display at the Central Public Library until September 30, before it moves to Bishan Public Library (October 2021), Jurong West Public Library (November 2021), Marine Parade Public Library (December 2021) and Tampines Regional Library (February 2022).