Q: I found this sketch in a box of junk in Florida after Hurricane Opal in 1995. I’ve been carrying it around for a long time. It’s slowly deteriorating, and I don’t know how to take care of it. It’s a sketch of someplace called Kairouan and is dated 1928. The artist’s name, James M. Willson, is printed on it and it is also signed at the bottom.

 

A: Kairouan is a city in Tunisia. The picture looks like it is of the main gate with a view of The Great Mosque, a Muslim pilgrimage site, in the background. James M. Willson (1890-1962) was a West Palm Beach, Florida, artist who did drawings, etchings, and oil paintings. He lived in Europe from 1925 to 1938 and was an instructor at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach from 1946 until 1962. Some of his etchings are in museums and the Library of Congress. Works of art on paper deteriorate quickly if not properly taken care of. A chemical reaction of the acid and lignin in paper exposed to light and humidity causes the paper to yellow or turn brown and become brittle. You can prevent further deterioration by having the sketch framed using acid-free materials, including a non-acidic mat and spacers to prevent the picture from touching the glass or acrylic covering. A frame shop should be able to provide framing that meets archival standards. If you don’t want to spend the money to frame it, store the picture in an archival bag with an acid-free mat board for support. In its present condition, it will probably be impossible to sell.