PAPER
Start on a permanent base
Wood-pulp scraps yellow and crumble; a base card made to last carries an alkaline reserve against acid.
Why paper ages- Choose the paper
- Choose the paste
- Mind the light
- Cut, paste, keep
00PAPER, PASTE AND PATIENCE
Cut, paste,
make it last.
Collage started as pasted paper in 1912. Most of the trouble since has come from the paper and the glue.
A good collage is easy to start and easy to ruin: newspaper yellows, cheap glue stains, and sunlight fades the colour for good. Here is what museums and conservators say about the papers, paste and light that decide how long your work lasts.
Plain English, with the sources linked.
Check your materials01Principles
02THE SHORT ANSWER
Good paper, gentle paste, low light.
Three choices decide whether a collage
looks the same in ten years.
PASTE
Stick with starch
Conservators use wheat starch paste on paper; many commercial adhesives are unstable and can stain.
Check your glue
LIGHT
Hang it out of the sun
Light damage adds up and cannot be undone, so a shaded wall beats a sunny one.
See the numbers03A QUICK MATERIAL CHECK
Will your collage
stand the test of time?
Pick a material or a place to hang it. The verdict comes from conservation sources: the Canadian Conservation Institute, the Northeast Document Conservation Center, the University of Illinois Library and the ISO permanence standard.
Short-lived does not mean forbidden. Plenty of great collages use newsprint; just expect it to change colour with time.
04TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Light and heat,
slowly at work.
Paper ages quietly. These two figures
show why where you keep it matters.
50 vs 30,000 lux
Living room in the evening vs direct sun
Direct sunlight is roughly 600 times brighter than a living room in the evening. Because light damage is cumulative and irreversible, a collage in a sunny spot fades and yellows far faster than one on a shaded wall.
LIGHT · NEDCC
2× the life
Storage temperature 10°F (about 5.5°C) cooler
The University of Illinois Library notes that each 10°F drop in storage temperature doubles the lifespan of acidic newsprint. A cool cupboard is kinder than a warm loft.
HEAT · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Neither effect is visible from one week to the next, which is exactly why it is easy to forget until the colours have already gone.
05MAKE ONE TONIGHT
Four habits
for a collage that lasts.
Build on a permanent base
Use a heavy card sold as acid-free or permanent as the base, so the support is not the weak point. Save newsprint for accents you are happy to see age.
Paste thin, not thick
Wheat starch paste stays tacky when thinned and bonds strongly once dry. Brush a thin, even layer and press each piece flat.
Skip the tape
Commercial adhesives are often unstable and can disfigure paper. If you are not sure what is in a glue or tape, keep it off the finished work.
Hang it in the shade, store it cool
Choose a wall away from direct sun, or rotate pieces rather than leaving one up for good. Keep the rest flat in a box somewhere cool and dry.
06COLLAGE FACTS
Five things worth
knowing.
It began with fake wood grain
Tate credits Georges Braque with the first papier collé: he drew on imitation wood-grain paper pasted onto white paper. He and Picasso made them in the last three months of 1912 and early 1913.
The name means pasted paper
Collage takes its name from the French papiers collés. Tate notes it was first used as an artists’ technique in the early twentieth century, with paper, photographs, fabric and ephemera.
Cheap paper arrived around 1870
Publishers switched to inexpensive wood-pulp paper between 1870 and 1885. Its short fibres, acidic impurities and high lignin are why old newspaper cuttings brown and crumble.
Faded colour does not come back
Light damage is cumulative and irreversible: a faded collage will not recover in the dark. Ultraviolet light weakens, bleaches and yellows paper, but visible light harms it too.
There is a standard for paper that lasts
ISO 9706 sets requirements for permanent paper: a minimum alkaline reserve such as calcium carbonate, pH limits, a maximum of easily oxidised material, and a minimum tear strength.
07QUICK QUESTIONS
Collage, answered.
Short answers to the questions people ask most.
Who invented collage?
Tate credits Georges Braque with the first papier collé, made by drawing on imitation wood-grain paper pasted onto white paper. He and Pablo Picasso made papiers collés in the last three months of 1912 and early 1913.
What does the word collage mean?
It comes from the French papiers collés, meaning pasted paper. Tate describes collage as both the technique and the finished work: paper, photographs, fabric and other ephemera arranged and stuck onto a support.
Why do newspaper cuttings turn yellow?
Newsprint is cheap wood-pulp paper with short, weak fibres, acidic impurities and high levels of lignin. Humidity helps produce more acid, and sunlight oxidises the fibres, turning the paper brown and brittle.
What glue do conservators use on paper?
Paper conservators widely use wheat starch paste. The Canadian Conservation Institute says it has proved suitable for direct, long-term application to paper, while many commercial adhesives are unstable.
Can I hang a paper collage in the sun?
It is better not to. Light damage to paper is cumulative and irreversible, and the Northeast Document Conservation Center advises that no paper object should be on permanent display. Choose a wall out of direct sun.
08Sources
Where the facts come from
- Art term: CollageTate
- Art term: Papier colléTate
- Why newspapers deteriorate, and how to slow itUniversity of Illinois Library
- CCI Notes 11/4: Wheat starch pasteCanadian Conservation Institute
- Preservation leaflet 2.4: Protection from light damageNortheast Document Conservation Center
- ISO 9706: Requirements for permanent paperStandards Council of Canada