Dow Chemical Teams On Art Conservation

Dow Chemical, the J. Paul Getty Trust's Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in Los Angeles, and London's Tate gallery will collaborate to develop an effective means of cleaning works of art created with acrylic paint. The partnership will employ Dow's computer modeling and robotics technologies to explore new conservation techniques for a fast-growing segment of most major art collections. "Preserving works of art made with acrylic paints presents unique challenges not found with more traditional art media, especially when it comes to cleaning," says Thomas J. S. Learner, senior scientist and head of modern and contemporary art research at GCI. Acrylic media has accounted for 50% of sales of artists' paints since the 1960s, according to the partnership.