National Gallery uses acrylic spray (?) 400 Year life (!?)
2002-10-17 by Paul Roark
The following are excerpts from a lecture given by Ross Merrill (Chief of Conservation at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (USA)) in 1997 at an IAPS (International Association of Pastel Societies) Convention. See http://www.bmi.net/knapp/iapsmerrill.html Paul _______________________________________ Pastel Conservation: During his presentation, Mr. Merrill presented current research on conservation of pastel paintings in order to inform artists in their choice of materials, both for archival quality and user safety. ......... Fixatives: Another problem is fixing pigments to the support. Unfixed pastels are easily smudged .... Most of the pastelists from previous generations used fixatives. Degas used fixatives. His favorite was alcohol and white shellac. Today there are a number of alternatives. Krylon Acrylic Varnish B72 is used by conservators. This product will remain unchanged for 400 years, but does have a tendency to saturate the surface. Grumbacher B77 varnish or "tough film" is the same as B72, but will not saturate. Krylon workable fixative and Sennelier fixative are both good products. One should stay away from Grumbacher's "blue label" fixative. Mr. Merrill stated that no matter what the condition of the pastel when in enters the conservation laboratory, it will be fixed before it leaves. Almost all pastels from the past have been fixed. This procedure will continue. Be assured that if your works make it to any museum, they will be fixed.