Current Technical Challenges in the Conservation of Paintings

This collection of papers from the ICON Paintings Group Conference: ‘Modern Conservation: What’s new?’ (2014) discusses various aspects of modern conservation including: the deterioration and conservation of contemporary works of art and problems posed by it; appraisal of new conservation materials and their properties; new and innovative techniques that are being developed and used to address conservation problems; or new and novel ways of using traditional or well-known materials already in the conservator’s tool kit.

Authors consider recent developments in wet cleaning systems for unvarnished modern and contemporary painted surfaces; the treating of and removal of liquefying paint; an evaluation of adhesives, consolidants and retouching media for the conservation and treatment of paintings on transparent plastic supports; and a review of rigid stretcher insert systems, their materials and applications. Papers include a number of case studies, exploring modern conservation materials and complex ethical issues.