Condition Problems Related to Zinc Oxide Underlayers: Examination of Selected Abstract Expressionist Paintings from the Collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution

Rogala, Dawn V.; Lake, Susan; Maines, Christopher A.; Mecklenburg, Marion F.

doi:10.1179/019713610804489937

Cited by 43 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…1 shows horizontal microfissuring of the white paint near the interface with the orange-red paint, perhaps related to the lamellar structure of the zinc soaps. The lack of cohesion in the zinc white underlayer that has led to lifting and cracking in Rouge sur blanc is consistent with a recent study of deteriorated mid-twentieth-century Abstract Expressionist paintings with similar underlayers (Rogala et al 2010).…”

Section: Delamination and Lifting Paintsupporting

confidence: 72%

“…The relative amount of oleate in the zinc soap protrusions is of interest in light of recent research on samples from mid-twentieth-century Abstract Expressionist paintings and from cast paint films in the Smithsonian Institution's Materials Study Collection. This study showed that zinc white paints contained higher amounts of oleate (as measured by Py-GCMS) than paints without zinc white and the authors suggest that it is in the form of zinc oleate (Rogala et al 2010;Maines et al 2011). However, since the fatty acid profile of the paint-measured after tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) derivatisation-comprises free fatty acids, fatty acids that exist as glyceryl esters in the cross-linked oil paint and fatty acid zinc salts, the presence of zinc oleate soaps is not certain.…”

Section: Gcmsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Zinc soaps sometimes produce efflorescence or disfiguring protrusions at the surface of paintings (van der Weerd et al 2003;Keune 2005;Osmond et al 2005;O'Donoghue et al 2006;Faubel et al 2011). High concentrations of zinc soaps within the oil paint matrix have also been linked to a lack of cohesion and brittleness in the paint (Rogala et al 2010;Maines et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Conservation Issues in Several Twentieth-Century Canadian Oil Paintings: The Role of Zinc Carboxylate Reaction Products

Helwig¹,

Poulin²,

Corbeil³

et al. 2014

Issues in Contemporary Oil Paint

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In an on-going study of the materials and techniques of twentieth-century Canadian painters, similar conservation issues in oil paintings by various artists have been noted. These include delamination and lifting paint, zinc soap protrusions and surface efflorescence or accretions. Examples of these phenomena are presented. Delamination in an oil painting from 1956 was found to be related to an underlayer with a high concentration of zinc fatty acid salts (zinc soaps). In two paintings that date from 1936 and 1937, zinc soaps have aggregated and formed protrusions that have broken through the paint surface. The protrusions were analysed using a combination of SEM-EDX, GCMS and FTIR. The FTIR spectra were compared to those of synthetic zinc palmitate, stearate, azelate and oleate. The combined GCMS and FTIR results indicate that the protrusions contain primarily zinc palmitate and stearate. Peak splitting in the FTIR spectrum, which is not observed in synthetic zinc palmitate, stearate or binary palmitate-stearate salts, is likely due to structural distortion. The final example describes a disfiguring surface accretion on a 1952-1954 painting caused by the reaction of zinc with a low molecular weight carboxylic acid (2-hydroxypropanoic or lactic acid).

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Section: Delamination and Lifting Paintsupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Gcmsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Conservation Issues in Several Twentieth-Century Canadian Oil Paintings: The Role of Zinc Carboxylate Reaction Products

Helwig¹,

Poulin²,

Corbeil³

et al. 2014

Issues in Contemporary Oil Paint

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show abstract

“…The high content of oleic acid and the consequentially high degree of unsaturation is most likely to be a consequence of the presence of a slow-drying oil, but this phenomena could also be explained in another way -in fact, the significant amounts of oleic acid may be linked to the presence of zinc oxide, which have also been noted in other artworks. It would thus appear that in an oil-based medium, zinc oxide forms a packed structure which is able to trap oleic acid in the pictorial layer: this effect can also occur years after the oxidation process ends [22][23][24]. The unusual degradation phenomena observed in all of these paintings might be the result of the presence of a slow-drying oil (rapeseed oil) containing a large amount of unsaturated acids (oleic, erucic and gondoic were detected after almost 50 years) whose triglycerides reacted with zinc white from the painted layers to form metal soaps.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

20th century artists’ oil paints: The case of the Olii by Lucio Fontana

Izzo

Ferriani²,

Berg

et al. 2014

Journal of Cultural Heritage

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a b s t r a c tDuring the 20th century, many innovative binders have been rapidly introduced to the art world and soon became popular as artists' paints and pictorial media. However, despite the advantages that new synthetic materials presented, oil paints have never been entirely substituted. Indeed, this paper focuses on the results provided by the scientific analysis of a group works from the oeuvre of Lucio Fontana , all of which created between 1960 and 1964 using oil-based media, and aims to illustrate how oils contained in the pictorial media have influenced these works' respective ageing and degradation processes. Despite the apparent coherence in the behaviour of many of Fontana's creations, some artworks revealed discrepancies in terms of the physical and mechanical behaviour of the pictorial films and in alterations resulting from degradation processes. Samples taken from case studies belonging to the Olii and Fine di Dio series were analysed using optical microscopy, X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), FourierTransform Infrared Spectroscopy in attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) and Gas ChromatographyMass Spectrometry (GC-MS) in order to study and identify the materials employed by the artist and the products of their degradation processes. These analyses gave unexpected but useful results (such as the presence of non-drying or slow-drying oils in the paint formulations) which not only provided us with new insight into the nature of the constituent materials, but also facilitated the elaboration of correct conservation measures and suitable restoration interventions.

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“…Zinc oxide was identified in all paint layers in the Drachmann portrait by SEM-EDS, and by optical microscopy due to the pigment's fluorescence under UV (Fig. 7) [12]. Analyses carried out on two of Krøyer's early oil sketches from 1875 and 1876 (not shown) showed that lead white was used in the paint layers in both paintings, while zinc white was not.…”

Section: Paintingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The artists’ materials of P. S. Krøyer: An analytical study of the artist’s paintings and tube colours by Raman, SEM–EDS and HPLC

Christiansen¹,

Baadsgaard²,

Sanyova

et al. 2017

Herit Sci

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An analytical study of two paintings by P. S. Krøyer and the tube colours found in his painting cabinet has been carried out in order to investigate the artists' materials used by Krøyer in the latter part of his oeuvre. The study has given a valuable knowledge about Krøyer's choice of materials and their composition that may be helpful in e.g. preservation issues. The pigments and dyes were analysed by micro-Raman spectroscopy (MRS), scanning electron microscopyenergy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD). The technical analyses were supplemented with archival studies of Danish nineteenth century paint shops. The results show that Krøyer used commercially available artists' materials typical for that period in time. Being a wealthy artist, he seems to have favoured expensive pigments such as cobalt blue, viridian and cadmium yellow. Based on the analyses, the main development in Krøyer's palette is the substitution of lead white with zinc white that appears to have taken place after 1886. The results also show that the contents of the tube colours in some cases differ from what was expected based on the trade names. This is particularly observed for the tube colours named "Oxide rouge" of which only one contains the expected hematite pigment, while all the remaining contain cadmium sulfide and natural organic red lakes. A rare tube colour named "Laque verte clair" was characterised to be mixture of Prussian blue and synthetic Indian yellow. The study therefore also illustrates that it was not always obvious to the artists what they bought from their colour merchant. It hence relates to existing international studies of nineteen century artists' materials, which highlight the complexity of tube colours from this particular period in time.

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Condition Problems Related to Zinc Oxide Underlayers: Examination of Selected Abstract Expressionist Paintings from the Collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution

Cited by 43 publications

References 10 publications

Conservation Issues in Several Twentieth-Century Canadian Oil Paintings: The Role of Zinc Carboxylate Reaction Products

Conservation Issues in Several Twentieth-Century Canadian Oil Paintings: The Role of Zinc Carboxylate Reaction Products

20th century artists’ oil paints: The case of the Olii by Lucio Fontana

The artists’ materials of P. S. Krøyer: An analytical study of the artist’s paintings and tube colours by Raman, SEM–EDS and HPLC

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