51381
Accession Number
39192
Editor
Madden. Odile; Charola, A. Elena; Cullen Cobb, Kim; DePriest, Paula T.; Koestler, Robert J.
Title Of Article Chaper
Conservation of Plastics at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Title Of Journal Book
The Age of Plastic: Ingenuity and Responsibility: Proceedings of the 2012 MCI Symposium
Volume
7
Pages
109-124
Collation
16 p. : ills
Reference Bibliography
Includes bibliographic references
Publisher
Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press
Publisher City
Washington, DC
ISSN
1949-2367 (online); 1949-2359 (print)
Language Of Text
English
Language Of Summary
English
Literature Type
Monograph
Literature Level
Analytic
Abstract
The collection at the Smithsonian American Art Museum includes more than 200
works that list “plastic†as all or part of the work’s composition. The museum’s highly active loan
and exhibition program requires that many of these plastic works receive conservation treatment
before they are exhibited as aesthetic objects. Examples of deterioration in the collection are presented, followed by treatments of three specific artworks that show varying degrees of conservation
intervention and exemplify the methodology and type of treatments that have been carried out on
sculpture composed, wholly or in part, of modern polymers as case studies.
works that list “plastic†as all or part of the work’s composition. The museum’s highly active loan
and exhibition program requires that many of these plastic works receive conservation treatment
before they are exhibited as aesthetic objects. Examples of deterioration in the collection are presented, followed by treatments of three specific artworks that show varying degrees of conservation
intervention and exemplify the methodology and type of treatments that have been carried out on
sculpture composed, wholly or in part, of modern polymers as case studies.
Keywords
plastic;conservation
pub_id
51381