A Preliminary Investigation into the Behavior of Modern Artists’ Oil Paints in a Hot and Humid Climate

Abstract

Understanding how modern oil paints are vulnerable to change in tropical conditions is key to developing place-based conservation approaches for paintings produced and located in Southeast Asia. This study is an examination of reference paint films on canvas naturally aged under ambient indoor conditions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Melbourne, Australia, representing exposure to tropical and temperate conditions respectively. Paints from two widely available artists’ colourmen, Winsor and Newton and Marie’s, were selected, and their behavior assessed for: titanium-zinc white, earth brown and a red from each range. Physical and chemical differences in the two sets of paints were characteriz..