Analysis of Modern Paints

Although oil remains an important binding medium in artists' paints, today's synthetic resins are being used with increasing frequency. This was true during much of the twentieth century, when artists such as David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jackson Pollock, and Pablo Picasso used commercial or industrial paints based on synthetic resins. The growing popularity of synthetic resin materials carries important implications for the conservation, preservation, and treatment of modern art. This volume outlines the techniques that are currently employed to analyse the synthetic resins used in modern painting materials, such as pyrolysisgas chromatography – mass spectrometry, Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy, and direct temperature – resolved mass spectrometry.