Abstract
This article focuses on specific aspects of the technique of Canadian abstract painter, Jean-Paul Riopelle. Riopelle’s early works were painted in oil. He painted thickly and mixed matt and lustrous paint. This technique has resulted in several conservation problems, such as the cracking of matt paint and the appearance of exudates. The same pigment/oil combinations were found in samples of damaged blue paint and of blue paint that showed no defects. Analysis confirmed that the exudate is oil that has leached out from the paint: linseed or poppyseed oil, or mixtures of these two drying oils. One consequence of Riopelle’s use of matt and glossy paint is that his paintings should never be varnished. In the 1980s, Riopelle started using more non-traditional materials, including aerosol paint and paint for crafts and fabrics, which introduced a new set of conservation concerns for his work. Two types of aerosol paint were identified, one based on an iso-phthalate alkyd, the other containing a melamine-formaldehyde-sulfonamide resin, which acts as a carrier for fluorescent pigments. The same medium, consisting of an acrylic ester–acrylonitrile–styrene copolymer, was found in most of the non-aerosol paint samples, including nacreous paints based on iron oxide-mica pigments.
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