Potential Health Hazards of Materials Used by Artists and Sculptors

Abstract

A painter or sculptor usually is unaware of the potential health hazards of exposure to materials he selects to enhance his creative efforts. Although most of the substances and processes to which he is exposed have no effect on health, some may have an adverse effect on his well-being under certain conditions of exposure. Painting Traditional Media.— As early as 1713, Bernardino Ramazzini, the patron saint of occupational medicine, described in his classic book, De Morbis Artificum ( Diseases of Workers ), 1 the hazards of materials to which painters are exposed. He wrote: I have observed that nearly all the painters whom I know, both in this and other cities, are sickly; and if one reads the lives of painters it will be seen that they are by no means long-lived, especially those who were the most distinguished.... Their sedentary life and melancholic temperament may be partly to blame, for they