Acrylic on paper

We have here at the National Gallery of Victoria a series of works
painted in acrylic on thick Arches paper that are suffering cracking
and loss. The works tend to have a thinly applied background with
thick, impasto strokes scattered on top. It is these impasto areas
that are susceptible to cracking and loss. The paper is
rough-textured and reasonably well sized. I'm currently trying to
find an appropriate consolidant. Does anyone have any suggestions
and experience with these materials suffering from the same problem?
Would an acrylic dispersion such as Plextol be suitable?

Ruth Shervington
Conservator of Paper
National Gallery of Victoria
PO Box 7259 Melbourne
Victoria 8004
Australia


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 14:1
                   Distributed: Monday, June 19, 2000
                        Message Id: cdl-14-1-030
                                  ***