Sidney Nolan’s adventures in paint—

an analytical study of the artist’s use

of commercial paints in the 1940s and ’50s
Paula Dredge

Art Gallery of New South Wales and Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, The University of Melbourne

Corresponding author: paula.dredge@ag.nsw.gov.au

Abstract
Micro-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (μ-FTIR) and portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) was undertaken on 11
paintings by Sidney Nolan (1917–1992) in order to identify paint type. Alkyd (oil-modified polyester resin) was identified
on two 1942 paintings and nitrocellulose paint was detected on several works from 1941. These early synthetic
paint types have not previously been noted on paintings by Nolan. The oil identified on paintings dated after January
1943 demonstrates good correspondence with the Ripolin brand of enamel paint when compared with the results
of a previous analytical study of cans from Nolan’s own studio. The analytical results provide new insight into Nolan’s
unusual use of commercial gloss paint in the Second World War period. This study also clarifies the brand names and
terminology used in the 1940s to 1950s to describe the different types of commercial paints and offers a model for
the cataloguing of Nolan’s paintings.

Keywords: Nolan, alkyd, Ripolin, Dulux, nitrocellulose, FTIR, pXRF

Introduction of Siqueiros it is likely that he would have been aware

In the post–Second World War period a number of
artists began using ready-made paints in cans intended
for use as decorating and industrial paints in preference
to traditional artists’ oil paint in tubes. In particular, the
American abstract expressionist artists Jackson Pollock
(1912–1956) and Willem de Kooning (1904–1997)
have provided exceptional case studies with alkyd paint
(oil-modified polyester) identified on a painting by
de Kooning, Woman, dated 1948 (Lake & Schilling
2010), and on works by Pollock from 1947 (Schilling,
Mazurek & Learner 2007). De Kooning, like Nolan,
had worked in advertising prior to becoming a painter.
This experience provided both artists with first-hand
knowledge of commercial paints.
The use of commercial paints by artists prior to the
Second World War is more unusual. There are two
notable examples Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) and David
Siqueiros (1896–1974). Picasso used the Ripolin brand
of enamel paint from at least 1912 (McCully 2011)
and Nolan himself acknowledged Picasso’s influence
on his own preference for this brand of paint (Nolan
1962). Siqueiros had a well-publicised exhibition of
nitrocellulose paintings in 1940 (‘Siqueiros’ air brushed
pictures in duco’ 1940). It is unclear if Nolan had
direct knowledge of this exhibition, but as he avidly
read international art magazines and was an admirer
of Siqueiros’ experiments with nitrocellulose. A recent
analytical study of Siqueiros’ paintings has identified
nitrocellulose on a number of his works but one of his
purported Duco paintings, Proletarian victim, 1933
(Collection: Museum of Modern Art, New York) was
found to be painted in oil (McGlinchey 2011).
This analytical finding regarding Siqueiros’ painting
that contradicts the artist’s own record, is problematic
but equally relevant to the study of Nolan’s practice.
It requires the careful weighing of evidence of the
scientific results against the art historical record and
the examination of the factors which may have led to
the discrepancy between the two. For example; the
cataloguing of medium descriptions of Nolan’s paintings
using the brand name ‘Ripolin’ has been influenced by
Nolan’s statements regarding his earliest use of this
particular brand of enamel paint. In an interview from
1962, Nolan asserted that his first use was prior to his
conscription into the Australian army in 1942 (Nolan
1962). Paintings by Nolan have been catalogued as
Ripolin from as early as 1939, and Nolan’s biographer
Brian Adams stated he was using it for painting on slate
tiles in 1940 (Adams 1987).
The date of Nolan’s earliest use of Ripolin has
however been questioned in an examination of the
artist’s correspondence with Sunday Reed, his supporter

AICCM Bulletin Volume 34, 2014 15

and technical collaborator in the
1940s (Kubik 2006). The arrival of
a consignment of Ripolin paint from
Sunday Reed in February 1943 is
described by Nolan in terms suggesting
that it was his first use of that brand
(Nolan 1943). Earlier in 1942 Nolan
specifies other brands including Dulux,
Duco and Dynamel (Figure 1) as
paints of interest (Nolan 1942).

Terminology
The identification of the types of
paints favoured by Nolan as outlined
in his letters to Sunday Reed is
confusing due to his use of terms
that were deeply embedded in the
period (Nolan 1942–44). Much of the
specificity of the brands has changed
over the intervening decades, making it
now difficult to understand what type
of paint Nolan was referring to.
Table 1 describes the generic and
specific terms commonly used in
the 1940s for three common gloss
paint types with some examples of
the brands and products available
in Australia. In the 1940s the term
‘enamel’ was used specifically to
describe oil-based commercial paints
such as Ripolin. Dulux in Australia
was not the name of a paint maker as Figure 1. Advertisement for Taubmans Dynamel, Australian Women’s Weekly, 16
it is today, but a line of alkyd paint. October 1948, p. 35.
Dulux was manufactured by British
Australian Lead Manufacturers
(B.A.L.M.) under licence to DuPont in the United
States. As lead in paint became increasingly associated
with health issues, B.A.L.M. changed its name to
BALM Paints in the 1960s, and then Dulux Australia
in 1971 (Kolm 1988). In the 1930s and ’40s, alkyd
paints were often called ‘synthetic resin’. The distinction
between the terms ‘enamel’ and ‘synthetic’ during this
period is well illustrated by the label used on cans of
Dulux in the 1930s and ’40s that stated that it was ‘the
synthetic finish superseding enamels’ (Figure 2).
Another popular type of commercial ready-made
gloss paint available from the late 1920s was based on
nitrocellulose resin. Nitrocellulose paints were called
lacquers because they hardened by solvent evaporation

Figure 2. B.A.L.M. Dulux Black 388 line. Collection: Sidney

Nolan Wahroonga studio contents. Artists’ Materials Archive,
Conservation Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Photograph Felicity Jenkins & Art Gallery of New South Wales

16 AICCM Bulletin Volume 34, 2014

Table 1. Terminology of three common types of gloss paint available in Australia in the 1930s-1950s and some examples of
products available.
Generic term Specific term Characteristics Brand (Manufacturer)

Enamel Oil Gloss or matte Pure Prepared Paint™ (B.A.L.M.)

Oleoresinous Drying over several days Ripolin® (Ripolin Ltd)
Very liquid application Houseguard™ (Taubmans)
Bleeding across edges Aeon™ (Charles Atkins & sons)
Turpentine solvent
Lacquer Nitrocellulose High gloss Duco® (B.A.L.M.)
Pyroxylin Very fast drying Opex™ (Lewis Berger & Sons)
Quickly became tacky Fascinac™ (Taubmans)
Odourous solvents (eg. amyl acetate) Morgloss™ (Brolite)
Synthetic Alkyd Gloss Dulux® (B.A.L.M.)
Oil-modified polyester resin Fast drying Synthelac™ (Lewis Berger & Sons)
Glyptal Liquid application Synflex™ (Brolite)
Less bleeding across edges Dynamel™, Revelite™ & Enamelised
Turpentine solvent Butex™ (Taubmans)

like varnishes, and not by oxidation and polymerisation
like oil paint. The most popular brand of nitrocellulose
paint was also manufactured in Australian by B.A.L.M.
under licence to DuPont and was called Duco.
Observable features such as high gloss, a lack of
stiff paint texture, and evidence of fluid paint, have
been previously used to identify Ripolin on paintings
by Nolan. This methodology is problematic, however,
as it has been demonstrated that these paint features
can also be replicated by the addition of solvents, oils
and resins to standard artists’ oil paint (Carlyle 2011).
Neither can other types of gloss commercial paint, such
as alkyds and nitrocellulose, be distinguished from each
other or from Ripolin, by the appearance of the finished
paintings alone. Instrumental analysis is necessary to
identify these three different types of commercial paint
binders.
The reference collection
In 2006, Sidney Nolan’s daughter Jinx Nolan gave
a collection of more than 100 items retained in
Nolan’s studio in Wahroonga, Sydney, to the Artists’
Materials Archive at the Art Gallery of New South
Wales (AGNSW). This material includes 35 cans
of Ripolin paint manufactured in England, most of
which had never been opened and retained the original
manufacturer’s seal. Other items include a can of black
B.A.L.M. Dulux paint, solvents, receipts, paint charts
and a leather satchel with screw-capped cans modified
for transporting paint.
Nolan moved permanently to the United Kingdom in
1953 (Pearce, Klepac & Lindsay 2007) while his house
and studio were retained by his family until 2006. The
studio contents are therefore a unique time capsule of
the materials Nolan was using in his Australian, pre-
London period. Although the date of manufacture of
the Wahroonga studio cans of Ripolin has not been
fully established, they must date after 1935 due to the
presence of copper phthalocyanine, a pigment that was
not commercially available until 1935 (Gettens & Stout
1966), in one of the colours. They also could not have
been manufactured before the English Ripolin factory
was first opened in 1932 (Ripolin Ltd. 1931–32). It
is probable that the Wahroonga studio Ripolin cans
predate the war as ready-made paints were not imported
into Australia after 1942, and it was some time after the
end of the war before supplies of non-essential paints
were re-established (Dredge 2012). Other material from
the studio has associations with the period of Nolan’s
service in the Australian Army from 1942 to 1944 and
it seems probable therefore that the Ripolin may also
date from an earlier time than the building of the studio.
An analytical study of the Wahroonga studio
Ripolin paint has previously been published (Dredge
et al. 2013). The results confirm that the Ripolin was
oil-based and therefore traditional enamel paint. Two
different types of tree resins were also identified in the
gloss Ripolin. The analysis of the Ripolin gloss colours
indicated that the oil, copal and colophony had all
been heat treated. The addition to the Ripolin paints
of these types of ‘cooked’ materials, heat-bodied oils,
processed colophony and liquefied copal, is consistent
with the historically documented types of processing
used in the preparation of oil enamels in the first half
of the 20th century (Standeven 2011). The pigments
present in the cans of gloss Ripolin paints retained
in Nolan’s Wahroonga studio were also identified in
this study. The base white pigments were found to be
zinc white or barium sulfate with the addition of high
tinting pigments: chrome yellow, chrome red, Prussian
blue, carbon black, bone black, toluidine red (PR3) and
copper phthalocyanine.
The detailed analysis of the Ripolin paint from the
studio was achieved using a number of techniques
including Meth Prep-GC/MS, Raman Spectroscopy
and Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), µ-FTIR

AICCM Bulletin Volume 34, 2014 17

and synchrotron radiation-based µFTIR spectroscopy
(SR-µFTIR) (Dredge et. al 2013). Not all of these
techniques are readily available to conservators in
Australia. This paper therefore assesses the ability to
identify Ripolin using the more accessible techniques
of µ-FTIR and pXRF. Although µ-FTIR can identify
the presence of oil, alkyd or nitrocellulose and some
pigments, it cannot characterize the type of oil.
However, the µ-FTIR spectra obtained from the paint
cans in Nolan’s studio provides an analytical reference
library that may enable the positive identification of
Ripolin on Nolan’s paintings.
As a reference standard the contents of the can of
black Dulux from Nolan’s studio was analyzed with
µ-FTIR and gave a clear spectral result for the presence
of alkyd. Three cans of B.A.L.M. Dulux owned by
Dion’s Bus Services in Wollongong, NSW, and dated by
their labels by comparison with cans and labels of Dulux
depicted in advertisements from the 1930s to 1950s,
were also examined with µ-FTIR and identified as
alkyds. A can of Dynamel manufactured by Taubmans
borrowed for this study from Bentleigh Paint Spot
Melbourne, and consistent in appearance with the labels
on Dynamel cans as advertised from 1948 (Figure 1)
was tested and found to also be alkyd resin paint. Jan
Todd notes in her history of the Taubmans company
(1990), that Dynamel prior to the Second World War
was likely based on natural resins. It is unclear at what
date the change to alkyd might have occurred. Finally, a
can of B.A.L.M. Duco dating from the 1930s–40s from
the Dulux History Project collection (Dulux Australia)
was also tested and provided a useful reference FTIR
spectrum for nitrocellulose lacquer (Figure 3).
18 AICCM Bulletin Volume 34, 2014
Figure 3. a. Transmission FTIR spectra of sample of blue paint
Sidney Nolan, Luna Park, 1941 compared with (b) B.A.L.M.
Duco nitrocellulose sample.
Analysis
Eleven paintings by Sidney Nolan dated between
1938 and 1946 were examined for this study from the
collections of AGNSW and Heide Museum of Modern
Art (HMMA). Paintings were analytically tested
with µ-FTIR by removal of microscopic sized paint
samples when ethically and materially possible. Nolan’s
tendency to work within a limited palette, principally
the three primary colours and black and white, allowed
the limited sampling to give a good indication of the
media on the paintings. Paintings from the collection
of AGNSW were additionally examined with the non-
invasive technique pXRF, giving elemental spectral
results that could be assigned to inorganic pigments.
Due to the high binder to low pigment concentration
of the commercial gloss paints used by Nolan,
µ-FTIR was an effective analytical technique for
the identification of media in most paint samples
examined without the interference from absorbance
peaks associated with pigments. Zinc oxide that is
present in many of the Ripolin paints does not have
an absorbance feature in the infrared region 4000–550
cm-1. Ripolin therefore provides an excellent case study
for µ-FTIR as the spectral information regarding the
binder is unobscured by the white pigment. A chemical
transformation in the Ripolin paints between zinc ions
and oil media in which zinc carboxylates (soaps) form
is, however, visible in the µ-FTIR spectra and may assist
with identifying the presence of zinc oxide. These zinc
Table 2. Results of analysis of binders and pigments identified on paintings by Sidney Nolan in Collections: Art Gallery of New South
Wales, Sydney & Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen.

Painting title Catalogued Sample Medium Pigments identified Source

date identified
(Inscribed FTIR
date)
Head of 1938-9 Yellow dark Not identified Natural yellow ochre, Unknown (artist’s oil
Rimbaud (verso) aluminium silicate. paint?)
(HMMA) [paint
on verso] Yellow light Not identified Lead chromate, calcium
(verso) sulphate

Blue (verso) Not identified Ultramarine, zinc stearate

(zinc oxide?)

Brown Not identified Barium sulphate, aluminium

(verso) silicate, calcium carbonate
Untitled c.1940 Black Not identified Bone black, calcium Unknown (artist’s oil
(abstract) carbonate paint?)
(AGNSW) Blue Not identified Ultramarine, zinc stearate
(zinc oxide?) calcium sulphate
Yellow Not identified Lead chromate, calcium
sulphate
Red Not identified Dinitroanaline red (PO5),
calcium carbonate
Luna Park 1941 Black Nitrocellulose Bone black Duco® or other brand of
(AGNSW) nitrocellulose lacquer
Blue Nitrocellulose Prussian blue, titanium
dioxide
Bird (HMMA) 1941 Red Nitrocellulose None detected Duco® or other brand of
(Dec 1941) nitrocellulose lacquer
Black Nitrocellulose None detected (carbon black)

Blue Nitrocellulose Prussian blue, titanium

dioxide
Dimboola 1944 Black Alkyd None detected (carbon black) Dulux®, Dynamel™ or
(HMMA) (5 Dec 1942) other brand of alkyd
Blue Alkyd Prussian blue, titanium
dioxide, zinc stearate (zinc
oxide?)
White Alkyd Barium sulphate, titanium
dioxide, aluminium silicate
The Water 1942 Yellow Alkyd Lead chromate, (lead Dulux® Dynamel™ or
Wheel (Luna carbonate?) other brand of alkyd
Park) (HMMA)
Blue Alkyd Barium sulphate, French
ultramarine
White Alkyd Lead carbonate, calcium
carbonate, barium sulphate
Wimmera c.1942 Blue Oil Prussian blue, carboxylates Ripolin®
landscape (zinc oxide?)
(landscape Yellow Oil Lead chromate, lead sulphate,
with train) carboxylates with zinc
(HMMA) stearate (zinc oxide?)

AICCM Bulletin Volume 34, 2014 19

Table 2 (continued). Results of analysis of binders and pigments identified on paintings by Sidney Nolan in Collections: Art Gallery
of New South Wales, Sydney & Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen.

Painting title Catalogued Sample Medium Pigments identified Source

date identified
(Inscribed FTIR
date)
Self portrait 1943 Red Obscured Barium sulphate, toluidine Ripolin®
(AGNSW) (March red, zinc stearate (zinc oxide)
1943)
Black Oil None detected
(carbon black)
Yellow Not tested Lead chromate

Blue Not tested Prussian blue, zinc oxide

White Not tested zinc oxide
Bathers 1943 Red Obscured Barium sulphate, toluidine red Ripolin®
(HMMA) (14 April
Black Oil None detected (carbon black)
1943)
Yellow Oil Lead chromate
Blue Oil Prussian blue, carboxylates
(zinc oxide?)
First-class 1946 White Oil Carboxylates (zinc oxide) Ripolin® & Dulux®
marksman (12 Dec Dynamel™ or other brand
Red Obscured Barium sulphate, toluidine red
(AGNSW) 1946) of alkyd
Black Kelly Alkyd None detected (carbon)
(upper)
Black Kelly Oil None detected (carbon)
(lower)
Blue Obscured Barium sulphate, copper
(mountain) phthalocyanine, carboxylates
(zinc oxide)
The camp 1946 White Oil Carboxylates (zinc oxide) Ripolin® & Dulux®
(AGNSW) Dynamel™ or other brand
Blue Oil Carboxylates (zinc oxide),
of alkyd
Prussian blue
Black Kelly Alkyd None detected (carbon black)
(upper)
Black Kelly Oil None detected (carbon black)
(lower)

soap species appear in the FTIR absorbance spectra
as a broad peak in the region 1570 to 1540 cm-1. As
the soaps mature within the paint, they may also form
specific carboxylates species. Zinc stearate for example
may be indicated by a sharp peak at 1542 cm-1 (Robinet
& Corbeil 2003).
Results
The analytical results from the examination of eleven
paintings by Nolan are given in Table 2. The two earliest
paintings of the test group: Head of Rimbaud (paint on
verso only tested) and Untitled (abstract), did not yield
µ-FTIR spectral results for the binder. This was due
to the high pigment content compared to the binder.
The pigments identified on these two paintings differed
from others in the study group and were lead chromate
combined with calcium sulphate dihydrate (gypsum),
dinitroanaline red (PO5) and natural ochre. The paint
films on both of these works exhibited matte, pasty and
textured appearances generally associated with standard
artists’ oil paint.
The paint media on two works from 1941: Luna
Park and Bird were identified as nitrocellulose. All
of the samples from these two works gave the FTIR
absorption peaks associated with the nitrate group at
1657, 1279 and 841 cm-1 that corresponds well with the
published literature on FTIR of nitrocellulose paints
(Learner 2005 p. 91) and matches with the FTIR
spectra obtained from the can of Duco (Figure 3).
Both paintings exhibited an extensive network of sharp
cracks suggesting that the paint films were brittle and
easily fractured. This is consistent with the presence
of nitrocellulose paints, which is known to become
fragile with age (Standeven 2011). The white pigment
identified was titanium dioxide. Titanium dioxide was
preferred in nitrocellulose paints over lead and zinc

20 AICCM Bulletin Volume 34, 2014

 Figure 4. Transmission FTIR of alkyd paint samples from Water Wheel, 1942, a. blue, b. yellow and c. Nolan Studio Dulux.

based white pigments due to its superior opacity and fine
particle size.
Alkyd resins were detected on multiple colour areas
of two paintings, The Water Wheel, (Luna Park) and
Dimboola. These were identified by comparison with
the dry residue on the outside of the can of black Dulux
from Nolan’s studio (Figure 4). Distinctive alkyd FTIR
absorption peaks in paint samples from both works were
located at 1458, 1282, 1124, 1072 cm-1 with a doublet at
742 & 705 cm-1. The white pigments used in the paints
of the two alkyd painting were different from each other.
Lead carbonate was the dominant white used in several
colours on Water Wheel (Luna Park). No lead carbonate
was found in the samples from Dimboola, which was
principally titanium dioxide. This suggests that the two
paintings, although both alkyd types, may have been
painted with different brands of paint.
Oil was detected as the principal paint binder in all
the remaining paintings of the study group. The principal
white pigment was zinc oxide detected by the significant
presence of carboxylates in the region 1500–1600 cm-1
and the presence of zinc with pXRF. Red colours were

Figure 5. a. Transmission FTIR of sample of red gloss paint on First-class marksman and b. Nolan Studio Ripolin red 16 from
the can.

AICCM Bulletin Volume 34, 2014 21

invariably the coal tar colour toluidine red (PR3) on a
base of barium sulphate that corresponds well with the
FTIR spectrum of the Ripolin Red 16 from the can
(Figure 5). Yellows were lead chromate, and blue paints
were pigmented with either copper phthalocyanine or
Prussian blue. These pigments are consistent with the
pigment combinations detected in the cans of Ripolin
paint from the Wahroonga studio.
An exception to the dominance of oil-based paints
was found in the two black Kelly figures on the
paintings First-class marksman and The camp. In both
instances the black paint on the surface of the painting
was found to be an alkyd. An earlier, underlying black
paint was an oil paint with a carbon black pigment
consistent with the gloss Ripolin black from the can.
This suggests that the Kelly figures in both paintings
were originally painted in black Ripolin which was
subsequently overpainted with alkyd paint. As these two
paintings were retained by John and Sunday Reed long
after Nolan left Heide in 1947, the alkyd paint is most
likely to have been added by Nolan prior to that date.
It is unsurprising therefore, that the one can of Dulux
retained in Nolan’s Wahroonga studio was black. This
suggests that black Dulux retained a place in Nolan’s
practice long after he had embraced Ripolin as his
principal paint medium.
Conclusion
Micro-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
has been demonstrated to effectively identify and
distinguish three common types of commercial paint,
oil, alkyd and nitrocellulose on paintings by Sidney
Nolan. This study of a group of paintings by Nolan
dating from early in his artistic career has provided
examples of his use of nitrocellulose paint in 1941 and
alkyd-based paint in 1942. As alkyds were not used
as artists’ paints until 1976 when Winsor & Newton
launched the Griffin line of paint, and nitrocellulose
was never formulated as paint for artists, the presence
of either of these paint media must indicate the use of
a commercial paint product. These types of commercial
synthetic (alkyd) and semi-synthetic (nitrocellulose)
paints have not previously been identified as used by
Nolan. The identification of alkyd paint on works from
1942 also provides the earliest date of artist use of
synthetic paint that has yet been reported worldwide.
The ability to distinguish the different brands of alkyd
and nitrocellulose paints from each other, such as Dulux
from Dynamel, is the subject of on-going research.
The identification of the presence of oil binders is
more difficult to assert the use of commercial paint over
standard artists’ oil. Analytical references of Ripolin
paint from Nolan’s own studio do however enable
comparison of pigment formulations that suggest good
22 AICCM Bulletin Volume 34, 2014
correspondence between the paints on Nolan’s works
tested dating after January 1943 with the Ripolin
in cans from his studio. When considered alongside
Nolan’s written record of receiving the Ripolin paint
in January 1943, the analysis provides strong evidence
for the presence of Ripolin on these paintings and is
consistent with the hypothesis that Nolan did not use
Ripolin until February 1943.
In contrast the analysis of two paintings by Nolan
dating from 1938–40 gave FTIR spectra with little
information regarding the binder, suggesting it was in
small concentration and the pigment content was high.
These two paintings with their pasty, pigment-rich paint
films suggest that the artist may have also have used
standard artists’ oil paint in this period.
It is hoped that further analysis on paintings from
the early part of Nolan’s career will be able to build a
larger inventory of examples of the use of these unusual
paint types and confirm the use of Ripolin by Nolan
on paintings dated after 1942. The analysis of the
contents of Nolan’s studio materials will continue to
form a useful reference dataset for comparison with
samples from paintings. This study has demonstrated
the value of historical samples of known brands of paint,
along with artists’ records and historic trade literature
as essential guides in the interpretation of the scientific
analysis of paintings.
Appendix: experimental protocols
Micro-Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy
(µ-FTIR)
Transmission µ-FTIR was performed on paint samples
with a Thermo Nicolet Nexus Spectrometer attached
to a Continuum IR Microscope and MCT-A Detector
with KBr window (11700-600 cm-1). The spectra were
recorded in the range 4000-550 cm-1 using 100 scans
at 4 cm-1 resolution. Samples were either taken directly
from a surface scraping of a painting (AGNSW) or
excised from cross section samples (HMMA). A micro-
compression cell with diamond window was used as a
sample platform and samples were rolled flat with an
FTIR roller prior to analysis.
Portable Xray Fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF)
PXRF was undertaken directly on paintings from the
collection of the AGNSW using a Bruker Tracer III-
V. The results were interpreted with S1PXRF and
ARTAX software. PXRF was used in two modes; a
low mass mode at 15 kV, 15 μA, vacuum 0.4 torr, and
a mid mass mode at 40 kV, 1.1 μA, vacuum 0.4 torr.
Collection times were 200 seconds.
Acknowledgements
This research forms part of an Australian Research
Council Industry Linkage Grant, The twentieth century
in paint. The principal chief investigator, Associate
Professor Robyn Sloggett, and post-doctoral fellow,
Dr Nicole Tse, at the Centre for Cultural Materials
Conservation, the University of Melbourne, have been
a critical part of this project. Funding for the Art
Gallery of New South Wales’ participation was provided
by the Art Gallery of New South Wales Friends of
Conservation. Permission from the Heide Museum
of Modern Art to include the results of the analysis
of their paintings has been gratefully received. Heide
Museum of Modern Art curator Kendrah Morgan and
collection manager Katarina Paseta generously gave
their expertise and time to this project. Bruce Leary and
Trudy Scott from the Dulux History Project at Dulux
Australia have also located cans of paint, given of their
expertise and allowed sampling of material to provide
additional reference standards for this paper.
Author
Paula Dredge has a PhD from The University of
Melbourne on Sidney Nolan and Paint. A Study of an
artist’s use of commercial, ready-made paints in Australia
1938-1953 (2014). She undertook this research as part
of ARC Linkage grant The twentieth century in paint.
Paula Dredge has been a paintings conservator with
the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) since
1990. She has written on a number of Australian artists
and their use of materials and techniques.
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