Does an oil painting need to breathe to preserve it's life or quality?

I am hoping you can help me. I am trying to find out the current info and thoughts as to whether an oil painting needs to breathe to preserve it's life and quality? I was told to glue and nail a piece of plywood to the back of a torquing/twisted canvas frame on oil, and one framer said that was bad since it would prevent the oil from breathing, while another said the current discovery is actually that an oil painting should not be exposed to the air. Can you help direct me to info on this? Was there an article in your publication about this?Does an oil painting need to breathe to preserve it's life or quality?
Hi, I have about 45 oil paintings in my collection which has held up well for 25 years. All paintings are varnished when dry so they are well protected.


A few tips:





1) Its ok to expose them to air ; why have them if they are not around to be enjoyed.





2) It is best to have them in some decent humidity 4- - 50 % the museums tell me.





3) The worst enemy of any panting, oil and especially water colors is sun light. Never hang a painting in direct sunlight for any period of time other than a few minutes or an hour or two.





4) Don't stoew, especially canvasas in wet areas or you can get some rot and mold.





5) Keep them away from direct dry heat or iver time they may crack.





6) Above all never expose them to cigarette smoke!!





7) Clean oils, not acrylics with very mild soap and water and a very soft cloth.








MichaelDoes an oil painting need to breathe to preserve it's life or quality?
wow, you got some great answers
about your questions...





Max Doerner suggests stapling a kraft paper or thin cardboard to cover the back of your canvases. The paper should not touch the canvas. It will help to stop humidity from reaching the canvas as humidity will make the canvas tight or loose.





Canvas are primed before they are painted, so the back of them is exposed to humidity or oder conditions. The painted side is another story. It is completely sealed with gesso. If painters didn't do that all the oil would sink into the cotton or linen canvas. And oil makes the canvas weak and could break easily. So covering the canvas with the cardboard won't damage the painting layers.





About the air: oil dries by oxidation, so it has to be in contact with air in order for it to dry. They keep oxidating even after you think they are already dry.





I have never heard oils shouldn't touch the air. I suppose all the Titians and davincis and rembrandts would already have a glass to protect them and kept in a vacuum. But they are not, so I don't think that is true. People tend to invent stories about art conservation.





I've read in gamblin's site that it's also not good to keep paintings in dark places, you don't need direct sunlight, but just regular indoors light. As oils tend to yellow when stored in dark places.





You could also download the Oil Book from winsor and newton. It's free, you can find it in their site. Those sites have a lot of useful information.





If your oil painting is varnished then the painting layers will be protected for hundreds of years.
Try the Canadian Conservation Institute .They may be able to give you up to date info on this.
Breathe???? It needs to dry!!! Oil paint can take years to dry properly, it is dry on top but not underneath.
They both are talking about 2 different things.





1) Breathing oxygen is bad. It will oxidize your canvas and some pigments will change color. We are talking eons here not decades before this becomes an issue.


2) Breathing water/moisture out is a must. Unless you have your panting in an environmentally controlled room your painting will need to 'breathe out' water. Do not create a box like object of your painting that is (almost) airtight. Think; put a tomato in a plastic bag for a week and one in optimal conditions....you get the picture I hope.





It is just a matter of: ';Breathing is bad. Not breathing is worse.';





Re-stretching a torqued painting is probably the best option. I sure know nailing a piece of plywood to the back is one of the worst.
According to the Tate Conservation website, the research currently being done on the harmful effects of oxygen on art is in reference to art on paper and not oil paintings.





Regardless, I would not recommend sealing the back of an oil painting for the simple reason that moisture could become trapped behind the canvas and quickly cause the canvas to rot.





You could screw four triangular pieces of hardwood to the corners only (leaving the centre open) to correct the skew, or have the painting re-stretched onto new stretcher bars. Both these options are safe and inexpensive.





Here's the Tate article on ';Anoxia';:


http://www.tate.org.uk/conservation/scie鈥?/a>
here is an article that is written on the properties of oil paints. it should help you.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_paint