Light exposure limits for art on paper

In response to the request made by Magdalena Godzmirski, Paper
Conservator, Munch Museum:

At the Royal Ontario Museum we have a system set up which seems to
work quite well.  In brief, to avoid light damage we try to adhere
to the following procedures:

    1.  Avoid unnecessary exposure

    2.  Eliminate ultraviolet light

    3.  Reduce the intensity - by filtering or blocking light
        sources, or distancing the artifact from the light source -
        for works of art of paper the lux level is generally from
        25-50 lux

    4.  Control necessary exposure - watercolours, dyed textiles and
        other sensitive artifacts are rotated so that they are only
        on exhibit for limited periods, e.g. 6 months in every 5
        years.  This means that we can tell the public that there is
        a limited opportunity to see material which will not be on
        view again for a long time, and the public is also able to
        see more of the museum's holdings by putting them on
        temporary exhibition.

This is a shortened version of the section on "Protection of
Artifacts from Light Damage" taken the "Collections Care Guidelines"
written by the Conservation department in 1991.  If you have any
further questions please contact our Paper Conservator, Janet Cowan
(janetc [at] rom__on__ca).

Barb Rice
Assistant Documentation Officer
Royal Ontario Museum
Toronto

                                  ***
                   Conservation DistList Instance 9:4
                 Distributed: Wednesday, June 21, 1995
                        Message Id: cdl-9-4-001
                                  ***