The Modular Cleaning Program IV
01.01.2011
“The Modular Cleaning Program (MCP) is both a database system and an approach for the cleaning of artworks. This system has been developed to assist conservators in their approach to cleaning with solvents, solvent gels or water-borne systems. While developed from the perspective of paintings conservation, the methodology is universal and applicable to any cleaning environment.
The Modular Cleaning Program synthesizes established theory and materials in conservation practice into an organized schema. The Program is a new tool to make complicated chemistry accessible to the experienced conservator, allowing him or her to focus on the aesthetics of a sensitive cleaning and not be mired in either endless solution preparation nor limited by a narrow set of familiar cleaning solutions.
The Modular Cleaning Program was developed by Chris Stavroudis, Paintings Conservator in Private Practice in Los Angeles with the cooperation and support of Professor Richard C. Wolbers, Winterthur / University of Delaware Art Conservation Program.The Modular Cleaning Program is an outgrowth of the long collaboration between Richard Wolbers and the Getty Conservation Institute, most recently manifested in the Gels Research Project (see http://www.getty.edu/conservation/activities/gels/ ). A final component of the Project was the discussion of a “logic tree” approach to selecting cleaning systems – intended to be an insight, as it were, into Professor Wolbers’ thought process when selecting a cleaning system. The nascent system was modified by Chris Stavroudis and built into a FileMaker Pro® database system.
The Modular Cleaning Program is offered as both a practical tool and an opportunity to integrate the theoretical and material properties into our daily conservation practice.”