From April 2006 until the end of October 2009 the institution to receive the AXA Art Research Grant was Tate in London. The project resulting from the grant was the:

Tate AXA Art Modern Paints Project (TAAMPP)

AXA Art’s grant facilitated groundbreaking conservation research at Tate. The project found ways in which artworks containing acrylic paints could be better conserved in the future, in many cases before the signs of ageing become apparent. To date, the choice of appropriate conservation techniques and knowledge of the effects of commonly employed conservation treatments on these paints is limited and this research will lead the way in redressing this concern.

Modern art from the 1950s onwards, is currently the most highly sought-after and highest priced area of the market. The modern and contemporary sales at auction houses across the world have enjoyed a continued success and growth over the past 10 years, and there appears to be no slowing down in the near future. The Tate AXA Art Modern Paints Project focussed on the research and surface cleaning of acrylic paintings in the Tate collection.

Acrylic paints have been widely used by artists since the early 1960’s and despite their young age, they are now starting to require conservation. Around 30% of the paintings Tate has collected since the early 1960’s contain acrylic paint or priming layers, and several institutional, private and commercial collections across the world collect acrylic paintings. Problems associated with the conservation and preservation of acrylics may also affect many oil paintings where the canvas has been primed with acrylic-based ground layers. The aim of the project is to better understand the effects of routine conservation treatments such as surface cleaning on acrylic emulsion paints, and how these treatments may affect the future condition of these paintings. The results of the project will provide tangible advice to modern art collectors including best practice for the conservation and preservation of acrylic paintings.

The project was headed up by Dr. Bronwyn Ormsby, Senior Conservation Scientist at Tate, and Dr. Elina Kampasakali, the AXA Art Research Fellow, based at the Tate Conservation Science Department at Millbank.

5 paintings in the Tate collection were surface cleaned and the treatments scientifically evaluated. The first painting treated was Untitled 2/72  (1972) by Jeremy Moon, which was followed by Portrait of Brooke Hayward  (1973) by Andy Warhol. The next work receiving the TAAMPP treatment was Andromeda  (1962) by Russian-American publisher, painter and sculptor Alexander Liberman. Following that John Hoyland’s 25.4.69 was cleaned. The final case study to conserved as part of the TAAMPP was British artist Bernard Cohen’s (b. 1933) Painting with Three Spots, One Blue and Two Yellow (T01538), painted in 1970 and purchased in 1972. Cohen created his spot paintings by inter-layering sprayed dots of coloured acrylic paint with coats of white acrylic emulsion paint. Throughout this period Cohen used Bocour paints and avoided using priming products, preferring the flexibility and surface quality of artist's quality titanium white paint instead.