In 1994, the conservation division established the art materials collection and study center as a permanent home for artists' materials, technical information, and trade literature. The collection houses art materials manufactured across the globe, and contains specially prepared paint samples to aid future scientific analysis. A small number of gifts have come from the studios of artists including Romare Bearden, Mary Cassatt, Richard Diebenkorn, and Roy Lichtenstein.

The art materials collection contains tens of thousands of examples of historic paints, varnishes, and drawing materials. Most of the collection is composed of products manufactured from 1970 to the present, although the collection does include several items from the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

The Paper Sample Collection can help researchers to identify the paper in a specific print or drawing and provides a primary source for tracing broad changes in the characteristics of artists’ papers over time. The collection includes documented samples that are identified by the manufacturer or distributor and covers mostly fine- and student-grade artists’ papers available in the United States. There are many thousands of individual samples that have been catalogued, including booklets, bound volumes, and full sheets of paper. Papers come primarily from U.S., Europe, and Asia and the vast majority were manufactured in the 20th century. Hand papermakers, manufacturers of machine-made papers, fine-paper merchants, distributors, and collectors have generously donated the core of the collection. 

Scholars can search a database by country, manufacturer, date, name of the sample book, papermaking process, and watermark, among other fields. The aesthetic qualities of the paper—its surface texture, suppleness, and feel—can only be experienced in person. Researchers can also consult the extensive collections of 19th- and 20th-century paper trade directories, volumes on paper history, and watermark albums in the National Gallery of Art Library and the paper conservation department library.

The Art Materials Research and Study Center is open to individuals by appointment only. For more information about the collection, send an email to conservation staff at [email protected]. In your email, please provide details about the subject and purpose of your research.