Conservators at the Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk Are Donating Their Face Masks and Gloves to Front-Line Medical Workers

Conservators at the Rijksmuseum
in Amsterdam are rounding up their supplies of face masks and surgical gloves
to donate to medical workers in hospitals, who are in urgent need
of protective medical gear amid a global shortage.

The Rijksmuseum’s technical art
historian, Erma Hermens, came up with the initiative, which she
announced on Twitter, calling on others to join the museum’s
efforts.

“RT this please!” she wrote in her post, in which she tagged the
Stedelijk Museum, the Mauritshuis, and the Van Gogh Museum, as well
as the Twitter accounts for museum and conservation trade
organizations. “Every little bit helps!”

Asked for details about the initiative, Hermens and the museum
declined to provide additional information. But the Stedelijk
Museum, when reached by Artnet News, has confirmed that it will
participate. The Mauritshuis says that, while its conservators
would like to donate items as well, “unfortunately, we do not have
suitable materials in stock to share.”

Conservators use face masks when
they treat art objects that are, or could be, infested with toxic
molds and fungi, or which have been treated with hazardous
substances, such as pesticides, in the past.

They also wear gloves to avoid
damaging artworks with the oils on their
fingers. Some of the
protective items they use include disposable paper gowns, goggles,
gloves, and N95 masks, which are currently in great
demand. 

China has dramatically ramped up
its production of face masks to meet ballooning demand. But in the
meantime, horror stories are emerging of hospital workers going
without necessary medical gear, or even resorting to jerry-rigging their
own items out of
office supplies. In London, paramedics have even been asked to
ration one mask per two workers.

There have been more than 2,00
confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Netherlands. The Rijksmuseum, as
well as other major museums in the country, have been shuttered
since March 12 after the country went into semi-lockdown with a ban
on gatherings of more than 100 people.

The post Conservators at the Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk
Are Donating Their Face Masks and Gloves to Front-Line Medical
Workers appeared first on artnet News.