Early Plastic Artworks In Danger

It seems odd to talk about artworks made of plastic, but they do exist and some are very valuable. But Slate reports on a curious - and vexing - thing that is happening to some such artworks - they are slowly disintegrating.

In the early 1960s, curators at the Philadelphia Museum of Art noticed something funny about one of their modern-art sculptures: It smelled like vinegar. Worse, the once-clear plastic sculpture had begun browning like an apple, and cracks had appeared on its surface. By 1967, Naum Gabo's translucent, airy Construction in Space: Two Cones looked like Tupperware that had gone through the dishwasher too often.

It turns out that many of the early plastics are unstable by nature. They have lasted just long enough to become valuable in museum collections. And they cannot be repaired.