Sculpture touching down after sign posted

The Milwaukee Art Museum said touching of a janitor statue has decreased by 90 percent since a sign was posted asking patrons to keep their hands to themselves.

Jim DeYoung, chief conservator at the museum, said Duane Hanson’s lifelike sculpture, titled Janitor, shows signs of wear from 13 years of touching by visitors, including fraying on his clothing and shiny spots on his skin where he was frequently touched by oily hands, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Wednesday.

Touch is one of the primary ways we experience the world, the sign reads. But there are good reasons to resist the impulse to touch art in a museum.

DeYoung said that over the years, museum visitors have walked off with the janitor’s wristwatch, pens and a pipe kept in his pocket.