Due: Multiple choice homework for Chapter 12: Photography and Time-Based Media Museum journal entry #1

Group Presentation and Paper Groups: Topic 1: Jeremy Syed Quan Sherman Topic 3: Emily O. Sandra Gabe Kathryn Topic 4: Ziyi Rongye Kardeza Servando Topic 5: Emily C. Amanda Jennifer Aileen Topic 6: Christina Dereshia Sharon Toyreale Topic 6: Jordan Ahmed Kunle Topic 7: Dwayne Huanhui Jose

Chapter 11 – Painting Thinking Ahead: How does buon fresco differ from fresco secco? What are some of the advantages of oil paint? How are watercolor paintings made? What is mixed media work?

The Painting Media: Encaustic Fresco Tempera Oil paint Watercolor Gouache Acrylic paint Mixed media

The History of Painting In the Middle Ages, painting was never included among the liberal arts. Painting was considered merely a mechanical skill, involving, at most, the ability to copy. It wasn’t until the early 15th century, during the Renaissance, that painting was taken seriously as a medium in its own right and was finally considered something more than mere copywork, that it was an intellectual pursuit equal to the other liberal arts. From the earliest times, one of the major concerns of Western painting has been representing the appearance of things in the natural world.

The Art of Painting From prehistoric times to the present day, the painting process has remained basically the same: As in drawing, artists use pigments, or powdered colors, suspended in a medium or binder that holds particles of pigment together. The binder protects the pigment from changes and serves as an adhesive to anchor the pigment to the support, or the surface on which the artist paints. In painting, a support could be a wall, a panel of wood, a sheet of paper, or a canvas. Some binders create an almost transparent paint, while others are opaque– they cannot be seen through. Because different binders have varying degrees of transparency, the same pigment used in different binders will look different.

The Art of Painting Artists often prime (or pre-treat) a support with a paint-like material called a ground. This is because most supports are too absorbent to allow the easy application of paint. Grounds make the support surface smoother or more uniform in texture. Many grounds (especially white grounds) increase the brightness of the final painting. Grounds effect texture and value. Artists use a solvent or vehicle, a thinner that enables the paint to flow more readily and that also cleans brushes. All water-based paints use water for a vehicle – think of watercolor painting. Other types of paints require a different solvent or vehicle. Oil-based paint requires turpentine. Painting’s various media developed in response to artists’ desires to imitate reality and express themselves more accurately. Although many media are abandoned as new media are discovered, almost all media continue to be used to some extent.

Encaustic Paint

Encaustic Painting Encaustic painting is made by combining pigment with a binder of hot wax. Encaustic painting is one of the oldest painting media. It enjoyed widespread use in classical Greece, as well as parts of Egypt. Encaustic was essentially abandoned as a painting technique for many centuries, but it has begun to regain popularity with contemporary artists. Encaustic can be skillfully blended together to create subtle color variations and brushstroke textures, or it can be thickly applied and almost sculpted. Encaustic painting can be very difficult, as the artist has to keep the wax hot enough to remain in a liquid state (while painting), in order for it to move. The paint does dry very quickly, and the wax hardens as soon as it is cooled.

Mummy Portrait of a Man, Egyptian, c. 160-170 CE, 14 x 18 inches Mummy Portrait of a Man, Egyptian, c. 160-170 CE, 14 x 18 inches. Encaustic on wood. Most of the surviving encaustic paintings are from Faiyum, a Roman province in Egypt. This is a funeral portrait, which was attached to the mummy case of the deceased. Upon close examination, you can see all of the individual strokes that leave a slightly heavy mark as the wax solidified. It is particularly apparent on the neck.

Portrait of a Woman From Al-Faiyum, Egypt, Roman Period, circa 100-150 C.E. Encaustic on cypress panel. You can see the wood grain and seams showing through this ancient painting. (Wood was the support.) The binder is wax (hot and liquid when painted, but it solidifies when it cools). The wax binder holds the colored pigments in place.

Jasper Johns. Three Flags. 1958. Encaustic on canvas. Of all contemporary artists working in the encaustic medium, no one has perfected its use more than Jasper Johns. Everything you see is filtered through a long history of fears, prejudices, desires, emotions, customs, and beliefs The work asks us to consider what the flag represents – to look closely at a familiar image 1950s a time of patriotism – Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist hearings of 1954, President Eisenhower’s affirmation of all things American, and the Soviet Union’s challenge of American supremacy through the space race Many of the painting’s first audiences saw the fact that the flag becomes less grand and physically smaller the closer it gets to the viewer as a challenge to their idea of America

Fresco

Fresco Painting Fresco painting, or wall painting, was practiced by the Aegean civilizations of the Cyclades and Crete, ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans, as well as by Italian painters of the Renaissance. In the 18th century, many frescoes were discovered at Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum, where they had been buried under volcanic ash since the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. In Europe, the goal of creating the illusion of reality dominates fresco painting from the early Renaissance in the 14th century thought the Baroque period of the late 17th century.

Fresco Painting Fresco painting is the traditional medium for painting on walls, ceilings, and other architectural structures. Pigments are mixed with a binder of limewater, and the paint is them applied to a lime plaster wall that is either wet and freshly applied, or hardened and dry. If the wall is wet when the paint is applied, the process is called buon fresco. The wet plaster absorbs the wet pigment, and the painting literally becomes part of the wall. If the paint is applied to a dry wall, the process is called fresco secco. This way of painting is easier to work with to achieve detail, but the resulting artwork is far more delicate, and paint can literally flake off the wall over time. (This is what happened to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper fresco.) Buon fresco is much more durable than fresco secco.

Still Life with Eggs and Thrushes, Villa of Julia Felix, Pompeii, before 79 CE, fresco.

Giotto, Lamentation, c. 1305. fresco. Giornate, meaning literally “a day’s work,” in Italian, are the areas Giotto was able to complete in a single setting. Buon fresco – paint applied on a wet wall. Giotto could only paint an area that he could complete before the plaster coat set.

Leonardo da Vinci. The Last Supper. c. 1495–98 Leonardo da Vinci. The Last Supper. c. 1495–98. Mural (oil and tempera on plaster). Refectory (dining room) of the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy This painting is in terrible condition in part because da Vinci experimented with a combination of oil and tempera paint in an environment where fresco was traditionally used. The fresco secco wall painting began to deteriorate soon after it was completed. It was painted on dry plaster and the paint never really adhered to the wall.

View of the interior of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City View of the interior of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. This view shows both The Last Judgment and The Sistine Chapel Ceiling (painted from 1508-1512), both frescos by Michelangelo.

Michelangelo, The Last Judgement, 1536-1541. Fresco (buon fresco).

Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Libyan Sibyl, 1511-12 Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Libyan Sibyl, 1511-12. Fresco, detail of the Sistine Ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtpJwTifcBI

Fra Andrea Pozzo, The Glorification of Saint Ignatius, 1691-94, ceiling fresco, approx. 56 x 115 feet. Painted on the ceiling of the nave of the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Rome, Italy. Another fresco artist interested in illusionism. An example of a late 17th century Baroque ceiling design Perspective gives the illusion that the roof of the church had been removed, revealing the glories of Heaven Foreshortening of the figures adds to the realistic effect.

Tempera Paint

Tempera Painting Tempera painting is made by combining water, pigment, and some sticky, gummy material to act as the binder. This gummy binder has traditionally been egg yolk. The paint was traditionally applied in a meticulous fashion using a very fine and small sable brush. Colors could not be easily blended together with this type of paint. In order to achieve chiaroscuro (to have smooth variations of value visually blend across volumetric forms), artists employed careful and gradual hatching.

Tempera Painting Gesso – made from glue and plaster of Paris or chalk, is the most common ground (a coating applied to a canvas to prepare it for painting). Like wet plaster in buon fresco, gesso is fully absorbent. When combined with tempera paint, it creates an extremely durable and softly glowing surface. Watch the Video: Studio Technique: Egg Tempera

Giotto, Madonna and Child Enthroned, c. 1310, 10 ft. 8 in. x 6 ft Giotto, Madonna and Child Enthroned, c. 1310, 10 ft. 8 in. x 6 ft. 8¼ in. Tempera on panel with gold background. Represents a significant advance in the era’s increasingly insistent desire to create more realistic work. Giotto making an image that his audience could readily identify

Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, c. 1482, 80 x 123¼ inches Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, c. 1482, 80 x 123¼ inches. Tempera on a gesso ground on poplar panel. One of the greatest tempera paintings ever made. As many as 30 coats of color, transparent or opaque, depending on the relative light or shadow of the area being painted, were required to create each figure. Botticelli’s creates stunning effects by layering transparent washes of tempera paint.

Oil Paint

Oil Painting Oil paint is colored pigments suspended in a binder of oil (linseed oil). This binder is very slow to dry, which revolutionized the way artists could work and paint. The paint stays wet for long periods of time, so artists can continue to rework their paintings. Oil paint can be blended on the painting’s surface to create a continuous scale of tones and hues, many of which (especially the vivid darker shades) were not possible before oil paint’s development. Oil paint can create an illusion of three-dimensions. Oil paint can be thinned with vehicles (solvents such as turpentine) to become almost transparent. However, if oil paint is not thinned, it can be thick enough to be shaped to create 3D surfaces, creating actual texture (this technique is called impasto). Oil painting’s popularity as a fine art medium began to spread in Northern Europe (Flanders) in the early 15th century (1400s), and rapidly took over as the preferred painting medium. Watch the Video: Studio Technique: Making Oil Paint Watch the Video: Studio Technique: Oil Painting

Robert Campin, The Annunciation (The Mérode Altarpiece), c Robert Campin, The Annunciation (The Mérode Altarpiece), c. 1425, 25⅜ x 46⅜ inches (when open). Oil on wood. Campin was among the first to recognize the realistic effects that could be achieved with oil paint.

Light is reflected through the painted surface. The Master of Flémalle (probably Robert Campin). The Annunciation (The Mérode Altarpiece), detail. c. 1425–30. Oil on wood, triptych. Oil paint can be applied in thin layers called glazes, which create a sense of luminous materiality. Light is reflected through the painted surface. The archangel Gabriel seems to reflect light, giving him a sense of tangible presence. He is no less real than the brass pot above his head.

De Heem uses oil paint to represent material wealth. Jan de Heem. Still Life with Lobster. late 1640s. Oil on canvas. In the early 17th century, the Netherlands has become the wealthiest nation in the world through trade. De Heem uses oil paint to represent material wealth. An example of vanitas painting (still life). Reminds us that the material wealth celebrated in the painting is not as long-lasting as the spiritual.

Antonio López García, New Refridgerator, 1991-94, 94½ x 75 inches Antonio López García, New Refridgerator, 1991-94, 94½ x 75 inches. Oil on canvas. A modern still life of a highly realistic interior Extreme attention paid to capturing the light in the room and the rendering of objects in the open refrigerator.

Pat Passlof, Dancing Shoes, 1998. Oil on linen. Oil paint is expressive. It can record and trace the artist’s presence before the canvas. In fresco – the artist’s gesture was lost because of the plaster. In tempera – the artist ‘s gesture was lost because s/he was forced to use small brushes.

Pat Passlof, Dancing Shoes, 1998. Oil on linen. The artist animates the surface with varying colors and shapes. It is as if, in looking at the painting, we can hear the syncopation of its jazz beat.

Watercolor

Watercolor Painting Watercolor paint is made from pigment suspended in gum arabic. To make a watercolor painting, this pigment is combined with water and applied to dampened paper. Watercolor is one of the most expressive painting media, and it is the closest to drawing. It has often been used as a sketching tool. Watercolor can be almost opaque if there is a dense solution of pigment and binder, but it can also be transparent if there is a thin solution of pigment and binder. Watch the Video: Studio Technique: Watercolor

Xu Wei, Grapes, Ming Dynasty, c. 1580-93, 65¼ x 25⅜ inches Xu Wei, Grapes, Ming Dynasty, c. 1580-93, 65¼ x 25⅜ inches. Hanging scroll, ink on paper. Watercolor painting can yield a range of effects that are very close to those possible with brush and ink drawing. The roots of Chinese watercolor techniques can be traced to the 16th century ink paintings of Xu Wei. He introduced a more free-form and expressive style of watercolor painting. He captures the spirit or essence of nature, not copy it in precise detail. Not focused on illusionism.

Winslow Homer, A Wall, Nassau, 1898, 14¾ x 21½ inches Winslow Homer, A Wall, Nassau, 1898, 14¾ x 21½ inches. Watercolor and pencil on paper. This work demonstrates both the transparent and opaque qualities of watercolor. The transparency of the wall and the sky vs. The opaque foliage of the garden and the sea.

John Marin. Untitled (The Blue Sea), ca. 1921 John Marin. Untitled (The Blue Sea), ca. 1921. Watercolor and charcoal on paper. Artists in the early 20th century began to abandon the representational aims of painting in favor of abstraction. Interested in the expressive potential of watercolor. Not painting a visual recording of the Maine coast where he lived, but evoking his feelings.

Gouache

Gouache Painting Derived from the Italian word guazzo, meaning “puddle” Gouache is essentially watercolor mixed with Chinese white chalk. An opaque medium (dense, murky) – it is difficult to blend brushstrokes of gouache together Lends itself to the creation of large, flat, colored forms

Jacob Lawrence. You can buy bootleg whiskey for twenty-five cents a quart, from the Harlem Series. 1942-43. Gouache on paper. Note the flat, two-dimensional quality of the painting’s space.

Synthetic Media: Acrylic Paint

Acrylic Painting Acrylic paint consists of pigments suspended in water and mixed with a plastic resin. Acrylic is a synthetic paint, meaning it is inorganic, and it was developed in the 20th century. It is the most recent technological painting medium. Like oil paint and watercolor, acrylic paint is expressive because it is more fluid than some of the other painting media and can be manipulated more easily.

Helen Frankenthaler, The Bay, 1963, 6 ft. 8 ¾ in. x 6 ft Helen Frankenthaler, The Bay, 1963, 6 ft. 8 ¾ in. x 6 ft. Acrylic on canvas. Using water-based acrylic paint to create an intensely atmospheric painting

Kenny Scharf mural on Houston Street, Soho, Manhattan, New York, Acrylic paint is very useful for painting outdoors, such as murals, due to its resistance of the natural elements (the resin is essentially plastic). Acrylic paint in aerosol cans = aerosol spray paint first invented in 1949 This mural required over 200 cans of spray paint and was in place until late June 2011.

Mixed Media Painting media can be combined with other media (drawing, fiber, wood, etc.) as well as found objects, to make new works of art. The result is called a mixed media work. Artists in the 20th century have increasingly combined various media to violate the integrity of painting as a medium. They do this by introducing into the space of painting materials from the everyday world.

Mixed Media: Collage Collage is the process of pasting or gluing fragments of printed matter, fabric, natural material—anything that is relatively flat—onto the two-dimensional surface of a canvas or panel. Collage therefore challenges the two-dimensional space of the canvas or panel. It creates, in essence, a low-relief assemblage. Juan Gris. The Table. 1914. Colored papers, printed matter, charcoal on paper mounted on canvas. 23-1/2 × 17-1/2 in. The Philadelphia Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY. [Fig. 11-28]

Wood-grain printed wallpaper, piece of newspaper Juan Gris. The Table. 1914. Colored papers, printed matter, charcoal on paper mounted on canvas. Designed to raise the question of what in art is “real” and what is “false” by bringing elements of the real world into the space of the painting. Wood-grain printed wallpaper, piece of newspaper Juan Gris. The Table. 1914. Colored papers, printed matter, charcoal on paper mounted on canvas. 23-1/2 × 17-1/2 in. The Philadelphia Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY. [Fig. 11-28]

Hannah Höch. Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany. 1919. Photomontage. Collage offers artists a direct means of commenting on the social or political environment in which they work. This is an example of a Nazi-era collage. Höch is protesting the growing nationalism of Germany. Reacting to the dehumanizing speed, technology, industrialization, and consumerism of the modern age, she uses photomontage – collage constructed of photographic fragments – to reflect the frenzy, complexity, and fragmentation of everyday life after World War I. Hannah Höch. Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany. 1919. Collage. 44-7/8 × 35-7/16 in. bpk, Berlin/Kulturbesitz, Nationalgalerie/Jorg R. Anders/Art Resource, NY. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. [Fig. 11-31]

Romare Bearden. The Dove. 1964 Romare Bearden. The Dove. 1964. Cut-and-pasted paper, gouache, pencil, and colored pencil on cardboard. African American artist Romare Bearden tore images out of various magazines and assembled them into depictions of the black experience. Using collage to combine forms of shifting scale and different orders of fragmentation Romare Bearden. The Dove. 1964. Cut-and-pasted paper, gouache, pencil, and colored pencil on cardboard. 13-3/8 × 18-3/4 in. Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY. Art © Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, NY. Art © Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. [Fig. 11-29]

Fred Tomaselli. Airborne Event. 2003 Fred Tomaselli. Airborne Event. 2003. Mixed media, acrylic, and resin on wood. In the late 1980s, Tomaselli began producing mixed-media works that combine pills, leaves, insects, butterflies, and various cutout elements, including floral designs, representations of animals, and body parts. Fred Tomaselli. Airborne Event. 2003. Mixed media, acrylic, and resin on wood. 84 × 60 × 1-1/2 in. Image Courtesy of James Cohan Gallery, New York. [Fig. 11-38]

Painting Beyond the Frame Mixed Media: Painting Beyond the Frame Mixed media extends what might be called “the space of art” – out of the two-dimensional and into the three-dimensional space. Kara Walker. Insurrection! (Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On), (installation view 1 of 2). 2000. Cut paper silhouettes and light projections, site-specific dimensions. Dimensions vary with installation. One of many views. Purchased with funds contributed by the International Director's Council and Executive Committee Members, 2000. Photo by Ellen Labenski ©Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co. [Fig. 11-33]

Kara Walker. Insurrection Kara Walker. Insurrection! (Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On), (installation view 1 of 2). 2000. Cut paper silhouettes and light projections, site-specific dimensions. Walker’s silhouette works reflect the political context of the master-slave relationship in the 19th century antebellum South. Light projections from the ceiling that throw light on the walls transforms this installation into a sculptural piece. Projections activate the space by projecting the viewers’ shadows onto the walls so that they become implicated in the scene. Kara Walker. Insurrection! (Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On), (installation view 1 of 2). 2000. Cut paper silhouettes and light projections, site-specific dimensions. Dimensions vary with installation. One of many views. Purchased with funds contributed by the International Director's Council and Executive Committee Members, 2000. Photo by Ellen Labenski ©Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co. [Fig. 11-33]

Kara Walker. Insurrection Kara Walker. Insurrection! (Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On), (installation view 2 of 2). 2000. Cut paper silhouettes and light projections, site-specific dimensions. Kara Walker. Insurrection! (Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On), (installation view 2 of 2). 2000. Cut paper silhouettes and light projections, site-specific dimensions. Dimensions vary with installation. One of many views. Purchased with funds contributed by the International Director's Council and Executive Committee Members, 2000. Photo: Ellen Labenski © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York 2000.68. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co. [Fig. 11-34]

Robert Rauschenberg. Monogram. 1955–59 Robert Rauschenberg. Monogram. 1955–59. Freestanding combine: oil, fabric, wood, on canvas and wood, rubber heel, tennis ball, metal plaque, hardware, stuffed Angora goat, rubber tire, mounted on four wheels. Taking the painting “off the wall” and onto the floor. A combine-painting, or high-relief collage. Brings together diverse objects and allows them to coexist beside one another in the same space. Puts the combine-painting flat on the floor, creating what he called a “pasture” for the goat. The goat is at once fully contained within the boundaries of the picture frame and totally liberated from the wall. Painting has become sculpture. Robert Rauschenberg. Monogram. 1955–59. Freestanding combine: oil, fabric, wood, on canvas and wood, rubber heel, tennis ball, metal plaque, hardware, stuffed Angora goat, rubber tire, mounted on four wheels. 42 × 63-1/4 × 64-1/2 in. Art © Estate of Robert Rauschenberg/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. [Fig. 11-35]

Franz Ackermann. Coming Home and (Meet Me) At the Waterfall. 2009 Franz Ackermann. Coming Home and (Meet Me) At the Waterfall. 2009. Acrylic on wall. dimensions variable. SW Monumental Staircase, Dallas Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas Painting as being integral to architecture, literally creating architectural space like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel paintings. We find ourselves literally “in the painting.” Franz Ackermann. Coming Home and (Meet Me) At the Waterfall. 2009. Acrylic on wall. dimensions variable. © Erich Schlegel/Corbis. Courtesy of the artist and White Cube. [Fig. 11-37]