Doktor 1938
Doktor 1938
Doktor 1938
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A GLANCE at an artist's palette with its brilliant spec- mixture with other colors as well as mediums and
trum of hues cannot but evoke curiosity as to the sources ground.
of pigments. The search for satisfactorypigmentsis longer (c) Proper granular structure allowing mixture or grind-
than history. To the modern artist with every pigment ing with medium into water, tempera or oil paint.
available in one shop, sources are interesting but other (d) Commercialavailabilityat a reasonablecost.
considerationsmore important. The nature of the pigment
-its permanency, its durability and its physical and Thus, pigments are a collection of heterogeneous sub-
chemical properties are the basis for the selection of his stances, possessing a large variety of chemical properties.
palette.
For the purposes of expediency, the sources of pigments
Sources were much more important to the Old Masters will be classifiedinto two
general divisions:
who had to seek out their own pigments, refine and grind
them and press their own oils. Their reliance on natural mineral or metallic origin. Some are found
sourcessuch as colored clays, charcoal,ground lapis lazuli Inorganic-ofas natural
served them well, but pigments derived from insects, deposits, others are manufactured
from the metals or metallic compounds.
plants and berries produced a series of fugitive but neces- - of vegetable or animal origin. Coal being
Organic
sary colors which were used skilfully. Incompatiblecop- fossilized vegetation, pigments made of dyes
per, mercury and lead colors were carefully isolated with of coal-tar origin are included here.
varnish and sometimes glazed for protection from light.
It can well be said that the paintings of the Old Masters
exist today in spite of their pigments and becauseof their Any attempt to study or select pigments is confused,
skill and craftsmanship. at first glance, by the tremendous variety and florid
nomenclature of available colors. One English firm lists
some 230 oil colors. American listings are much smaller
Today, the informed artist has at his command such an
of colors that his only concern with an average of about 60 down to selected palettes
array brilliant, permanent
should be to select those that are compatible. Chemistry of 28 colors. The reasons for the larger lists are not
has produced myriads of pigments and dyes from which necessarily a larger selection. A pigment may be known
a group of metallic compounds is undoubtedly the most by as many as five different names and so listed. Prop-
permanent and brilliant ever available. rietary names such as Jungle Green and mixtures of
colors fill out the list. Completely useless colors are listed
and sometimesso designated.
Pigment is defined as any substance from which a paint
of a desired color may be prepared. The artist demands
in addition: After eliminatingall the meaninglessor misleadingnames,
enough basic designations remain to identify all known
(a) Permanenceto light, air, moisture and other exposure pigments. There is a growing movementamong American
factors. manufacturersto specify the chemical nature of the pig-
(b) Chemical inertness or compatibility allowing inter- ment on the label, which is a great help indeed.
Inorganic Pigments
The Earths
Yellow Ochre This group, the Earth Colors, was probably the earliest known. As the name im-
Golden Ochre plies, there are earths or clays which have been colored, basically by iron rust or
Roman Ochre oxide. Being natural products, there is great variation in tint, concentration,etc.
Raw Sienna The yellow to brown tints are the raw oxides. When heated or calcined, they turn
Raw Umber to Red or Red-Brown. Some red oxides are found as natural deposits; others such
Burnt Umber as Raw Sienna are heated to be converted to red as in Burnt Sienna.
Burnt Sienna With the exception of Golden Ochre, adulterationsare uncommon because these are
Venetian Red the least expensive of pigments. Golden Ochre is sometimes simulated by addition
Indian Red of Chrome Yellow, a dangerous lead color.
Light Red The Raw or Yellow Earths have a slight bleaching effect on organic pigments-Lakes,
Caput-Mortum Alizarin Crimson, etc. otherwise the Earths are compatible with all other pigments
Pozzouli Red and among the most permanent known.
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
Some grades of the pigment are likely to be coarse and gritty, proper selection, there-
fore, is important. Since Cobalt Violet is about the most expensive pigment in regular
use, imitations are to be guarded against. Only Lake (dye) pigments can imitate
its hue and can be detected by burning some pigment on a knife blade. Cobalt Violet
is impervious to heat but dyes will be destroyed.
Emerald Green A modified Copper Arsenate, therefore, highly poisonous. This pigment is the siren
of the color card, luring the artist by its intense, brilliant light green hue to destruc-
tion because it is almost completely incompatible with other colors. Copper reacts
violently to sulphur, forming a black compound, therefore, Emerald Green cannot be
used with Cadmiums, or Ultramarine. The same is true with Vermillion. It is dan-
gerous with White Lead and destroys the Lakes such as Alizarin Crimson.
Emerald Green should be left off the palette entirely.
TWENTY-FOUR
Monastral Green This recently developed color is powerful, intense, and practically transparent. Hav-
ing no body, it must be manufacturedinto a pigment on an inert base. When im-
properly made, it has the bronze sheen characteristicof copper pigments.
Exposuretests to light and weathering conditionsseem to leave this pigment unaffected.
Copper Blues were used by the Old Masters who realizing the hazardsconnected with
copper reactions, therefore, carefully isolated the pigments with varnish glazes. This
modern pigment though containing copper in its composition seems in mixture tests
to be inert. It will pay the artist to watch the performanceof this pigment as well
as the two more recently introduced Monastral colors, a brilliant green and a cerulean
shade.
Naples Yellow Lead Antimoniate when genuine, therefore poisonous. A pigment of ancient origin
and very useful prior to the introduction of the cadmiums. It is of the lead series
and when used in a lead palette and properly varnished quite permanent.
Today, Naples Yellow is little used and difficult to obtain genuine. Mixtures using
CadmiumYellow are often sold as Naples Yellow, White Lead. Naples Yellow is very
easily dispensed with on the modern palette.
Prussian Blue Modificationsof a compound of Iron and Cyanogen but not poisonous. These pig-
Chinese Blue ments are of a deep greenish blue cast of powerful tinting strength and have a bronze
Antwerp Blue sheen in the dry form. Antwerp blue is a weaker variety containing a chalk or
gypsum filler.
These pigments are permanent by themselves except for a tendency to turn greenish
in oil due to yellowing of the oil.
Vermillions; A compound of Mercury and Sulphur, now usually manufactureddirectly from the
English, French elements.
& Chinese
Vermillion is of ancient origin and for a long time indispensible. The Old Masters
knew its tendency to darken when exposed to light, and used it as a base color to be
protected from the light by other colored glazes.
Vermillion ranges in hue from orange to purplish.
When carefully made, its stability is unpredictable, the individual batches of pig-
ment varying greatly. It is unstable in mixtures with White Lead.
With the introductionof the CadmiumReds, Vermillions are properly being displaced.
Zinc Yellow Zinc Chromate. This pigment of lemon shade is highly desirable for mixing brilliant
greens with Oxide of Chromium,transparentand white. Used alone it has a tendency
to turn greenish specially when impure.
It is compatiblewith other pigments except possibly the Lakes, such as Alizarin Crim-
son and Rose Madder.
Ultramarine Blue Its slight solubility in water makes it useful only in oil and then only in mixtures.
Ultramarine Red Ultramarine Blue was originally made by grinding Lapis Lazuli to a powder. The
same color principle is now manufactured artificially by heating together soda, clay,
sulphur and carbon and the pigment thus obtained has the same physical and chemical
properties as the natural product.
Ultramarine Blue is made in many shades from a purplish to a cool blue, the latter
known as Cobalt Ultramarine sometimes passes as genuine Cobalt in cheap paints.
Permanent Blue is usually a weaker variety of Ultramarine.
TWENTY-FIVE
Because of its Sulphur content mixtures with lead whites, Chromes, etc., are danger-
ous'. Ultramarine has a tendency to bleach the Lake (dye) colors.
Ultramarine Red is a modification of the blue by heat treatment. It is similar in all
its properties to the blue but has a weak tinting strength. Its transparent purplih_;
red cast allows it to partially replace Alizarin Crimson of the Lake series.
Organic
Natural Pigments (Vegetable Origin)
Vine Black Vine Black is pulverized charcoal.
As in the case of all black pigments normally used by the artist, the color principle
is carbon, the source giving it a characteristic cool tint.
Carbon being chemically inert, pigment made of it is compatible with every other
pigment and is very permanent.
Gamboge Gamboge is not properly a pigment but a gum-resin from a tree, therefore of the
varnish family. As a pigment it is ground to a powder.
Yellow Lake These lakes made of dyes derived from berries, barks or weeds precipitated on an
Brown Pink inert base are highly fugitive. They are of ancient origin but no doubt the blueness
of landscapebackgroundsin Old Masters can be attributed to the fading out of such
yellow elements.
Manufacturerstoday substitute the more permanentsynthetic dyes under these names
therefore the dyes should be bought under their proper names.
Rose Madder, A lake pigment made usually on a clay base of dye derived from the root of the
Genuine madder plant. The genuine Rose Madder is no longer readily available but it is no
loss to the artist. Of the two dye principles contained in Rose Madder-Alizarin
and Purpurin, the latter is fugitive. The Alizarin is now produced synthetically in
much purer form from coal-tar.
Sepia A pigment made from dark liquid excreted as a "smoke screen" by cuttle-fish of the
octopus family.
In water color it makes a fairly permanent, satisfactory color but cannot be made
into a good oil color.
TWENTY-SIX
Lithographs
BALAY & CARRE
(Roland Balay et Louis Carre)
Redon
Gavarni
PAINTINGS
Daumier
SCULPTURE
Fantin-Latour
Toulouse-Lautrec of all periods
TWENTY-SEVEN