Aluchromy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aluchromy describes a painting technique in which colors are used to paint, draw or otherwise artistically work on anodized aluminum . Reliefs or full sculptures are also possible by appropriately designing the aluminum panels, sheets or castings.

Procedure

The anodizing process creates an oxide layer on aluminum surfaces that is microporous and therefore sucks in colors through its capillarity . In painting, the absorbency of painting grounds has always been an important reason for priming wooden panels with a chalk glue ground. This allows the paint to adhere better to the painting support. The reflectivity of the light background also allows the colors to shine with glazed or semi-glazed paint application. In the case of aluchromy, this painting ground is produced industrially on the painting support. Immediately after anodizing the aluminum, paint can be applied with an aqueous or non-aqueous binder. The absorbency of the oxide layer decreases after a few hours, so that working quickly is advantageous. It is possible to include the metallic luster of the carrier material in the design. In addition, the oxide layer itself can be colored by adding pigments during the anodizing process. After the artistic processing, the aluchromy can then be compacted by immersion in hot water or steam and protected with a varnish coating. This makes aluchromes particularly suitable for permanent wall designs. However, artists who want to work on anodized aluminum are dependent on cooperation with an aluminum processing company. Although aluminum itself is a cost-effective material, the anodizing of a single workpiece is cost-intensive.

Art history

For several centuries, metal sheets provided with a suitable primer have been used as painting supports. For example, Adam Elsheimer preferred to paint on sheet copper and Vasari narrates that Sebastiano del Piombo painted on copper, silver or lead. Bronze sculptures were also painted, albeit rarely. Since the 1880s, new mining and processing techniques have made aluminum a cheaper, lighter and more durable material. Applied arts, everyday items and architectural elements were made from it very early on. As a technical material, aluminum is so closely connected with modernity and industrialization that its use has a special iconographic symbolic value and stands for progressiveness and the connection between life, technology and the modern world. This connotation with technology, progress and modernity is reinforced by anodizing as a priming method in aluchromy. Since aluminum is a cheaper and very light material for a metal, it also has the status of a "poor" material compared to noble bronze . Aluminum is very light and silver-colored. It is not a classic material used in art, but a new material. This can be attractive to modern artists.

The term aluchromy was coined in 1961 by the Belgian artist Raf Cleeremans and his gallery owner Raoul van Loo. Kurt Wehlte mentions technology in his handbook "Materials and Techniques of Painting", first published in 1967, without using the term "aluchromy". In 1961 the Aluchromists ' group of artists was founded in their environment . However, the dyeability of the material was already known in principle before 1961. Therefore it cannot be ruled out that artistic work on anodized aluminum was already used by other artists before 1961.

The heyday of aluchromy lies in the 1960s and in its application by the artist group of aluchromists . After that it was only rarely used and tends to eke out a niche existence. Wehlte suspected that "this high-quality material was not used more widely" because the anodizing of "aluminum plates [...] was relatively expensive, and the surfaces were also quite sensitive". However, this does not exclude that aluchromy can be an interesting technique of colored work for painters or sculptors, despite the considerable effort.

literature

  • Leopold Bosdorf: Aluchromie, a new painting technique. In: aluminum. Trade journal of the German aluminum industry. 46th year, issue 6, Aluminum-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1970.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Bablick, Siegfried Federl: Expertise for painters and varnishers . Bildungsverlag EINS, Troisdorf 1997, ISBN 3-8237-0087-1 , p. 548 .
  2. ↑ Leopold Bosdorf: Aluchromie, a new Technique . In: aluminum. Trade journal of the German aluminum industry . 46th year, issue 6.Aluminum-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1970.
  3. ^ Giogio Vasari: The life of Sebastiano del Piombo. New over. by Victoria Lorin . In: Christina Irlenbusch (Ed.): Edition Giogio Vasari . tape 5 . Wagenbach, Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-8031-5024-0 .
  4. ^ A b c Kurt Wehlte: Materials and techniques of painting . Ravensburger Buchverlag, Ravensburg 2000, ISBN 3-473-48407-5 , p. 34 .
  5. ↑ Raf Cleeremans: Aluchromie . In: Aluchromistes Belges (Hrsg.): Group des aluchromistes belges . Brussels 1963, p. unpag .