Painting technique

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The correct structure of the painting plays an important role in the painting technique of the old masters.  

The term painting technique includes 1. the technique of applying paint to a picture carrier ( wall , board , canvas, parchment and paper) with a wide variety of tools (from paintbrushes to spray guns ) and 2. the technique of creating the entire picture from primer to varnish. The exact description of the various painting techniques ( fresco painting , tempera painting , oil painting , watercolor painting , gouache painting ) is not dealt with any further here. It can be found in the relevant articles.

development

If one follows the sources, from the authors of the Middle Ages to Cennino Cennini (1370–1440) the painting technique for certain areas is described more or less in detail, while about 100 years later Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) only refers to the technique in his vitae individual artist. Also, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was planning a comprehensive "Textbook of Painting" at the latest after his second trip to Italy (1505-1507), unfortunately, only the part "was signed by Human Proportion" in 1528 and published by the. Leonardo da Vinci's Trattato della pittura also contains only a few references to the technical execution of paintings.

The typical painting technique of the incarnate of an early Italian panel painting can be recognized and reconstructed under the stereo microscope. A thin layer of green earth lies on top of the white plaster primer (gesso) (see above right). This is followed by the so-called Verdaccio (mixture of black, ocher, red, a little white) and then the incarnate of white lead and cinnabar. The color effect is not created by mixing the colors, but by laying them on top of each other in thin layers (subtractive color mixing).

In summary, it can be said: every art epoch, every large art landscape (Italy, Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain) has its own distinctive and typical painting technique. In these art landscapes, it is the artists who, with and on the given, that is, the materials that occur there ( image carrier , primer , paint layer), developed their own painting technique typical of their school, so that they differ not only in terms of painting technique, but also in terms of style Distinguish artists from other schools, art landscapes and centuries. This development is dealt with in detail in the corresponding articles ( fresco painting , tempera painting , oil painting , watercolor painting , gouache painting ).

In the 16th century, artists like Lukas Cranach placed the shadow area directly on the white chalk ground and, after drying / oxidizing, only a thin, transparent, flesh-colored layer of paint on it. The chalk ground acts as a reflector of the light and gives the incarnate its color and luminosity.

Due to the use of certain painting techniques and materials used only in these techniques (image carriers, pigments , binders ), there may be phenomena, including signs of decay / aging (e.g. craquelure ), which are characteristic of a certain time and dating a Work of art can contribute.

From the Renaissance to the 19th century, questions of painting technique were dismissed as a pure craft and the creative side of works of art was overly glorified. Only in the Bauhaus and Art Nouveau times did the aesthetic value of the material properties come to the fore again. Some artists rejected the wide range of pigments that had been developed to reproduce the finest color nuances and turned back to a symbolic and expressive use of color.

New developments

Acrylic paint on canvas.
Experimental pictures with the fluidity of acrylic paints

In modern painting , newly developed binders are constantly expanding the possibilities of expression. An alternative or supplement to oil paint is acrylic paint , introduced around 1960 for artistic use in Europe , which dries quickly and retains its luminosity. It can be applied using the impasto technique with brushes or painting knives and also dries in thick layers without cracking. When thinned with water, the acrylic paint can be painted in a transparent manner. The dried paint is slightly shiny and forms an elastic film on the painting surface.

In addition, new types of paint application developed in the modern era. Particularly in abstract expressionism and action painting, the painting surface was not just made with brushes, rollers, etc. painted, but also sprinkled with paint, thrown on, splashed, etc. Another new type of paint application is the sprayed application of paint, especially from the paint spray can (e.g. with graffiti ), the paint spray gun or by means of airbrush .

In addition, traditionally unusual painting grounds are also used today. For example, in some actions in body art , the human body is painted. In the street art and graffiti sector, almost all surfaces that the city offers can be used as a painting surface.

In addition, techniques are sometimes used in modern and contemporary painting in which painting techniques overlap with collage techniques , printing techniques , photography, etc.

exploration

To determine a certain painting technique and the materials used in a certain technique, the painting area and the painting point examination ( painting examination ) are used in panel painting .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Knut Nicolaus: DuMont's picture lexicon of painting determination . DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1982, ISBN 3-7701-1243-1 , p. 134-135 .
  2. ↑ Hugh Honor, John Fleming: World History of Art. Translated from English by Dagmar Bosse u. a. 4. Fundamentally expanded and redesigned edition. Prestel, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-7913-1179-4 , p. 12.