Maximilian Toch

“ It must be obvious to everyone that a somber painting in a six or eight inch glaringly brilliant yellow gold frame, destroys the value of the painting, for the eye, at all times, lights on the brilliant frame first. ”

“ During an experience of more than thirty years in the manufacture of pigments and mediums for all types of painting, I have investigated the methods, analyzed the material and demonstrated the folly of most of the procedures in common use to-day, and feel that there is a demand for a little book of this kind, which painters can use, and from which art students can acquire a sane method of producing permanent results. ”

“ The most permanent of all foundations is metal. The Dutch have painted on copper, and where the copper has been rather smooth the paint has eventually curled or peeled. Sheets of Zinc or sheets of Aluminum are regarded to-day as the most permanent foundations for all paintings up to a certain size, but beyond a certain size canvas must necessarily be used. I have always advocated the painting of canvas on the reverse side, to prevent noxious gases from working their way through to the under side of the painting, and the painting of the reverse side of canvas is not as simple as it may seem. ”

“ The great danger in the cleaning of paintings lies in the fact that if a painter has used varnish as a medium mixed with his tube colors, nearly all solvents will attack such a painting, and the greatest trouble will result, because the paint itself will come off the surface. So, after having established—let us say, for instance—that the painting is a Linseed Oil painting, the following methods are perfectly safe:
Mixtures of equal parts of No. 1 Denatured Alcohol, Turpentine and Water, thoroughly shaken up, may now be applied with a very stiff bristle brush. ”

“ Then again, the pigments I have just mentioned, like Lamp Black, and which take years to harden, will crack any hard drying pigment which is placed over them, because in drying, the slow drying colors wrinkle and contract, and a hard drying color placed over them, not having sufficient elasticity will be torn asunder, and a small crack, which may widen into a fissure, will take place. The whole idea of permanent painting, then, [Pg 79] simmers itself down to one of sense and judgment. No one has ever seen a Water Color painting which is cracked. ”

“ If the painter once knows, either mechanically or unconsciously, the pigments that are absolutely permanent, and the principle involved in producing paintings which will not crack, fade, darken, peel, blister or decompose, his or her mind can be taken up completely with the artistic effect to be produced, without thinking for a moment of either the mechanical or the scientific side of the question, and without his or her artistic feeling being disturbed [Pg 11] during the process of painting. ”

“ The Lamp Black should be added in oil without the addition of any further varnish or drier. But this must, of course, be applied over the glue size heretofore mentioned, and at the end of a week the painting can be restretched and will show no corrugations or buckling.
In spite of wood being a more durable painting material than canvas, artists prefer canvas, simply on account of the difference in surface; for, the twill of the canvas gives the pigment an unevenness which causes it to reflect and refract light, much to the advantage of the painting. ”

“ The bodies of nearly all good automobiles are made of Aluminum, and when the surface is properly prepared, it holds the paint perfectly and permanently. It can be bought with a so-called egg-shell finish, but it is always advisable, before painting, to rub it very thoroughly with coarse sandpaper or emery cloth. This produces very fine ridges, which hold the paint, and that is the only preparation that Aluminum needs for permanent painting. ”

“ THE SIMPLE PALETTE THE average painter can get along perfectly with ten colors. In fact, the skilful artist can paint practically any picture he wants with Red, Yellow, Blue, Black and White. The Red, in this instance, would be a bright iron oxide, sold under the name of Venetian Red or Light Indian Red. The Yellow would be Medium Cadmium. The Blue would be Ultramarine Blue. The Black would be Lamp Black. The White would be Zinc White. ”

“ If a man is buying a ready-mixed paint and is supposed to be getting a mixture of Zinc Oxide, White Lead, Linseed Oil and Drier, the label must so state, and I have advocated for a long time that artists’ tube colors ought to be labeled as to their true composition. ”

“ I do not mean to say that a Medium like Copal Varnish mixed with certain colors is not a good Medium, for such a material will produce enamel paints which will have a permanent gloss, but when you come to consider that the Old Masters had only from seven to ten pigments ground in a drying oil like Linseed Oil, and that most of their paintings are to-day a complete example of permanence, there should be no reason why [Pg 65] the mind of the painter should be clouded with a multiplicity of materials and why many materials should be used which may in time prove detrimental. ”

“ As far as Whites are concerned, there are a large number of proprietary Whites; and, in addition, there are Silver White, Zinc White, Flake White, White Lead, Permanent White, &c.; whereas, the only two necessary on the painter’s palette are Zinc White and Flake White (White Lead) , and perhaps, occasionally, Permanent White (Blanc Fixe) .
The more colors that are presented to the painter, the more embarrassed he will become as to which he really ought to use. Painters make the one serious mistake of attempting to get immediate results. ”

“ After the Civil War, when the first large crop of millionaires was made, all ornamentation, whether in picture frames, furniture or wall decorations, assumed a garish and bizarre effect. Gold and brilliant colors were used liberally, and to this day, many pictures are so badly framed that the effect of the picture itself is lost.
Many painters have only one exhibition frame, in which they show their paintings to prospective buyers and others, and some painters will not sell a painting without a frame, believing that they know best the kind of a frame best suited for the painting. ”

“ Madder Lake is transparent when used as a glaze and it can be mixed with a number of pigments with which it does not interact, but it must not be mixed with the iron pigments that contain water, and these are principally all the Ochres and Siennas, but as a glaze it may go over any color without being decomposed. It has a record for permanency of several hundred [Pg 82] years and is at least of essential importance in portrait painting.
Harrison Red is rather a complex aniline color, exceedingly brilliant, but it has some defects which the painter should know. ”

“ COMMERCIAL PAINTING IF you take up any art dealer’s catalogue, you will find more than a hundred varieties of colors; and, among them, the vast majority should not be used by the average painter. But, there is a legitimate use for them in commercial painting. In sketching, for advertising purposes or for book illustration, brilliant colors are permissible, where half-tone reproductions are desired; and, under the circumstances, it would be well for the painter to know exactly what he is using. ”

“ A Water Color painting must be hermetically sealed in the frame and it must not be backed up with a thin Veneer of wood, for time and again these wood veneers contain knots which are very resinous, and these resins, in a warm room, will evaporate, strike through and form a yellow spot or ring on the painting itself. ”

“ Yellows and Chrome Greens are exceedingly permanent to light when used alone and properly varnished. Prussian Blue has so many beautiful characteristics as a pigment and is so permanent to light that if used alone, or even when used with Zinc White to produce a sky blue, it has considerable merit. Gainsborough was probably the first great painter to use Prussian Blue, and I have seen some of his paintings in which the drapery and dresses were a beautiful green, which was due to the yellowing of the varnish, which, when mingled with the Blue, produced Green ”

“ If the artistic painter will use only those pigments previously described which are permanent, whether they be ground in Linseed Oil or whether they be Tempera Colors, and a medium so prepared that noxious gases cannot penetrate through either side, absolutely permanent results will be obtained. ”

“ Frames should always be subordinated to the painting. A blue and white seascape should be framed in a bluish gray frame, which may have a dark bronze moulding on the outer and inner edge. If painters want only one frame to show their work, let that one frame be of somber hue; otherwise it will detract from the painting. ”

“ This defect is well recognized among house painters and piano and cabinet varnishers, and therefore it becomes necessary to roughen the surface, so that the new coat of paint will adhere. There are some mediums on the market for this purpose, but with a little care no medium is needed other than pure water; and I have heard the statement that by rubbing the surface of a painting with a stiff brush that has been dipped in water and allowing that surface to dry thoroughly, new paint will take over the old as if by magic. ”

“ As a matter of fact it has never replaced anything because it has a pernicious habit of turning dark in the bright sunlight and turning white again in the dark, but within the last few years light-proof Lithopone has been manufactured and its principal use is for foundation whites and for interior flat wall decoration. It is a pigment that should never be used for landscape or portrait painting but may very safely be used for ground work. ”

“ It is equally unfortunate that when these artificial colors are exposed to our civilized atmosphere, which contains chemical substance due to the gases of cooking and of manufacture, many of these pigments are attacked. They tone down, and not only do they oftimes lose their brilliancy, but frequently they lose the characteristic shades for which they were employed. Then, again, sunlight, as we all know, has a deleterious effect on all of the organic pigments, and darkness has an equally deleterious effect on many of the varnishes and all the drying oils. ”

“ BLOOM IT is not the intention of the author to go into any dissertation of the cause of bloom; for every varnish blooms more or less. In fact, all polished surfaces, whether they are varnished or not, show condensation, and surface deposits which are the equivalent of bloom. ”

“ The principal foundations that have been used have been wood of various types, and metal. Wood really is as permanent as anything in existence, excepting that eventually it becomes either rotted, through excessive moisture, or a certain worm invades it and bores irregular holes through it. ”

“ When this is mixed with water, the dust acts as an abrasive, and consequently the surface is scarified minutely and the pigment takes hold. The only care necessary to exercise is that when using plain water on any painting sufficient time must be given so that it dries out thoroughly, before new paint is applied. ”

“ It is quite natural that a man in my position, who has met many painters and who has discoursed with them on this subject, has had many of them confess time and again that the practical and technical side of painting has always disturbed their peace of mind whenever they have been in the midst of serious work. ”

“ Water Colors, excepting those of the Tempera type, which contain oil, cannot be varnished, but they are “fixed” with a solution of gum or Casein, so that they do not rub off or drop off of their own weight. There are entirely too many unstable Water Colors made. Some manufacturers carry as many as one hundred and forty different pigments in cakes, pans and tubes. ”

“ I do not refer to the splendid decorative work on the wooden sarcophagi when I say little or no binder was used, for in these coffins and on the outside of the linen wrappings there are some really wonderful decorative paintings in which binders were used. The portraits outside of the mummy wrappings in the second century were done with wax and resins and are excellent works of art.
The primitive Italians were past-masters at the art of making Tempera Medium, as evidenced by their paintings still in existence, a large number of which are in absolutely perfect condition. ”

“ It is very wise for the painter to keep away from materials of this type; and, if a hard drying [Pg 92] varnish is desired, any good Copal Varnish will answer the purpose, although for varnishing pictures, it must be continually borne in mind that a simple varnish like Damar, Mastic or Sandarac should be used; for only those simple varnishes can be easily removed without destroying the painting itself. ”

“ It is on this principle that artistic painting must be based for absolute permanence, for artistic painting is never [Pg 14] subjected to the elements and is never subjected to the extremes of temperature which menace the longevity of house or automobile painting. In fact, there is no reason why a painting on the interior of any building, or suitably framed or covered in any gallery, with reasonable care should not last for an unlimited time. ”

“ The author believes that manufacturers of artists’ material should be compelled by law to label every tube of paint as to its permanence and chemical composition so that artists could be assured that they were getting what the label indicated. ”

“ RESTORATION AND CLEANING OF PAINTINGS THE greatest possible care in the selection of a cleansing material must be exercised, and it is always wise to take the painting out of the frame and try the effects of various mediums in one corner, in order to determine whether it is safe to clean the painting or not. ”