The Subject of Art #18: Egg Tempra Painting - An Ancient Medium in the Modern World!

January 28th-30th, BINDERS will be hosting the workshop “Painting in Egg Tempera” with Phil Schirmer. This is a variety of painting that has a long and rich history and it’s worth taking a look more closely. Not to be confused with the contemporary Tempera Paint—also sometimes called Poster Paint, which is a cheap mixture of pigments with glue sizing—traditional Egg Tempera is a mixture of pigments with egg yolk that forms a permanent, fast-drying surface.

Egg tempera paintings are very durable and the medium was favored in the ancient world for that reason. Examples of egg tempera still exist from Egypt, Greece, Rome and India dating back more than two thousand years, but the real flowering of the technique occurred in Europe during the Medieval period, when it was the dominant form of painting up until the advent of oil paint in the 1500’s. Up until the middle of the Renaissance, the majority of paintings on wooden panels were done in egg tempera (the rest were encaustic which is not nearly as durable), with perhaps the most famous example of the time being Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”. Even as oil paint began to take over, tempera was still used in the underpainting stage because of its fast drying time, but it was the popularity of canvas supports that eventually phased out tempera, which requires a rigid surface, like a wood panel or a plaster wall, to prevent the dry paint from cracking.

Phil Schirmer describes the egg tempera technique as follows:
“The first step is to prepare a traditional gesso by mixing crushed marble or precipitated chalk with rabbit skin glue. This is heated and applied in six to eight coats to a masonite panel (the Italians used either poplar or linden wood panels). After drying, the surface is smoothed by a wooden block dipped in water. The panel is then lightly sanded and left to cure for a few days before painting. The paint is prepared by mixing powdered pigments with egg yolk and distilled water. Chicken's eggs are generally used, though Russian icon painters prefer goose eggs because they have a higher oil content. The paint is then applied in very thin layers to the panel. Cennini's technique calls for executing the entire first layer in a monochromatic tone (black or brown and white), then glazing in the colors. In principle, this is still done by contemporary tempera painters, though they may do the underpainting in different colors. Eventually, many layers of transparent paint are applied, working up into the highlights and down into the shadows. It is this "layering" which gives tempera its unique quality. If done carefully, the tempera painter can create optical effects that can't be obtained by any other medium. No finishing is required. Over the course of several years, the surface will harden and become more durable than any oil-based varnish.”

Although egg tempera has never fully regained it’s former popularity, throughout the centuries artists have frequently “rediscovered” the special qualities that make tempera painting a unique artform. Notable artists who have worked in the medium include William Blake, the Pre-Raphaelites, Giorgio de Chirico, Thomas Hart Benton, Ben Shahn and Andrew Wyeth. You can find a wealth of information on the subject as well as communities of artists like Phil Schirmer who are committed to keeping this artform relevant to the world we live in. Visit the The Art School at BINDERS to find out more about Phil’s upcoming workshop!

The Subject of Art #17: Yantra - The Abstract and Sacred Art of India

Many of us are familiar with the figurative art that comes from the Hindu tradition of India, the brightly colored and imaginative scenes of blue-skinned Krishna, the elephant-headed Ganesha and the dancing Shiva Nataraj are certainly familiar to anyone who has set foot in a local yoga studio and have managed to find their way into the popular consciousness of Western cultures. Less well known is the far more esoteric but equally rich paradigm of non-objective art known as the yantra.

In Sanskrit, the sacred language of India, “yantra” means “instrument” or “machine”, implying that this is a form of art that is used for a particular purpose, in this case as an aid to meditation and as a focus in religious ceremonies. The origins of the yantras are shrouded in mystery and it is uncertain when they were first developed and used. Legend has it that the famous philosopher and Hindu saint Adi Shankara traveled around Southern India installing yantras in the temples there in the 8th century CE, many of which can still be seen today, so if the legends are to be believed then yantras have been part of the Hindu consciousness for at least one and a half millennia.

The yantra is an abstract design whose components have very specific, symbolic meanings. They are carefully balanced images combining squares, triangles circles, flower-like forms with varying numbers of petals and other linear forms. Some of these are interestingly familiar to us from other cultural references, such as the interlocking triangles, one pointing up and the other down, that is called the Star of David in Judaism, in a yantra represents the intersection of masculine and feminine energies as well as the point at which divine grace coming down from heaven meets the spiritual seekers aspiration for enlightenment. An arrangement of eight flower petals represent the five elements that make up the material universe, plus the three states of mind (intellect, wisdom and ego).

The yantra is primarily used as a tool for meditation in yoga practice. The meditator stares directly into the center point of the yantra (called the “bindu”) and attempts to clear the mind of all other thoughts – a task that is far more difficult than it sounds! Over time, the physical yantra is less necessary, as the meditator is able to visualize the yantra on a purely mental level and various techniques are taught for mentally constructing the yantra, either beginning from the center and working outwards or the reverse, depending on the school of meditation being practice. The object is to become fully identified with the energy represented by the yantra.

Each yantra is associated with a certain deity in the Hindu pantheon, and each deity is associated with certain energies. The goddess Saraswati, for example, is associated with learning, creativity and purity of thought, so meditating on a Saraswati yantra is thought to amplify those qualities in the practitioner. The goddess Lakshmi is associated with abundance, fertility and wealth, while the goddess Durga is associated with protection and the ability to defeat one’s enemies (who are defined by yogic philosophy as the demons of the ego). During religious ceremonies that honor these deities, yantras are often used in addition to, or occasionally in place of, anthropomorphic icons, demonstrating that they have many dimensions and manifestations. These yantras are typically inscribed on metal plates or carved from precious stones.

If you have the opportunity to see a yantra, take some time to stare deeply into its center, clear your mind of all other thoughts and see what comes up for you!
 
Visit BINDERS website!

The Subject of Art #16: Fresco - Art Made to Last!

When was the last time you found yourself browsing the website of the Vatican? There may actually be a reason to do so now! J.Z.Torre, who teaches painting classes here at BINDERS, let us know about a fantastic web page, hosted by the Pope himself, that lets you take a virtual spin around the famous Sistine Chapel. This wonderfully done application lets you fly up into the air and get a close look at all of the artwork covering the walls and ceiling of the chapel, so you can see the paintings in the context of the entire room, which is very difficult to do in a book. As an added bonus, you don’t have to deal with the crowds!

Here’s the link: http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html

 

The paintings that you see in the Sistine Chapel were created using a technique called “fresco,” which is very ancient and has a number of interesting permutations. The basic concept of the fresco is a painting done directly onto, or into, a plaster wall, what we would refer to today as a mural. Fresco paintings are of two types: “buon fresco”, which is when the artist applies pigment directly into the wet plaster, and “a secco”, which is when the artist paints over a dried plaster surface with a conventional paint. Ancient examples of buon fresco can be found in Italy, where the Romans made extensive use of it in decorating their buildings. The most well preserved examples are inside structures that were buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii and Herculaneum. The a secco technique was used by the Egyptians and can be found still intact in many of their tomb complexes that were sealed off from the elements. The fragile watercolor paint used by the Egyptians did not last anywhere else, so the remains of their temples and homes show only the bare stone surface.

Most of the paintings in the Sistine Chapel were executed in the buon fresco style, with only a few additions being added later in the a secco style.  Buon fresco is a difficult technique on account of the rapid drying time of the plaster, which begins to seal after eight to ten hours. The artist would need to do a great deal of pre-planning before each session to determine how much painting could be done in a particular day, then the wet plaster would be laid down covering just enough of the wall that it could be completely painted before it dried too much. The pigment was simply mixed with a little water and then brushed into the wet plaster, mixing with it and effectively becoming part of the wall. That is the secret to the buon fresco’s durability: as long as the plaster wall stays intact, the painting will be perfectly protected. So we begin to see an explosion of fresco paintings during the Middle Ages when they were installed in churches. Because the church was a building that was usually protected and preserved, the paintings within its walls were also similarly preserved and remain available for us to view today.

The a secco method, in which the dry plaster is painted over with watercolor, tempera, encaustic or some other paint medium, is much less permanent and is subject to being scratched or abraded off the wall. A secco painting was often used to touch up the buon fresco, especially where the seams were visible in between one day’s layer of plaster and the next. Over time the a secco paint would flake off, revealing the sections of plaster and giving a window into the artist’s process.

The paintings in the chapel were commissioned by Popes Sixtus IV and Julius II, beginning in 1480, and feature the work of some of the Renaissance’s most celebrated artists. The central tier of the walls feature a series of works by Ghirlandaio, Botticelli and Perugino that depict the lives of Moses and Jesus. But, of course, the most famous sections are the upper tier of the walls, the entire vaulted ceiling and the wall behind the altar that were painted by Michelangelo. Interestingly, Michelangelo was much more focused on sculpture and didn’t consider himself to be much of a painter, so he initially resisted the commission, but in those days if the Pope told you to do something you did it! We are all the more fortunate that that was the case. 

The Subject of Art #15: Titian and the Venetian Renaissance!

We have an unprecedented opportunity here in Atlanta to experience the wonder of painting on a truly masterpiece scale! The High Museum has opened a new exhibition, as of October 17th, entitled "Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Painting," which features twenty five works by some of the most famous names in Western art history: Tintoretto, Veronese, Lotto and two very special works by the supreme painter of 16th century Venice, Titian. The exhibition represents a collaboration between the High Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, to bring this incredible array of artistic vision and talent over from the National Galleries in Scotland. It is particularly exciting since the two paintings by Titian have never traveled to the United States before, one of them having been purchased from a private collection less than two years ago. Let's take a look and the life and work of Titian and gain a better understanding of why he was so important in his day and remains so relevant now!

Tiziano Vecellio, known popularly as Titian, was born sometime in the late 15th century (the exact date is not known), to a well-to-do family in a small town in northern Italy. At a young age he was sent to Venice to become an apprentice to the painter Giovanni Bellini, who was the most successful artist in Venice at the time, where he learned all the basics of his craft. He then went on to serve as an assistant to the revered painter Giorgione, with whom he shares many stylistic traits. Some of the frescoes that he worked on during his time as an assistant can still be found in churches around Venice today. Giorgione died at a young age in 1510 and Giovanni Bellini passed on a few years later, leaving a vacuum in the art establishment of Venice which Titian boldly stepped into.

Fortunately for Titian (and all the rest of us), his talents as a painter were equal to his ambitions and his works soon became renowned and eagerly sought after throughout Europe. He was, on the one hand, a gifted portrait painter who was given the ultimate commission in 1548 to paint the state portrait of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, and it is said that his portrait of Phillip II, the king of Spain, was instrumental in convincing England's Queen Mary to agree to marriage! However, Titian's true genius can be seen in his history paintings, with subjects ranging from Classical Mythology to the Bible to contemporary scenes of battles that had recently taken place. His ability to create complex compositions, full of chaotic movement that somehow resolves itself into the most beautiful harmonies, was unrivaled by anyone living at the time and placed him firmly in the same league as Michelangelo and Raphael. For the people in Europe during the 16th century, it was a great triumph to know that the brilliance of the great Renaissance master's was not just a momentary phenomenon, with the advent of Titian, they knew that there would continue to be great artists producing great works, each building on the pioneering works of their predecessors. Titian himself would go on to be one of the primary inspirations for the next generation of painters, including Rembrandt and Rubens, and he continues to inspire today.

The one thing that makes the work of Titian stand out, even from the giants of the Renaissance, was his amazing expertise with color. He had the eye and the skill to work out subtle, yet explosive, color harmonies that had a depth that went far beyond anything that had been seen before. While the art of someone like Michelangelo was based on a bold drawing style, Titian told his stories in color, with each shifting shade and hue carrying layers of meaning and wonder. It is this fantastic ability that still holds us spellbound today and makes Titian a worthy subject for the twenty-first century artist to study.

To that end, a trip to the High Museum to visit this exhibition will be worth far more than the price of admission to the true lover of art. The two paintings by Titian, "Diana and Callisto" and "Diana and Actaeon," painted in 1559, represent him at the height of his powers and fame and will allow you to get the full effect of his formidable talent.

We'll see you there and we also hope to see you at BINDERS Artfolio coming up the first weekend of November!

The Subject of Art #14: The History of Colors, Chapter 5: The Organic Revolution!

Contrary to what you may associate with this subject, this final chapter on color is not about food, it's about the shift in modern times towards an organic way of thinking. Most of the pigments we've looked at in previous chapters were inorganic, being derived from metals and minerals. Unfortunately, mining for these inorganic pigments is a labor and/or cost intensive process, so artists, alchemists and scientists from all different time periods have always been searching for better alternatives.

The solution, however, did not come about until relatively recently, when advances in organic chemistry made it possible to create whatever colors we desired from their component parts. After that, the spectrum of color exploded into a whole new rainbow of bright, lightfast variations and completed the range of hues that we are familiar with today and that you can find in the paint aisles at BINDERS.

Organic pigments have always been known and used since humans began coloring things. In our previous explorations, we have touch upon a couple: Indigo, which is derived from plants, Tyrian Purple, which comes from an insect called the cochineal, and Indian Yellow, which is derived from the urine of cows who were fed a steady diet of mango leaves. There were many others in use for thousands of years as well, most prominently the root of the madder plant, which produces a bright crimson red color (which was the red used for centuries in the uniforms of British soldiers, the Redcoats!).

Without exception these pigments derived from plant and animal sources are quite unstable, being very likely to fade over short periods of time, so, while these natural organic pigments were often used by artists, if a suitable inorganic pigment became available that filled the same niche in the color wheel then the organic one would usually be dropped right away. Natural organic colors were most popular in the textile industry as ingredients for dyes, which makes more sense because one might expect clothing not to last for more than a few years of heavy use anyway, plus they could always be re-dyed at some point if desired (which is not a particularly easy thing do do with a painting!).

The aforementioned madder root became the first natural organic pigment to be replaced by a synthetic pigment, which we know today as Alizarin Crimson, in 1869. The chemical compound Anthracene was synthesized from coal-tar, a byproduct of the industrial production of coke, which was used as fuel for stoves and furnaces and for smelting iron. Once the chemical process for production of Alizarin Crimson was perfected, the madder root dye industry collapsed practically overnight, a sequence of events that would occur repeatedly as scientists discovered and developed synthetic versions of organic colors that were brighter, more durable and cost less to manufacture. The original Alizarin Crimson pigment is still in use 150 years later, although its lightfastness rating is low compared to the colors that would be produced in later centuries. The newer versions are usually a mixture of two or more synthetic organic pigments labelled as Alizarin Permanent or Alizarin Crimson Hue.

The phenomenal advancements that occurred in pigments during the 20th century were largely the result of industrial manufacturing and the requirements of objects in everyday life to be brightly colored, with the application of those pigments filtering their way into the artist's palette after they had been thoroughly tested out in the world. The first leap forward occurred in the 1930's with the development of Phthalocyanine Blue, which was originally created as a more stable cyan color for the printing industry. The intensity and durability of Phthalo Blue made it suitable for all sorts of applications and sparked off a rush of research into pigments synthesized from the carbon molecules found in petroleum. The chemical structure of these synthetic organic pigments is similar to plastic, so as the plastics industry advanced, so to did the science of color production. Phthalo Blue was quickly followed by Phthalo Green, while new organic compounds helped to fill out the color spectrum. The automobile industry had a lot to do with the development of a wide range of colors, since car paint needs to be extremely durable and people like having cars that are bright and shiny. Synthetics like Quinacridone Red and Arylamide Yellow (also called Hansa Yellow), helped to fill that need.

From the point of view of fine artists, the color range was expanded tremendously, and furthermore, the synthetic organics are very pure, "clean" colors, with very little gray or brown undertones. A certain amount of "muddying up" the colors was found to be necessary to achieve a more natural look, since the real world actually has a whole lot of gray and brown in it! As these new pigments were initially being assimilated into the art materials industry, many paint producers felt that the chemical names of the pigments sounded entirely too scientific and intimidating, so Phthalocyanine Blue became Winsor Blue for the Winsor and Newton company, and Naphthol Red became Grumbacher Red for the Grumbacher company. It's worth noting that, at least in the United States, paint manufacturers are required to list the pigments used for a particular color on the paint tube or jar, so you can look there to see exactly which pigments are being used to create it.

So this is where we stand today! We've gone a long way from digging up red and yellow dirt all the way to the modern organic chemist's laboratory and it's unlikely to end there. Who knows what the future may hold?

The Subject of Art # 13: The History of Colors, Chapter 4 - Synthetics Rule!

As we saw in last week’s chapter of the History of Colors, the search for a stable, bright and affordable blue pigment led to the discovery (or re-discovery, considering Egyptian Blue) of the process of making synthetic pigments — let’s take a look at a few of the most popular!

Cobalt Blue

Governments in 19th century Europe sometimes took a very active interest in supporting the arts. For example, in 1804 Minister Chaptal of in France appointed several chemists to do research into the creation of new, more permanent colors. One of the results of this project was the discovery that the blue pigment in Smalt—the metal known as Cobalt—could be removed from the glass it was naturally found in when roasted in a furnace with alumina, resulting in a much more intense and very stable pigment which we now know as Cobalt Blue. This bright and very pure blue became an instant hit and found its way into the skies of paintings by Maxfield Parrish, Vincent van Gogh (who described it as a “divine color”) and many others. With the success of Cobalt Blue, scientists altered the formula to produce many different colors from the original metal including yellows, greens and violets.

Viridian

The very popular and important green pigment known as Viridian was developed by the famous color-maker Pannetier in 1838. This brilliant and lightfast pigment has a bluish undertone and a very fine transparency that makes it excellent for glazing. Viridian was produced by mixing Boric Acid with Potassium Bichromate and then soaking the resulting salt crystals in water, resulting in a fiery, gem-like green color. Viridian quickly replaced most other greens because of its permanence, but also because the other most popular pigment, Emerald Green, was extremely toxic as has been detailed in an earlier chapter.

Cadmium
Cadmium Yellow, a very bright, opaque and permanent pigment, was first synthesized in 1820. The process involved mixing cadmium salts with a sulfide and heating, which would result in the intense yellow hue. Cadmium was, and still is, a very rare metal, so it was fairly expensive to obtain and remains one of the most costly types of pigments even today. In 1919 the process was altered by adding selenium to the formula which resulted in a bright red-orange pigment called Cadmium Red. Variations in the amount of selenium allowed a range of colors from orange to scarlet to red to maroon, all of which are beloved and much-used in contemporary art.

These inorganic synthetic pigments became widely distributed and accepted by the middle of the 19th century in Europe and, together with the invention of pre-packaged paint tubes, contributed directly to the accessibility of art materials to a much wider group of people than at any other time in history. Today, we take for granted that we can have a wide range of colors available at relatively low cost and already pre-mixed with oil, acrylic or watercolor mediums, and it’s easy to forget that it was not that long ago that none of this existed! 

The artists of the time took full advantage of the new colors and it was these technological innovations that allowed the color explorations of Monet, Van Gogh, Seurat, Delaunay and many others to bloom and helped to launch what we now know as the Modern Art movement. The story doesn’t end here though, in the last chapter of our History of Colors, we’ll look at the innovations of the 20th century and the development of new synthetic colors from organic compounds!

What kinds of topics are you interested in learning about? Let us know!

The Subject of Art #12: The History of Colors, Chapter 3 - In Search of the Perfect Blue!

Throughout the history of color-making, up until the Industrial Revolution, one of the most difficult colors to produce was blue, which is unfortunate as there are so many wonderful blues to be found in nature! In this chapter of The History of Colors, we'll take a look at the attempts that were made by chemists and artists through the ages to add this elusive color to their palettes.

Ultramarine Natural (Lapis Lazuli)
The standard by which all blues were judged in antiquity was a color known in the West as Ultramarine ("beyond the sea" in Latin, presumably because it came to Europe from Asia). The naturally-occurring form of Ultramarine is created by grinding up a semi-precious gemstone, Lapis Lazuli, which has an intense blue color with violet undertones. Unfortunately, since it is made from a gemstone this pigment is extremely rare and expensive.

The largest deposits were found in Afghanistan, mined and exported — both for use in Ultramarine pigments and jewelry — at great cost, so it was often difficult for the average artist to obtain enough of the color to do anything useful. The height of Ultramarine's popularity was during the 13th through the 15th centuries in Europe, when the color became the de facto standard for the bright blue mantle worn by the Virgin Mary in Christian art. Since most of the religious art of the time was commissioned directly by the Catholic Church, there was plenty of money available to make use of this rare and beautiful color. Subsequently, Ultramarine became a status symbol for Dutch merchants and capitalists who were eager to flaunt their success through the purchase of luxury items.

The client of a Dutch painter might often stipulate that a certain amount of Ultramarine be used in a commissioned painting and then provide the funds for purchasing the raw pigment, and the more of this expensive color used in the painting, the greater the prestige of the owner! Throughout history, and even today, the natural form of Ultramarine remains prohibitively expensive for most art applications and in modern times has been almost completely eclipsed by synthetic imitations.

Egyptian Blue
From the 3rd millennium BC onwards, the Egyptians had invented a blue pigment that can be considered the first synthetic pigment, since it is a material that doesn't occur in nature. A variety of chemical processes were required to convert a combination of copper, quartz sand and calcium carbonate into this color that was used extensively throughout ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Since the basic components were readily available, it was much more affordable than Ultramarine, but it is likely that the process of manufacturing the pigment was a carefully kept secret known only to certain color-makers.

Like a number of other technological break-throughs of the ancient world (such as concrete and brain surgery), the secret to creating Egyptian Blue was lost after the fall of the Roman Empire. Some attempts have been made to reconstruct the method by which the Egyptian chemists created it, but with only limited success. It would be nearly 1400 years later that synthetic colors would appear again and transform the concept of color and art entirely!

Azurite and Smalt
There were two other blue pigments available to artists before the Industrial Revolution, Azurite and Smalt, but both of these were not suitable for use on a wide scale for various reasons and were replaced on the artist's palette as soon as synthetic blues became available.

Azurite is a form of copper that has weathered naturally and shifted it's color to a deep, subtle blue. Azurite is rare, so the average artist could not be certain of obtaining it. Plus though it mixes well with the wax medium used in encaustic painting and the gum arabic medium used in watercolors, it has a tendency to turn greenish and grayish when mixed with egg tempera medium or linseed oil — by far the more popular types of paint in Europe.

Smalt is a naturally occurring form of cobalt glass which can be ground up and mixed into paint. The difficulty in finding and mining this mineral made it hard to find and, in it's paint form, the color is very weak and was therefore an unpopular choice.

Prussian Blue and Other Modern Synthetics
It was not until the year 1706 CE that the first industrially manufactured, synthetic pigment was produced, and it was no accident that it was a blue color! Chemists had been searching for centuries to find a stable, lightfast blue pigment but it was not until the beginnings of modern scientific methods that such a breakthrough became possible.

Prussian Blue was created in Berlin through chemical processing of the crystalline powder Potassium Ferrocyanide. Yes, there is cyanide in it, so never put your Prussian Blue on the stove and boil it because it will produce toxic cyanide gas. However, the paint in the tube is harmless so don't worry! Once the doorway to synthetic pigment creation was re-opened (remember that it was closed since the fall of Rome!), beautiful, durable blue colors became widely available for comparatively low cost.

The synthetic version of Ultramarine, in the course of one year, turned the most expensive color of all time into one of the most easily affordable ones! The explosion of bright colors in the paintings of the Impressionists can be directly linked to the discovery and propagation of synthetic pigments — which will be the subject of our next chapter.

Visit BINDERS website to see the wide array of blue colors that we carry!

The Subject of Art #11: The History of Colors, Chapter 2 - The Toxic and The Fugitive!

In Chapter 1 of this series, we looked at the Earth Pigments, which were readily available in the ground and needed only to be dug up, sifted for purity and mixed with the binder to create a variety of reds, yellows, and browns.

However, these hardly represented the full range of colors found in nature and it became an obsession for artists, and the chemists who supplied them with new paint colors, to develop new pigments that had greater intensity and could cover the varieties of blues, greens and violets that were completely missing in the Earth Pigment range. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these pigments proved to be failures over the long term because they were either terribly toxic, resulting in a variety of neurological disorders or possibly even death to many artists over the centuries from over-exposure, or they were fugitive, which is a term that is used to denote a pigment whose color fades over time when exposed to light. It was not until the mid to late 19th century, with the advent of industrial manufacturing processes, that stable, reasonably safe pigments were developed to replace the more dangerous ones.

Let's take a look at a few of the most popular ones that had been used over time and see what they were eventually replaced with in the palette of colors that we have today!

Toxic Pigments
Of all the most toxic pigments that were used in the history of painting, the most popular was definitely lead. Although we are most familiar with lead as a dark, almost black color that was used in pencils, through various chemical processes lead could be altered to create very bright, intense hues of white, yellow and red.

Up into the 19th century these were known by the names Flake White (also the Cremnitz White which is still made by Old Holland), Chrome Yellow and Chrome Red. Lead is, extremely poisonous and can be absorbed both by ingestion and through the skin, but in it's day it was both cheap and extremely durable, so it was often the choice not only for artists but for house painting and other large scale, outdoor applications. Although true Chrome Yellows and Reds have disappeared entirely, Flake Whites can still be found on occasion and it is still considered by some artists to be far superior to the pigment that replaced it, Titanium White. Chrome Yellow and Chrome Red have been replaced by Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Red respectively, which are still toxic pigments but far, far less so than their lead-based predecessors.

Unfortunately, we find that lead paint is still used indiscriminately in some parts of the world with no thought to public safety. In 2009 a scandal broke in which a variety of toys manufactured in China for sale in the United States were found to be coated in lead-based paints, resulting in a massive recall to prevent children from becoming sick.

Among the other very popular pigments that turned out to be deadly are Vermilion, a very bright red-orange pigment originally derived from the mineral cinnabar, but which was synthetically produced by alchemists in Europe as early as the 12th century. An important component of Vermilion is mercury, a highly toxic chemical that can be absorbed through the skin and should be avoided at all costs. In the contemporary palette, Vermilion has been replaced by Cadmium Red Light. Another pigment that was both well-used and dangerous was Emerald Green, popularly known as Paris Green in the 19th century, which was made from copper acetoarsenite, a variety of arsenic that was also used as rat poison! The symptoms of arsenic poisoning have led some researchers to conclude that the blindness that Claude Monet experienced towards the end of his life and the neurological disorder that resulted in seizures for Vincent Van Gogh may have been caused by arsenic exposure from the Paris Green they were using in their paintings! Fortunately for us, Emerald Green has been replaced by the infinitely safer pigments Viridian and Phthalo Green.

Fugitive Pigments
Fugitive pigments were far more common than the toxic ones, but for most of them there is little evidence remaining except for written accounts of their use, since they have all disappeared over the years. The civilizations of Ancient Greece and Egypt were colorful places, but little remains now besides the bare stone faces that have been denuded of their fragile paint layers. The only remains that we have are in places that were found to be airtight and dark: the tombs in Egypt and some of the rooms of houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum that were buried in the eruption of Vesuvius.

From those testaments we can see that there were a great variety of colors that were used by ancient artists and that most of them were fugitive and disappeared quickly in the light. Fugitive pigments are typically those that are produced from plant and animal sources and so they lack the durability of their mineral counterparts. Carmine, for example, is a crimson red color that was manufactured by boiling thousands of cochineals, a type of scale insect, and it was the primary source of crimson for both paint and dyes for hundreds of years until it was replaced by the modern colors Alizarin Crimson and Naphthol Crimson, both of which are still moderately fugitive, but much less so than the original.

Likewise Tyrian Purple, which was the royal color of the Roman Emperors, was produced by rendering down a particular species of sea snail, requiring hundreds of them to be caught and processed and resulting in a pigment that faded rapidly, but no other source for violet was readily available until industrial manufacturing produced Manganese and Cobalt Violets and in the 20th century Dioxazine Purple became the standard.

Other popular colors that have not stood the test of time include Sap Green, originally made from the juice of buckthorn berries, which has now been replaced by a mixture of modern pigments. Indian Yellow, a bright yellow-orange, was originally produced by force-feeding cattle with mango leaves and then collecting their urine, which, when dried, resulted in intensely colored crystals that could be mixed into paint. Indigo, the color used to dye blue jeans today, is actually one of the oldest dye colors, having originated in India where the indigo plant is native and quickly spreading to Ancient Mesopotamia, Babylon, Greece and Rome. The synthetic replacement for the natural and fugitive Indigo was developed around 1865, after which use of the plant dye disappeared rapidly.

Through this survey of the failed pigments of previous eras, we can see how art and technology have advanced together, bringing us the paints we use today that are both safe and long-lasting. Enjoy!

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The Subject of Art #10: The Other Michaelangelo - The Genius of Caravaggio!

Most of us are familiar with the works of the famed and revered Renaissance master sculptor and painter, Michelangelo di Buonarotti, and even the folks with no knowledge of art history at all will have heard of and perhaps seen photos of his most famous work—the frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. However, there is another Michelangelo, born into the next generation of Italians, who is much less well known, even though his influence would change the style and technique of much of European painting.

This mysterious character was named Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, typically known simply by his surname, Caravaggio, which also happened to be the name of the town in which he was born during the latter part of the 16th century. While the Michelangelo of Renaissance fame was a true giant in the art world whose uniqueness and genius could never be duplicated, Caravaggio developed ideas about painting that resonated with many of the artists of his day. His ideas inspired many to copy his techniques and spread his new style, which only continued to gain momentum through the centuries until the present day, where his influence can still be felt and seen in the work of contemporary realist artists.

Born in 1571 and being raised in the small town Caravaggio in the Lombardy region of Italy, Caravaggio lost both of his parents by the time he was thirteen. Fortunately, he had already demonstrated a talent for drawing and was taken in as an apprentice by a Milanese painter who had himself studied under Titian. From a young age he displayed a shockingly uncouth character that, from the point of view of our modern sensibilities, would seem to belie the evidence of deep sensitivity he displayed in his work. He was particularly prone to fighting and seems to have engaged in street brawls on a regular basis.

During one such incident in 1592, he appears to have wounded a police officer and was forced to flee from Milan, eventually ending up in Rome. In desperate straits, Caravaggio took a job as a painter of flowers and fruit for factory-like workshop that churned out cheap paintings for the masses (perhaps like the 17th century equivalent of Thomas Kincaid?), which must have been a difficult time for someone with Caravaggio's genius and tempestuous personality! Nevertheless, it was during that time that he seems to have developed most of his major stylistic innovations and became prepared to strike out on his own as a working artist. He had become acquainted with several people who were able to help him become known in the vibrant art world of Rome and in 1594 he painted what is considered to be his first masterpiece, The Cardsharps, that immediately gained him renown among the critics and collectors. A flurry of brilliantly executed private commissions finally brought him to the attention of the Catholic Church, from which he gained the larger public commissions that cemented his reputation as a master to his contemporaries and to us as well.

Caravaggio's innovations in painting were threefold. The most obvious one is his intensified use of chiaroscuro—the transition from light to dark in a painting, which he brought to never before seen extremes. His paintings are dominated by the inky blackness of the background that give way suddenly and sharply to the brightest, most intense lightness of the foreground figures. Far from having a jarring effect on the senses, Caravaggio's technique was so highly refined that he could pull off these high contrasts in a way that seemed pleasing to the eye and had the effect of drawing one further into the complex psychological dramas that were depicted. The technique was so influential that it was given a name - tenebrism - and became a standard for many artists up into the present times.

Caravaggio was also known for eschewing the use of preparatory drawings, preferring instead to work out his compositions directly on the canvas and directly from the live models. Such practices were considered barbaric by the academic establishment at that time, but such criticisms had little effect on the headstrong painter and the immediacy of the technique was something that would be applauded by generations of future artists who came to value the spontaneity of the moment afforded by painting directly in that manner.

Lastly, and perhaps most controversially, Caravaggio was a deeply committed realist as was evident from the meticulous detail he put into all of his works. The stark realism of his style was greatly at odds with the mainstream of art at that time which preferred a classical idealism and was offended by Caravaggio's "warts and all" images, even of stories from the Bible. His realistic depictions of his subjects led to more than a few scandals that resulted in rejection of his work by the buyer, particularly in the case of the Church when in his paintings of the Madonna the features of known local courtesans could be recognized! But again, he persevered in spite of the criticism and rejection and that spirit of realism that he sparked would become a revolution in the 19th century, changing everything we know about art and opening the doors to Modernism.

Unfortunately, Caravaggio's tumultuous personal life continued to cause him great trouble. He was forced to leave Rome in 1606 after killing a man in a fight and fled to Naples and from there to the island of Malta where he was knighted. All along the way he kept on producing incredibly vibrant works and building up his reputation. But again, in 1608 he was arrested and imprisoned for brawling and was expelled from the Knights of Malta "as a foul and rotten member." Upon his release he moved to Sicily where he had friends and thrived again on his brilliant work. But he also made more than a few enemies, eventually driving him out of Sicily. Finally he hoped to return to Rome in 1610 to receive a pardon for his earlier crime from the reigning Pope who seemed to look upon him with favor. He never got that chance, however, as he passed away from a fever en route from Naples at the young age of 39.

After his death, some of the people who had been his rivals and detractors in life sought to discredit him and were largely successful. His name was, for hundreds of years, largely forgotten, even though the artists that he inspired carried on his ideas, giving birth to the great works of artists such as Rubens, Velazquez, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Courbet and Manet, just to name a few. It was not until the 1920's that art historians finally restored Caravaggio to his rightful place as a true master of Western art, bringing back some vestiges of honor to a man whose life had been ruled by so much chaos.

Let us know which of Caravaggio's innovations are most crucial to your work? Don't forget to visit us online to get ready for your next masterpiece!

The Subject of Art #9: The History of Colors Chaper 1 - Earth Pigments

Color surrounds us all the time in the natural world, the bright hues of flowers, the wings of butterflies, even the deep blue of a clear sky present us with an incredible display all the time. As humans began to develop a more complex, cooperative type of social structure that permitted more leisure time to follow pursuits that weren't survival related, visual art as we know it today began to take shape. However, the people of the stone age had no access to even the simplest manufacturing processes and everything that they created had to be made from media that was easily obtainable in the landscape around them.

It is likely that the very first pigments that were used by our artistic ancestors were black, made from the charred remnants of wood or bones (which would correspond to the modern colors carbon black and ivory black respectively), and possibly white from chalk if that were readily available in the immediate environment. Unfortunately, those materials are not particularly archival, so little or no record remains of their use.

The first colors that we can know for certain were used extensively in prehistoric times are the ones that we now call Earth Pigments. Earth Pigments are generally a variety of brownish yellows and reds that are found naturally occurring in clay throughout most of the world. The color comes from the iron content in the clay which has oxidized over time (rusted in effect) to produce a certain color based on environmental factors in the area where the clay is found.

Collecting the pigment is fairly simple, one just has to find a deposit, dig up the earth and sift out the non-ferrous material. The remainder will be an earthy pigment that can be surprisingly intense in color. The pigment would then be mixed with a binder, probably either spit or animal fat back in the stone age, which could then be painted onto a surface. Earth Pigments are among the most stable colors that we know—even today—so the appearance of the paintings created long ago would not have changed much over the years. The cave paintings at Lascaux and other Paleolithic sites are a testament to the longevity of artworks made with Earth Pigments alone and have survived for 30,000 years or more. The caves at Lascaux had to be closed to the public because the moisture brought in by all the tourists was causing a mold to grow underneath the paintings, potentially destroying them if left unchecked, but that was more a function of the weak binder than a problem with the pigments!

The most common type of naturally occurring iron oxide is the pigment we refer to as an ochre. Ochres come in many different color ranges, but the one we still use today is called Yellow Ochre, which is a brownish yellow with a green undertone. Yellow Ochre remains, after tens of thousands of years, one of the basic colors on every painter's palette! Ochres also come in a variety of other shades - reds, golds and even a violet hue - but deposits of those clays are much more rare. Red Ochre was a valued and sought after pigment in ancient times, possibly because of it's symbolic association with blood, and therefore life. Powdered Red Ochre pigment has been discovered in the burial sites of the Neanderthals in Europe, suggesting some sort of spiritual connection. Red Ochre and the other non-yellow shades of ochre have, in contemporary times, been largely replaced by synthetically manufactured iron oxides, usually given the names Red Oxide, Violet Oxide, etc., since the natural pigment is not that easy to come by and the oxidization process is relatively inexpensive. Naturally occurring Yellow Ochre, however, is still common enough to be found in just about every major brand of artist's paint.

The other types of Earth Pigment that are still in use today include the Siennas and the Umbers. Raw Sienna is a pigment that derives it's name from a type of iron oxide mined for many centuries near Siena, Italy. Similar to Yellow Ochre, but with greater transparency, Raw Sienna was an important part of the color palette for all of the Renaissance Masters and obtained a great reputation because of that. The reddish brown pigment, Burnt Sienna, is created by cooking Raw Sienna in an oven to produce the red mass tone and it is also a very important color in the palette of most painters even today. The veins of clay that produced the Raw Sienna pigments in Italy have been mostly used up at this point, but natural pigments with identical qualities have been found in nearby locations such as Sardinia and even in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States! Similarly, the pigment Raw Umber, a deep brown with greenish undertones that comes from a combination of iron and manganese oxides, became famous during the Renaissance when it was mined in the Italian region of Umbria, from which it derives it's name. Raw Umber can also be heated to create a variation with a reddish undertone, known as Burnt Umber, and both of these pigments also remain a standard in the palettes of contemporary painters.

So, the next time you dip your brush in an earthy color like Yellow Ochre or Raw Umber, you can feel the connection to artists back through the Renaissance and thousands of years more into the little known world of our prehistoric ancestors who used these exact same colors to give visual form to their imaginations just as you are doing today. A thought that is both humbling and uplifting all at once!

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The Subject of Art #8: Salvador Dali - Visionary, Madman & Trickster All Rolled Into One!

Starting August 7th, The High Museum of Art in Atlanta will be hosting a retrospective of the later works by the Surrealist painter Salvador Dali, so it's worthwhile to take a look at this controversial and very popular artist and try to gauge his impact on our consciousness and appreciation of art as a whole.

Born in 1904 in the Catalan region of Spain, Salvador Dali's grandiose personality began to assert itself from early on in his artistic career and he was kicked out of the Academia de San Fernando for allegedly stating that his professors were all incompetent and had no business giving him exams. In truth, he did display a prodigious talent and mastered the skills to produce paintings heavily influenced by the meticulous techniques of the Renaissance style while simultaneously embracing Cubism and all of the most avant-garde trends of the time. The young artist met and made a good impression on Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro, the two most famous Spanish artists of the Modern era and it was often thought that Dali would be the next in line of the great Spanish painters, a notion that he did nothing to dismiss!

Dali's fame and notoriety came about from his association with the Surrealist movement and, to this day, he is probably the most widely known of the Surrealist artists. In 1931 he painted his most famous work, The Persistence of Memory, which featured the iconic Surrealist image of melting pocket watches that challenged the idea of time as a known constant of reality. His masterful painting technique and wild imagination earned him world-wide recognition and helped to fuel his ego, bringing him into constant conflict with his fellow artists (many of whom had pretty big egos of their own).

His break with the Surrealist group came about due to his ambiguous stance on politics. Led by Andre Breton, the Surrealists generally adhered to a very leftist, socialist ideology, which Dali never fit into. He was kicked out of the official Surrealist group for his unwillingness to denounce Fascism, an attitude that would be troubling later in his life as he developed an uncomfortably friendly relationship with Franco, the Fascist dictator who ruled Spain with an iron hand through much of the mid-20th century. Nevertheless, Dali was unfazed by his expulsion, making the audacious claim "I myself am Surrealism" and continued onwards with even more extravagant and self-centered behavior. Nothing was more representative of his carefully constructed public persona than Dali's long pointy mustache, which he actually trademarked in order to insure that nobody could steal his unique look!

Apart from being a brilliant painter, Dali was never afraid to experiment with new media. From early on he took a great interest in film, collaborating with Luis Bunuel on the most well-known Surrealist effort, Le Chien Andalou. He also had an interest in photography, sculpture (his Lobster Telephone also become one of the most celebrated works of Surrealist sculpture) and the even more obscure medium of holography. Likewise, Dali's influence on new artists spread far and wide, earning accolades from Pop artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein while also re-invigorating the movement to return to the realist style of painting and a general trend away from abstraction and non-objective painting.

During his later years he became increasingly religious as a devout Catholic, and that sentiment worked it's way into into much of the work that he did in his later period. While his earlier pieces were small or modestly sized (The Persistence of Memory measured just 9.5" x 13") his later works took on a much more monumental scale that continued to keep pace with his growing ego and sense of importance, fueled by plenty of press and TV appearances and even an elevation to the noble class by the king of Spain! He died in 1989, leaving behind more than 1200 paintings and numerous works in other media for us to contemplate.

Salvador Dali's legacy is a mixed one. On the one hand, he was a powerful talent who had the ability to create art that captured the public imagination, as did many other artists of the 20th century, but many questions remain as to whether or not he was a real pioneer exploring unknown frontiers of artistic perception or if he, as some critics maintain, lurked just behind the true innovators and stole their best ideas, turning them to his own advantage (and fame and fortune) through the force of his personality. Dali's outrageous but charismatic way of being obscures his true motivations and sources of inspiration behind a wall of controversial statements and actions that leave many wondering if his entire life were just one elaborate theatrical performance. One may well think that that is exactly what Salvador Dali would have wanted!

The Subject Of Art #7: Drips And Squares - The Extremes Of Abstract Expressionism

It took a long time for art made in the United States to gain recognition in the rest of the world. There were a few painters who made their mark early, Benjamin West and Thomas Eakins being good examples, but for the most part America was seen as provincial and it's artists lagged behind the pioneering work that was coming out of Europe.

The famed Armory Show in New York, 1913, which brought paintings and sculpture by some of Europe's most progressive modern artists, such as Picasso, Kandinsky, Matisse and many others marked a turning point as American artists discovered non-objective art and unfettered expression for the first time. Although the art culture in the U.S. had been very conservative up until that time, many artists embraced the new ideas they were exposed to and began to explore the as-yet-uncharted realms of Modern Art.

It took a couple of decades for the Americans to really catch up and they may not have if it hadn't been for the cataclysmic destruction of Europe that resulted from two World Wars. As Europe lay in ruins after World War II, the U.S. remained strong and stood ready to take the forefront, economically and culturally. In addition, there were a number of influential artists who had fled Germany, France and other countries to escape the clutches of Nazi oppression. These expatriates, most notably Hans Hoffman, settled in America and, besides creating and selling art, began to teach a new generation of American artists.

In the 1950's, those artists came of age and banded together to become known as Abstract Expressionists. Backed by rich, powerful patrons like the Rockerfellers and the Guggenheims, these young artists became the new avant-garde, and their art and ideas would have a lasting impact on visual expression in both America and Europe. Though European concepts and teachers directly influenced Abstract Expressionism, it was the first truly American art movement that achieved prominence and respect throughout the Western world.

Among the most well-known and daring of the Abstract Expressionists are names like Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning. Pollock and Newman were born in America, while Rothko and de Kooning immigrated from Europe as children. These artists worked consistently on a monumental scale, creating huge canvases that would completely fill the visual field of a person standing before them, immersing that person in the environment of the painting. They all were also interested in bold, intense colors, often squeezed directly from the tube without mixing to maintain the saturation of the hue. However, there were major differences as well and, in many ways, the art of these painters might not seem to fit together into the same category.

On the one hand, painters like Pollock and de Kooning created works that used flowing, improvised brushstrokes to create a complex, organic composition that served to record the movements of the artist. While most of us are familiar with Jackson Pollock's method of working with long drips of fluid paint, it was actually a series of photographs by Hans Namuth of Pollock at work doing what seemed like a shamanic dance over a canvas laid flat on the floor, with drips of paint flying everywhere, that served to cement the reputation of the Abstract Expressionists in the mind of the art establishment. This was something new — a way of working that had never been accepted as art before.

On the other hand, painters like Newman and Rothko worked with geometric forms and flat planes of color to create more serene, meditative paintings. Barnett Newman systematically dissected the concept of visual composition until he arrived at the basic foundation: a ground, which was the entire canvas painted in one or two flat colors, and a figure, which was a vertical line (he called them "zips") painted in a different color that ran from the top to the bottom of the canvas. This primal figure-ground relationship served as a platform for Newman to experiment with color relationships and proportional compositions on the most basic level.

What united these two very different ideas about painting was the understanding that they were simply two different expressions, or perspectives, on the same thing: the relationship between the artist and the work of art. Abstract Expressionists helped to dissolve the traditional conceptions of what art is and how it should be made. Taking the paths of abstraction and expressionism to their fullest extremes, they brought Modern Art to it's end, as it seemed there was nowhere else to go from there.

Inevitably they were eclipsed by the artists that were to come after them in the movement known as Postmodernism, which attempted (and is perhaps still attempting) to make sense of what happened during the first half of the 20th century and understand what the role of art is in society.

What is your understanding of the role of at in our society? Please share! And don't forget to visit BINDERS website and get stocked on the supplies you need for your next masterpiece!

The Subject Of Art #6: Collage - The Origins Of A Modern Art Expression

The term collage, derived from the French word “coller” (to glue), is the technique of creating visual art by attaching various separate objects to a support to create a unified composition. The objects used in a collage can be essentially anything, from newspaper clippings to pieces of driftwood, or whatever else may suit the aesthetic purpose of the artist. In spite of the name, the objects can be attached to their support by any means necessary (although some kind of glue is still the most commonly used method).

Examples of this technique can be found in antiquity, particularly in the pasted paper works of China and Japan, and the gold-leafing and gluing of gemstones onto a painting that was typical in the medieval period in Europe could also be considered a form of collage. In the 19th century, scrapbooking enthusiasts used collage-like techniques to create fun and interesting memorabilia. However at that time the form never gained any real acceptance within the fine arts community.

With the advent of the Modern Art movement at the beginning of the 20th century, collage as we know it today came into being. As with so many other things in the genesis of Modern Art, the legitimization of collage as a means of expression is generally credited to Pablo Picasso and Georges Braques, the founders of the art movement known as Cubism. From about 1905 to 1917, these two painters developed an entirely new way of looking at art and simultaneously helped to shift the cultural perception of the meaning of it.

From a purely pictorial standpoint, the basic idea behind Cubism was to literally shatter the concept of the painted image as being untrue to the real experience of seeing the world, so the Cubist image is composed of a series of discrete glances, each one seeing just a fragment of the subject. It was this fragmented nature of the Cubist style that may have allowed the two artists to develop the idea of literally taking objects from the outside world and bring them directly into the painting.

Georges Braque is generally credited as being the first of the two to add collage elements into his artwork. He was the son of a faux finish painter and had been trained for that job himself, so he was familiar with many techniques for creating the illusion of different surfaces. While working on some charcoal drawings, most likely preparatory sketches for oil paintings, he was using a wooden table as part of his still-life setup. Rather than drawing the woodgrain surface, he decided to use a piece of faux oak wallpaper, which he glued onto the drawing where the table would appear. It’s possible that Braque was just doing this as a way to save time, rather than actually planning to use the wallpaper in his painting, but in any case, Picasso was the one who, upon seeing his friend’s drawing, realized the potential of this new means of expression.

Picasso’s first painting that included collage elements was his “Still Life With Chair Caning,” from 1912, which used another faux finish element, a piece of oilcloth with a chair caning pattern painted on it by an unknown craftsman. From that point forward, collage (as they began to call it) elements became a regular part of the aesthetic for both painters.

The collage fragments that entered into their paintings were put there for a very specific purpose: they had the effect of bringing the real world directly into the picture plane and the choice of objects was also usually very telling. Newspaper clips with text that described a story of the day were common, as well as other items that tied the paintings into the time and place where they were created. The idea behind Cubism was to create something new, something Modern, and the addition of collage served to build a context for the work that was a uniquely 20th century invention.

Braque continued to use collage throughout the rest of his career, although less so in later years. Picasso, as was his reputation, quickly left Cubism behind and moved on to explore new concepts, but his passion for using found objects continued in his sculptural work. However, the collage form itself was taken up and more thoroughly explored by others in the ensuing decades.

Collage was a foundational part of the Dada and Surrealist movements, who greatly appreciated the value of randomness and the potential for art to be found in ordinary things. The most interesting of these was Kurt Schwitters, who wandered the streets of pre- and post-World War II Berlin picking up the trash that people dropped carelessly. These seemingly waste items, ticket stubs, cigarette packages, etc., would become elements in paintings that were at once ethereal abstractions and firmly rooted in the grubby, urban reality of Germany at that time.

Today, collage is a completely accepted and regularly seen means of expression that is used by many, many artists. It still functions as it did from the beginning - to firmly root the art in its time and place.

What’s the most interesting element(s) that you’ve used in collage? Keep the conversation going!

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The Subject Of Art #5: The Makapansgat Pebble And The Beginnings Of Art Appreciation

As far as we know, humans began intentionally creating art about 32,000 years ago based on fantastic cave paintings and skillful carved rock figures from the period. But a lesser-known aspect of human psychology is when humans first begin to appreciate artistic vision.

It is entirely likely that our ancestors had a feeling for art and some concept of aesthetics and symbolism long before they had the ability and the tools to actually create art themselves. One could even imagine that it was the aesthetic sense in early humanity that drove us to discover the skills and materials of artistic expression so that we could fulfill the visions ourselves.

Such visions of art would have been found first in nature, in random circumstances when an object presented itself with the right aesthetic qualities. Archaeologists found such an object in 1974 in the Makapansgat Valley of South Africa, in a cave complex that had been in use by humans for millions of years.

The object, now known as the Makapansgat Pebble, is a small, roundish rock of Red Jasperite with peculiar markings on it. For us, in the 21st century, it's no problem to look at a photo of the Makapansgat Pebble, note the two round depressions next to each other and the straight groove underneath and, without hesitation say "that looks like a face." The pebble and markings are much more fascinating due to the context in which the pebble was found.

The Pebble was discovered in the remains of a site that was inhabited by an ancient human ancestor, Australopithecus Africanus, dated to between 2.5 and 3 million years ago. Australopithecus were not capable of creating complex tools themselves, but they did make extensive use of found objects to perform all sorts of tasks. The Pebble itself does not resemble any known tool that they used and its purpose, if it had one, is a complete mystery. Upon further examination, it is clear that the markings on the pebble are natural, probably the result of water erosion, but it is also interesting to note that the nearest deposits of Red Jasperite are several kilometers away from the cave system where the Pebble was found. So apparently, sometime around 3 million years ago, an Australopithecus found this rock in or near a stream, picked it up and carried it a fairly long distance to keep around the home — without any indication of any practical value.

Is this the reason why that Australopithecus noticed the Pebble and deemed it important enough to grab it and carry it all the way back home? Keep in mind that these folks didn't have pockets or purses. The Australopithecus would have had to carry it in hand for the entire journey, so there was definitely an intention there. If our friend (and possibly relative) the Australopithecus did see the face, understand the resemblance and place an aesthetic value on that resemblance, purposefully making a decision to keep it, then that would mark the earliest moment of a human ancestor appreciating a work of art that we know of.

This would be indicative of a mental capacity beyond anything that other animals display. Even when animals like chimpanzees or elephants can be taught to create paintings or other artwork by humans, they never show any interest in the work after it has been created. In the case of the Makapansgat Pebble, we can imagine that the Australopithecus was so taken by the stone face that he wanted to keep it, cherish it and perhaps share it with others, displaying an attitude that shows that we have placed value on art for a very, very, very long time.

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The Subject of Art #4: Henri Matisse and the Wild Beasts

Henri Matisse, Le Bonheur de Vivre, 1905-6

Every once in a while it's good to give credit where credit is due and with that in mind it's worth taking a look back at one of art history's most underrated movements. Around the beginning of the 20th century, a group of painters in Paris came together to form "Les Fauves" (The Wild Beasts in English) and the work that they did would open the doors to artwork that was completely unfettered in its manner of expression.

The deconstruction of previously precious traditions in the art world at that time would lead directly to the development of abstract painting and the elevation of the role of the artist to one of intuitive, spontaneous creation free from any constricting rules. Much of what we take for granted as artists in the 21st century was forged against public outcry and critical disdain over a hundred years ago, by people who were brave enough to believe that what they felt in their hearts was more important than what they learned in school.

The most significant development that came out of the Fauvist movement was the complete liberation of color from any requirements of representation. For these painters, color represented emotion and although the subject of the painting may have come from real life, the color of that subject was determined more by how the painter felt about it than anything that actually appeared on the real objects. This was a major innovation for the time.

Up until that point, color remained a quality of the subject that was not to be tampered with and, in fact, many artists were judged great masters because of their ability to portray the actual colors of their subjects in a totally faithful way. Even as Impressionism became the predominant force in Western art, the prevailing wisdom was that one should try to paint what one is actually seeing and flights of imagination and emotion were discouraged. The work of the Post-Impressionists, particularly Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin laid the foundation which Les Fauves built upon, but even their colors tended to remain chained to perceptions of the real world outside, and it was up to the Wild Beasts to truly begin to liberate color and let the harmonies of the composition tell their own story.

By far the most well known of Les Fauves was Henri Matisse, who was generally acknowledged to be the leader and philosophical guide of the group. In spite of the difficulties that Matisse faced with gaining acceptance for his work in the beginning, he eventually gained great respect from art lovers and enjoyed a continuous popularity throughout his life.

The fantastic intensity of color in Matisse's paintings were always put into the service of a great sense of joy, wonder and a love of life. His use of color touched many people deeply and often stood at odds with the cynical and often harsh styles of his contemporaries—particularly his great friend Pablo Picasso—but this in itself was a testament to the fact that the art of any given period could cover a wide range of emotion.

Less well known, but nonetheless influential, were the other members of the group: Andre Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Raoul Dufy, Georges Roualt, and Georges Braques (who would later go on to work with Picasso and become a founder of Cubism). Many of them, including Matisse, had been students of the Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau, a maverick professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts whose influence was inspirational. Moreau's paintings were filled with an unearthly spirituality, and although he never displayed the wildness of his students, his love of pure color and his willingness to embrace new ideas was a catalyst to the future triumphs of Matisse and his contemporaries.

The group gained notoriety at the Salon D'Automne of 1905, after which the popular art critic, Louis Vauxcelles, made the comment that their paintings might have been done by wild beasts. In the true spirit of the time, Matisse and company took that unkind remark and turned it on its head, in effect exclaiming that it was better to paint as a wild beast than as a man with no feeling at all!

Andre Derain, Charing Cross Bridge, 1906

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