Binding Media for Historical Pigments
I recently returned from the 2007 College Art Association meeting in New York where I, with 3 other participants, gave a talk on historical pigments. My presentation, “The Use of Traditional Pigments in Conjunction with Contemporary Binding Media and Techniques,” was part of the session called “The Contemporary Relevance of the Renaissance Palette.” The title I gave to the chair of the talks changed focus a bit over the course of my research. By the time I’d completed my study for the presentation, the emphasis had shifted to the physical structure and spectral composition of historical colorants. It was difficult to isolate artists who use historical pigments with contemporary binders to take advantage of the physical characteristics of the materials. I found that the working properties of the pigments stimulated my curiosity more than using historical pigments to formulate paint.
Today I want to focus on one aspect that I didn't fully develop at the College Art Association session. What are appropriate binding mediums for historical pigments?
It seems that no hard and fast rules apply to what pigments can be mixed with aqueous mediums such as watercolor gums, starches and acrylic binders. Many pigments, because they are toxic or reactive with each other, will not be selected for aqueous mixtures. A pigment like Orpiment degrades in water and does not benefit the artist when used in aqueous media. Besides, it smells like rotten eggs as well. Some pigments are just hard to mate with water-based binders, so any paint made would not perform well. Examine the list of pigments used by acrylic paint manufacturers and compare that list with an oil color line of paints. The differences will reveal what pigments have a difficult time mixing with water-based mediums. (Note: Don't compare the color names. The pigment names are the important factor when making a comparison.)
However, an artist can exploit some of these incompatibilities. Unless a pigment mixed with water media will break down, the unusual reaction may possess unusual characteristics that have visual appeal. Again, unless some harmful or rapid deterioration is created by the presence of water, an artist is free to explore the possibilities inherent in historical pigments. Do you have any unusual pigment/binder combinations that create interesting results? Please share them.
Additional notesA brief clarification of terms: Rutherford J. Gettens and George L. Stout, who co-authored
Painting Materials: A Short Encyclopaedia (1942) defined “pigment” as “a finely divided coloring material which is suspended in discrete particles in the vehicle in which it is used as a paint (thus being opposed to a dye which is soluble in the vehicle). Pigments are derived from a wide variety of substances, organic and inorganic, natural and artificial. They may be classified according to color, chemical composition or source.” To read more, go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigment.Orpiment is arsenic trisulphide; King’s Yellow is the name of the pigment if it’s artificially made. Orpiment was made by grinding the native mineral orpiment into a powder. It's a very bright yellow; it works well in oil. The artificially made pigment is very poisonous, but the native orpiment was evidently not so. Orpiment, found in the art of the most ancient civilizations, has been replaced, in modern times, by the cadmium yellows. To read more about Orpiment, sometimes called Chinese Yellow, including where it is found and how it is processed, go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpiment and
http://webexhibits.org/pigments/indiv/overview/orpiment.html.