JAIC special issues on modern paints

The collective contributions represent the most comprehensive exploration to date of the use of oil-based enamel paints by modern avant-garde artists, with a special focus on the historic house paints manufactured by the French company Ripolin. The articles explore topics relating to the use of non-artists’ enamel paints in the first half of the 20th century, including: intended and unintended meanings of artists’ material choices; techniques of paint application; issues of preservation; the materials and technology of paint production; and the challenging and multifaceted scientific characterization of non-artists’ paints. Following a comprehensive review of the paint technology and chemistry of oil-based house pants from 1900 to 1960, the first issue is devoted entirely to new and extensive studies of the oeuvre of Pablo Picasso, while the second issue explores the works of many other pivotal artists of the 20th century, including Francis Picabia, Vasily Kandinsky, Sidney Nolan, Giacomo Balla, László Moholy-Nagy and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
The interdisciplinary investigations highlight the wide range of applications and experimental use of these materials by artists, creating interesting challenges for the researcher but also providing fertile ground for further characterization and better understanding of works produced with enamel paints. The authors and editors hope that these two publications will constitute the foundation for further, in-depth study of artists’ uses of oil-based enamels.
Both issues are available online: