Paint Reference Research Articles

Fracture toughness of aged oil paints

The fracture toughness in opening mode GIc for selected oil paints from Mecklenburg's Paint Reference Collection after approximately 30 years of natural ageing was determined using the procedure adopted from the ASTM D5528–13 standard in which double cantilever beam specimens are split in tensile tests. The careful reglueing procedure allowed multiple fracturing tests to be carried out that not only improved statistics of the measurements but also provided insight into the variation of the fracture toughness across the paint film observed for some paints. The latter was due to pigment sedimentation or chemical change of the oil binder as a result of the easier access of oxygen from the side open to the air. For the lead white paint, used over centuries both in paint films and oil grounds, the GIc values more than doubled from 18 to 39 J/m2 for three consecutive cracks formed at an increasing distance from one side of the paint film. The study demonstrated that fracture toughness corresponding to the first crack formation in aged oil paints ranged between 10 and 40 J/m2, relatively low values compared to the animal glue-based ground in paintings. In consequence, oil paints are more vulnerable to crack initiation and growth induced by tensile stress than the ground layer. The measurements filled the gap in the knowledge required for the analysis of fracturing or delamination processes in paintings.

Shrinkage and mechanical properties of drying oil paints

Understanding how the evolving molecular composition of an oil paint layer on its transition to an aged solid film affects its dimensional change and mechanical properties is fundamental to the assessment of material durability and more broadly risk of degradation of oil paintings. Tensile properties—modulus of elasticity and strain at break—as well as cumulative shrinkage were determined for a selection of oil paints from Mecklenburg’s Paint Reference Collection now after approximately 30 years of drying. The oil paints were found to get stiffer and more brittle with diminishing plastic deformation and increasingly elastic behaviour. For some paints, the increases in stiffness and decreases in the strain at break were dramatic during the late stage of drying. The observations modify the current physical model of paintings in which the mismatch in the response of glue-based ground layer and unrestrained wood or canvas support to variations in relative humidity (RH) has been identified as the worst-case condition for the fracturing of the entire pictorial layer. This study demonstrated that some paints were more brittle than the glue-based ground layer and as a consequence more vulnerable to cracking. The shrinkage of paints due to molecular relocation and/or evaporation of organic medium as they dry and age was measured. This shrinkage can exceed their strain at break and lead to fracturing of the oil paint layer if it is restrained by a dimensionally stable substrate. Consequently, after long-term drying, the cumulative shrinkage can cause oil paints to crack even in absence of fluctuations in RH or temperature. An example of cracking developed in an oil paint layer on the top of an undamaged ground layer in a historic panel painting was made evident by the X-ray microtomography.

Una Watters: Everywoman Caught in the Rain

Una Watters:Everywoman Caught in the Rain Mary Morrissy (bio) girl going by trinity in the rain started it all. Painted in 1959, it shows a woman in profile dressed in a red coat, gripping an umbrella, passing in front of the stone façade of Trinity College Dublin. In the top left-hand corner of the painting the plinth of the statue of the eighteenth-century poet, playwright, and dramatist Oliver Goldsmith is just visible, but the rain is the focus of the work. Jagged, almost two-dimensional slashes with geometrical shadows vividly create the impression of a torrential downpour that the girl of the title has to battle against, giving the modest subject matter, a woman walking in the rain, a bold, modernist appeal. You can sense the physicality of the driving rain, sharp as razor blades, flinty and unforgiving like the austere frontage of Trinity. Apart from the young woman's bright red coat and umbrella, the only other departure from the somber palette is a band of luscious kelly green that bisects the canvas two-thirds of the way down. This band serves to emphasize the driving diagonals of the rain, as if the elements are literally bearing down and oppressing the figure of the woman. And yet she's pressing on, a stoic expression on her stylized face. She is Everywoman caught in the rain. But who is the artist? She is Dublin painter Una Watters, someone you've probably never heard of. How do some artists secure a place in the pantheon while others fade after death, their paintings lost from public view? Is it talent, accident, or luck that secures an artist's fate? In Una Watters's case, she certainly had the talent, but unlucky circumstances worked against her gaining a public reputation. Since 2018, I've been engaged in a campaign to restore—or perhaps to properly establish—the reputation of Una Watters (1918–1965) and to rescue her from what I think is unfair neglect. With the help of Una's family, particularly her niece Sheila Smith, we set out to locate the thirty-seven oil paintings that [End Page 39] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Una Watters, Girl Going by Trinity in the Rain (1959; oil on canvas, 78.74 x 56.42 cm), private collection If the "girl" in Watters's painting references the Danaë myth, then this Danaë is suited and booted and shielding herself against the Irish-style shower—read steely, icy-gray rather than golden—that seems to emanate from Goldsmith. [End Page 40] were shown in a posthumous exhibition of Una's work at the Dublin Painters Gallery in November 1966, the last time her art was on public display. This exhibition was arranged by her widower, the Irish-language novelist and poet Eugene Watters (Eoghan Ó Tuairisc), as a monument to Una's talent and a kind of artistic wake. We're hoping to re-create that exhibition with twenty-seven of Una's recovered oils in Dublin in spring 2022. Our quest has taken us all over the country—from a disused ballroom in Ballinasloe (pace Derek Mahon) to attics and living rooms in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, and beyond. We have not traced all her work—and along the way we've discovered paintings we didn't know existed—but we're hoping that the collation of a body of Una's work in one place for the first time in over fifty years will have a transformative effect on her reputation, alerting art scholars and the public to a singular artistic talent. Let me say from the start that I'm not an art historian by training, so resurrecting Una, as I like to think of it, is a personal crusade inspired solely by a deep admiration of her work rather than any professional expertise. I never met Una; I've come to know her only through her paintings, perhaps the purest relationship one can have with an artist. But I've been in the lucky position of living for the past twenty years with Girl Going by Trinity in the Rain (oil on canvas, 78.74 x...

Field characterisation of rock art paintings using non-invasive reflectance spectroscopy in the search for organic paint binders at Genealogy and Stickman Rockshelters in the Weld Range (Western Australia)

This paper reports on the search for organic binder materials in rock art paintings at Genealogy and Stickman Rockshelters in Wajarri Yamaji country, Weld Range (Western Australia). Portable visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared (VNIR-SWIR) reflectance spectroscopy requires no physical sampling or surface preparation. Eleven motifs were analysed in-situ. Only one of the motifs had absorption features characteristic of organic molecular bonds and resembled hematite and blood experimental paint reference materials. Constituent hematite and clay pigment minerals defined the spectra of the remaining ten motifs. This pilot study demonstrates that non-invasive VNIR-SWIR spectroscopy is an effective field characterisation tool for assessing painted rock art motifs for constituent organic materials and mineralogy including clay minerals and iron oxides. Without the need to take samples, the technique will be invaluable for rock art conservation, and as a screening tool in the search for organic materials suited for C14 direct dating in mineral pigmented rock art paint.

TO ACHIEVE REAL IMMERSION: THE 3D VIRTUAL AND PHYSICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF CAVE 3 AND CAVE 12 OF YUNGANG GROTTOES

Abstract. As the 3D laser scanning and photogrammetry technologies continue to mature, more and more applications founded in numerous areas. The realistic 3D models are mainly adopted for digital display uses, such as the 3D game, web showcases, head-mounted display, etc. While we are enjoying the vivid digital sceneries through different kinds of digital display screens, there are still challenges exist for the 3D printing application, especially for large size objects. In this article, we will present an approach on digitizing and 3D replicating large grottoes. Unlike 3D rendering, 3D printing requires high detailed shape data for the fabrication. Such demands cause many technical difficulties including huge data amount, accurate dense point cloud, high-resolution texture mapping. We chose cascade SfM, grouped MVS, automatic texture mapping to prepare the high definition colored 3D model for printing and painting references. Meanwhile, we optimized 3D printing procedure as well as post-processing, installation, lacquer and painting. Two replicas of 10- meter sized grottoes have been manufactured after four years of efforts, which have earned some appreciations from audiences.

Spectroscopic characterization of sixteenth century panel painting references using Raman, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and helium-Raman system for in situ analysis of Ibero-American Colonial paintings.

Colonial panel paintings constitute an essential part of Latin-American cultural heritage. Their study is vital for understanding the manufacturing process, including its evolution in history, as well as its authorship, dating and other information significant to art history and conservation purposes. Raman spectroscopy supplies a non-destructive characterization tool, which can be implemented for in situ analysis, via portable equipment. Specific methodologies must be developed, comprising the elaboration of reference panel paintings using techniques and materials similar to those of the analysed period, as well as the determination of the best analysis conditions for different pigments and ground preparations. In order to do so, Raman spectroscopy at 532, 785 and 1064 nm, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and a helium-Raman system were applied to a panel painting reference, in combination with X-ray fluorescence analysis. We were able to establish the analysis conditions for a number of sixteenth century pigments and dyes, and other relevant components of panel paintings from this period, 1064 nm Raman and SERS being the most successful. The acquired spectra contain valuable specific information for their identification and they conform a very useful database that can be applied to the analysis of Ibero-American Colonial paintings.This article is part of the themed issue 'Raman spectroscopy in art and archaeology'.

« Elle peint comme elle chante... »

The large part of Marie Krysinska’s poetry is pictorial in the intrinsic way. The range of the references to painting, both explicit and implicit, is not less significant than the musical references. Being a musician, Krysinska is as well sensitive to the colours and lines, she makes one hear and see her poetic images. This ability lets her create “images en l’air” whose pictorial intensity is varying, from the impression to the ekphrasis. Through different painting references Krysinska reveals her rooting in the culture, enters into the continuum of aesthetic reflection, involves herself in a dialogue between arts – which incessantly lasts throughout the ages – on the synchronic and diachronic level. Consciousness which diffuses through the poetic-pictorial work of art is consequently complex and heterogenic, both individual and collective. Pictoriality becomes a code, cultural and emotional, which reinforces the work of imagination and lets one feel a twofold aesthetic satisfaction.

Voyages: Revisiting Quebec's Delegation to Avignon

Voyages: Revisiting Quebec's Delegation to Avignon Virginia Preston (bio) Among the most high-profile events on the international circuit, the Avignon International Festival influences production and touring projects worldwide. For a season that began with deep cuts to federal support of Canadian arts programs abroad, the 2009 edition of the Avignon International Festival in southern France was notable for unprecedented participation by artists from Quebec and Canada. The seeds of this showcase were planted when Hortense Archambault and Vincent Baudriller, the festival's artistic directors, entered into a dialogue with the artistic director of the National Arts Centre French Theatre Wajdi Mouawad in 2007, later naming him associate artist for the festival's sixty-third season. Quebec's delegation to Avignon in 2009 included theatre and dance projects, a film, graphic arts, and a spoken word performance. French audiences and critics were quick to note interdisciplinary approaches among Montreal companies, specifically their folding together of choreographic, visual, and text-based elements. Though the festival's focus on Quebec might seem to reflect an outburst of recent activity, artists, including choreographer Lynda Gaudreau, argued that the programming offered a window into long-standing features of performing arts practice in Montreal, notably hybridity and collaboration between artists. Click for larger view View full resolution Sébastien Dodge, Christiane Pasquier and Guy Pion (l-r) in Denis Marleau's Une fête pour Boris. Photo by Stéphanie Jasmin Works by Quebec artists at the festival offered distinct aesthetic worlds—from marathon, open air cycles reminiscent of Greek tragedy, to intimate cut-ups for film and voice. Denis Marleau's striking production of Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard's Une fête pour Boris (1968) offered crystalline, facet-cut performances with precise, Beckettian rhythms. Parsed with deft theatricality and craft, Marleau's actors delivered text as measured as fine musical interpretation. In a bravura performance as the Good Woman, Christiane Pasquier interpreted a role that, like Beckett's Winnie, is a remarkable challenge for female actors at the height of their abilities. A chorus of quasi-robotic automatons ended the production in a notable staging of the uncanny—performing syncopated, pre-recorded repartee with the unexpected vividness of live dialogue. The work's technological accomplishment disclosed rather than concealed itself through choreographed glitches, offering a discomfiting coexistence of organic and machine presences on stage and destabilizing senses of the live. Mouawad's Le sang des promesses (The Blood of Promises) began with three major works from his repertoire—his 1999 Avignon contribution Littoral (1997), Incendies (2003), and Forêts (2006). The sequence played from dusk to dawn in a vast outdoor theatre at the Popes' Palace. Near the end of the festival, Mouawad premiered the fourth and final part of the sequence at a fairground outside Avignon. Mounted inside a massive white cube in an industrial exhibition space, Ciels (Skies or Heavens) proposed an extraordinary dispositif, enclosing the public on all sides with raised, narrow stages. Framed like cinema screens, the performances taking place [End Page 98] within these windows shuffled between film, theatre, and painting references as they enacted a contemporary, Oedipus-like story with an acute, political edge. Click for larger view View full resolution Mouawad's Littoral at the Palais des Papes. Photo by Thibaut Baron Commissioned by Avignon for the idiosyncratic dance series Sujets à vif, Montreal choreographer Lynda Gaudreau's Out of the Blue transformed an unusual convent courtyard into a species of pop seascape. The project took place in a daytime, outdoor venue with unique architectural properties—a statue of the Virgin Mary and a palm tree popping spryly through the irregularly-shaped dance floor. Gaudreau's choreography presented gestures in mid-flight, without clear origin, and full of playful rearrangements. The dramaturgy, as encapsulated by Gaudreau's title, investigated abrupt, ludic shifts, strange entrances, and unexpected endings—the choreographer's unusual response to the web-based Interview Project by Austin and David Lynch. A finely calibrated citation of pop art, Gaudreau's witty study transformed the venue with minimal elements. Working in collaboration with vocalist and visual artist Dominique Pétrin (singer of the Montreal rock group Les Georges Leningrad), sound artist Anne-François Jacques and...

Visual and performative elements in screen adaptation: A film-maker's perspective

In recent years there have been significant advances in theory and criticism around screen adaptation (cf. ed. Naremore 2000, Cardwell 2002). However the literary source text is still often perceived as a unified, harmonious whole, capable of unproblematic reading — the ‘problems’ are all seen as pertaining to the adaptation. This article contends that literary texts themselves draw on many other cultural sources and codes such as music, landscape, painting and performative references. It will argue that the process of film-making responds to these inferred levels where the coding of the source-text may be merely inferred, or indeed contradictory. The author, a practising feature film maker, takes as case-studies films written and directed by her to explore and analyse longitudinally the process of adaptation from the film-maker's perspective, both at the level of scripting and organisation of narrative material, and at the level of film production, distribution and criticism.

Planar nitric oxide (NO)-selective ultramicroelectrode sensor for measuring localized NO surface concentrations at xerogel microarrays

A planar ultramicroelectrode nitric oxide (NO) sensor was fabricated to measure the local NO surface concentrations from NO-releasing microarrays of varying geometries. The sensor consisted of platinized Pt (25 microm) working electrode and a silver paint reference electrode coated with a thin silicone rubber gas permeable membrane. An internal hydrogel layer separated the Pt working electrode and gas permeable membrane. The total diameter of the sensor was <or=50 microm, and demonstrated negligible analyte trapping effects. The sensitivity and response time of the ultramicroelectrode sensor to NO were 0.19+/- 0.07 pA nM(-1) and 1-4 s, respectively, with a 5 nM limit of detection. The sensor was employed to correlate the steady-state NO surface concentration and observed platelet adhesion resistance. Results indicate that the required steady-state NO concentration necessary to inhibit platelet adhesion to the micro-patterned xerogels depends on the xerogel geometry.

Nationalism, primitivism and the golden age in Othon Friesz's Autumn Work (1908)*

Abstract. This paper focuses on a detailed analysis of the Fauve artist Othon Friesz's painting Autumn Work (1908) within the contextual juncture of nationalism and primitivism. The painting occupies a unique position within this framework as it elucidates a point a convergence between nationalist ideologies and the primitivist turn towards peasant cultures as a repository of the past. This interpretation also identifies how Friesz's fusion of the Virgilian golden age with the contemporary, rural myth disrupts the Self/Other framework of primitivism via the lens of national identity. Friesz's employment of classically influenced and avant‐grade aesthetics further underscores the ways in which the painting references not only his personal artistic negotiation between tradition and modernity, but also the significance of ancestral myths and temporal oppositions in both nationalist and primitivist discourse.

Determination of Ti, Zn, and Pb in lead-based house paints by EDXRF

Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry with a fundamental parameters program was used to non-destructively determine the relative concentrations of Ti, Zn, and Pb in lead-based house paints manufactured by National Lead (Dutch Boy), Sherwin-Williams, DeVoe, Davis of Baltimore, Benjamin-Moore, Eagle-Picher, Lowe Brothers and by several lesser known companies. The relative concentrations of Ti, Zn, and Pb in the paints were plotted three dimensionally which showed that the major paint manufacturers can be discriminated and identified. Spectral digital libraries were constructed from our manufacturers' paint reference collection to determine who produced the paint in a homeowner's paint chips. The analytical method discussed in this paper is well suited for the analyses of paint chips that have separated naturally from the substrate.

The Identity of ‘Anthony Rivers’

Since Henry Foley in 1877 published extensive extracts from a set of letters purporting to have been written from London to correspondents in Venice, between January 1601 and April 1603, ‘by Anthony Rivers S.J.’, a ‘socius of Fr. Henry Garnet S.J.’, historians have found these letters valuable evidence concerning Queen Elizabeth’s declining days, the government’s secret involvement in the Appellant controversy within the Catholic priesthood (1597–1602), the ‘inch thick’ paint reference in Hamlet, the possible originating circumstances of Twelfth Night, and other matters. But no Jesuit Anthony Rivers has ever been found, and Jesuit historians have speculated about the letter-writer’s identity: Philip Caraman at one time took him to be Fr. Anthony Hoskins S.J., and Francis Edwards recently argued for Fr. Henry Floyd S.J. But Hoskins was not sent to England until 1603, and Floyd was in prison for much of the time when the letters were retailing, in a weekly rhythm, many pages of first-hand observations of events in the Court and Council, sometimes if not always in three near-identical versions dispatched simultaneously to three separate addressees.

Collaborative study for the quality control of trace element determinations in paint coatings. Part 2. Certification of alkyd resin paint reference materials for the migratable contents of trace elements (CRMs 620 and 623).

This paper describes the preparation, homogeneity studies and certification of a series of two paint reference materials (mild steel coated with alkyd resin paint, CRM620, and comminuted paint from alkyd resin paint, CRM623) which have been produced in support of the EU Toy Safety Directive (88/378/EEC). The reference materials have been certified for levels of toxic element migration using the method specified in European Standard EN71-3:1994 published by the European Committee for Standardization. As such, the certified values, indicative values and range data quoted for the reference materials in this paper are method specific and relate only to European Standard EN71-3:1994. The paper summarizes the analytical work carried out and gives a description of the analytical methods used to measure As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Sb and Se, the 8 toxic elements specified in European Standard EN71-3:1994, in the sample extracts. Descriptions of the reference materials, certified values, indicative values together with their associated uncertainties or range of laboratory means as appropriate are given. The preparation of a (not certified) reference material (beechwood coated with nitrocellulose paint, RM621) is also described and assigned values for As, Ba, Cd and Se are given. The Hg content could not be certified in any of the reference materials, owing to a high dispersion of results.

The certification of a new paint reference material

The use of paint as a coating for toys intended for sale on the European market is controlled by a European Standard (EN 71-3: 1994-European Standard for the Safety of Toys, Part 3—Migration of Elements). This work is the result of a preliminary study organised by the European Commission to produce a new paint reference material which can be used to validate the test methods given in the European Standard. The migration of elements from painted panels and comminuted paint produced by the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, (U.K.) was studied. Several methods were used in this certification exercise and this work reports the recults of neutron activation analysis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to determine the migration of As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Se and Sb into a simulated stomach environment. Replicate extracts obtained from paint samples gave a precision of within 10% for most elements by both analytical techniques for the paint panels and for the comminuted paint sample. This preliminary study has shown that the standard method can provide reproducible results for each of the paint materials studied and indicates that the study should be continued to produce a fully certified paint reference material.

Corrosion protective performances of commercial low-VOC epoxy/urethane coatings on hot-rolled 1010 mild steel

The protective properties of low-VOC epoxy/urethane paint systems of commercial grade have been investigated using a variety of techniques such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). One epoxy-polyamide mastic/urethane, three high-solid epoxy-amine/urethane coatings, one solvent-free epoxy-amine/urethane, one water-based epoxy-amine and one high-VOC alkyd paint system (used as paint reference system) were applied on hot-rolled 1010 mild steel panels and exposed for up to 2000 h in the salt spray cabinet (SSC) or for 1 year at an outdoor marine test site. These paints were tested for their barrier properties, corrosion-induced adhesion loss and visual defects, as well as for their flexibility and resistance to direct impact. The barrier properties increased in the following order: alkyd<water-borne epoxy<high-solid epoxy-amine/urethane<high-solid epoxy-polyamide mastic/urethane and solvent-free epoxy amine/urethane. The alkyd and the water-borne epoxy systems are characterized by a very large increase in water uptake and film pore area during the exposure time, leading to an appreciable corrosion rate at the interface such that important visual defects are noticed on the plate surface as the exposure time is long enough. The three high-solid epoxy-amine/urethane paints had a low increase on their pore area over time to a degree typical of moderately degraded coatings. After 2000 h of exposure in the SSC, they presented slight corrosion at the interface and little water uptake except for one paint system where water penetration and corrosion were more considerable. The three paint systems had slight blistering defects detectable by the naked eye. Among all the epoxy systems, the epoxy-polyamide mastic/urethane and the solvent-free epoxyamine/urethane had the best corrosion protection barrier properties, with a low water penetration, a limited and constant corrosion rate over time and a low film pore area. The low-VOC epoxy/urethane coatings are characterized by a drastic low elongation-at-break except for the epoxy-polyamide mastic/urethane and one one-coat epoxy-amine/urethane having a low resistance to water penetration. All the paint systems under consideration were unable to sustain the corrosion-induced adhesion loss in the SSC and at the outdoor marine test site.

Collaborative study for the quality control of trace element determinations in paint coatings

Since the adoption of the European Standard EN71: Part 3 on toy safety, there has been dissatisfaction with the poor reproducibility obtained between laboratories using the test method for the determination of the migration of certain elements from paints to toys. This lack of quality control could result in toys being judged unacceptable with regard to the requirements of the EC Directive 88/378/EEC, which creates a potential barrier to trade. In order to improve the methods of measurements and testing, the Standards, Measurements and Testing Programme (SM&T) is currently supporting a project of which the final aim is to produce paint reference materials. The first step of this collaborative project is aimed to assess and possibly improve the state-of-the-art of trace element determinations in paint coatings through an interlaboratory study, the results of which are presented in this paper.