16 Art Mediums to Know
What is an art medium? The ‘medium’ simply refers to what material is used to create, or construct, the artwork.
To understand art, and thus appreciate it better, one needs to know what it is created from. This is where identifying the medium of an artwork comes in.
When viewing a piece of fine art in a gallery, auction catalogue or museum for example, there will normally be a descriptive which will tell you who the artist is, the medium, the title, the size, and so on. It will normally look something like this:
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)
signed Picasso (upper right); dated 14.2.55 (reverse)
oil on canvas
44 7/8 x 57 5/8 in. (114 x 146.4 cm.)
Amongst all of that information is the line ‘oil on canvas’. That tells me that oil paint was used and it has been laid down onto canvas.
It is essential that the medium of an artwork is correctly identified, and recorded, so that an artwork can be correctly appraised.
Further to the article 9 Tips on How to Tell if a Painting is Valuable, where medium is discussed as one of the puzzle pieces for valuing, and attributing, an artwork, this article endeavours to outline the principal mediums found in paintings, as well as a brief history and development:
Prehistoric Cave Painting
Like everything, art didn’t just suddenly appear in the world. Rather emerging from the murky pre-history of our species, possibly hundreds of thousands of years ago. Using dirt or charcoal mixed with spit or animal fat, our early ancestors found ways to record their lives by dabbing, smearing, brushing or spraying a medium onto their cave walls.
Later they learnt to extract pigments such as minerals limonite and hematite, red ochre, yellow ochre and umber, charcoal from the fire, burnt bones and white from grounded calcite. The pigment was then made into a paint like paste with various binders, including water, vegetable juices, urine, animal fat, bone marrow, blood, and albumen.
An interesting side note is that prehistoric man’s desire for ochre pigments has been reasoned by historians for the driving force behind all prehistoric mining.
Fresco
The earliest known fresco was found in the Egyptian Tomb 100 at Hierakonpolis, circa 3500-3200 BCE. However there are three types of fresco painting art – buon affresco (true fresco), mezzo fresco (medium fresco) and fresco secco (dry fresco).
Fresco directly translates from the Italian for ‘fresh’. Buon affresco is the most well known and popular technique, with the oldest frescoes done in this method dating from 1600 BCE during the Greek Bronze Age.
In this method pigment is mixed with water and applied to a layer of wet lime or gypsum intonaco (Italian for plaster), which absorbs the pigment. Because the plaster dries quickly, the artist must work on a buon fresco in small sections because once it is dry it cannot be altered.
Mezzo fresco is made on a nearly dry intonaco, which was particularly favoured during the Italian Renaissance, so that the pigment only penetrates slightly into it.
Fresco secco uses a binding medium, such as egg yolk or glue adhesive to make pigment stick to the surface but produces less vibrant colours.
Encaustic Painting
From Ancient Greek, which means ‘burning in’ as heat is needed for the creation of an encaustic artwork. The 4th century BCE painter Pausias is sometimes attributed as the inventor of this medium but it is more likely that he perfected it.
Also known as hot wax painting, it is a process where heated beeswax and damar resin, blended with coloured pigments, is applied to a prepared surface, usually wood, though canvas, plaster, and other surfaces are sometimes used.
The wax is kept molten, while heated metal tools and special brushes are used to shape the medium as it cools. It is a difficult technique to master due to the constant cooling and heating of the wax.
As it malleable it can sculpted, textured, left matt or polished to a high gloss, textured or even reheated and reworked. Other materials can also be layered, encased or collaged within the medium.
Tempera
The earliest reliably recorded use of tempera is on the Egyptian Fayum mummy portraits from the early 1st century CE. Tempera preceded oil paints but still remained the choice of medium for many artists well into the Renaissance.
This medium is a quick-drying substance consisting of powdered pigments blended together with a water-soluble binder, usually a tacky material such as egg yolk (egg tempera), casein or a variety of plant gums, together with a little bit of water. Once prepared it cannot be kept.
Tempera paint dries quickly, requiring great precision, as it is applied in thin, semi-opaque layers with numerous small brush strokes in a cross-hatching technique. It then dries to a smooth matte finish. Unlike oil paints, which can be applied in thick layers, temperas thin layers hold a lower pigment load and thus can’t reach the deep colour saturation that oils can.
It is more durable than oil paint however, which yellows and darkens, becoming more transparent with age, while tempera colours do not diminish with advancing years.
Tempera was the medium of choice in Europe for centuries until oil paint superseded it early in the 15th century.
Oil Painting
Discovered as recently as 2008, the earliest recorded use of oil in painting can be found in cave-like rooms carved from the cliffs of Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley. Dating from around the middle of the 7th century CE, these Buddhist murals were created using walnut and poppy seed oils.
By the 12th century oil based paints had begun to make an appearance in Europe but was then only used for basic decoration. It wasn’t until the early 15th century that it began to be used as an artistic medium.
It was found, around that time, by adding zinc and lead pigments to the oil paint sped up drying time. This made the use of the medium in cooler, wetter environments, such the Netherlands and Italy, more feasible.
The earliest, and still the most used oil, or carrier, is linseed. Other oils used were walnut, sunflower, poppy seed, hemp, soybean, and safflower oils. Nowadays heat is normally used for the extraction process, which results in an oil with fewer impurities, though many artists still prefer the more traditional cold-pressed method.
After extraction, additives are sometimes used to modify the oils chemical properties. Modern oil paints can have complex chemical structures, which can provide resistance to UV light, for example.
The oil is then combined with the pigment on a marble or glass slab. Bit by bit, a small amount is ground between the slab and a glass muller. Pigment and oil are ground together carefully until a smooth, ultra-fine paste is achieved.
The colour of oil paint is derived from tiny particles that are suspended in the carrier. These pigment particles come from a variety of sources such as zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and the red to yellow cadmium pigments. Or the naturally occurring earth pigments such as umber, ochre and sienna, while another group comes from living organisms like madder root.
When oil paint was first introduced to Europe there was a limited colour palette available to the early adopters of this medium. As the world progressed so too the did the availability of colours.
Pigments such as chromium oxide green, cobalt blue, barium yellow, zinc yellow, cadmium yellow, chrome yellow, cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, zinc white, viridian, and cobalt violet only became available to the artist in the 19th century.
Oil paint enabled artists to attain richer, more lustrous colours, as well as better natural textures and details than ever before. It still remains the most versatile painting medium of all time.
Acrylic Painting
Unlike oils, acrylic paint is a water-based, fast-drying type of paint made of pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion. It is water-soluble, but once dry, becomes water-resistant.
First developed by German chemical company BASF in 1934, acrylic emulsions gained in popularity for home painting in the 1940s. By the 1960s it had become widely adopted by artists due to its versatile and quick-drying nature.
Acrylics can have the appearance of watercolours, of oil paints, or a unique appearance unto themselves, depending on how they are applied. Which allowed artists a high degree of flexibility and exploration.
Pigments can be organic, inorganic, natural or synthetic, milled into a minute particle size to remain suspended in the emulsion. They have little affinity to the surface to which they are applied.
Once pigment is added to the ‘binder’ (acrylic polymer) a ‘vehicle’ is then added such as water. This allows the paint to then be added to the artist’s chosen surface. The paint then dries as the water evaporates, or is absorbed, leaving behind a stable, clear polymer film full of trapped coloured pigment particles.
Acrylics were favoured by pop artists such as Andy Warhol (1928-1987) and Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) of the 1960s and 1970s who learnt to exploit their unique capabilities.
Watercolours
Sometimes referred as the most difficult medium to master because it is so hard to undo mistakes. Unlike opaque mediums such as acrylic or oil, one cannot paint over, or hide, errors due to watercolours transparent nature.
Though it dates back to the ancient history of many cultures, and has been used for manuscript illustration since at least Egyptian times, it only began to appear with distinct prominence in the European Middle Ages.
Its continuous history as an art medium begins during the Renaissance with artists like Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), who is traditionally considered the first master of watercolours.
However, despite this it was often only then used for preliminary sketches in preparation for finished works in oil or engravings. Rembrandt (1606-1669), Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), and Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) were all early adopters of watercolours, notably to tint and shade their drawings and woodcuts.
Unlike the other other mediums mentioned above, the development of the type of surface that it was applied to, namely paper, played an important role in its development. While China had been producing paper since ancient times and the Arabs had learned its secrets by the eighth century, it wasn’t until the 11th century that it arrived in Europe.
However, it was considered considered an inferior product to parchment there and was mostly ignored. It wasn’t until later in the 12th century that it began to be manufactured in the Italian town of Fabriano. Since paper was a luxury item then, traditional Western watercolour painting was slow to evolve.
The increased availability of paper by the fourteenth century finally allowed for the expansion of this artistic medium. Despite this, high-quality paper was not produced in Britain until the late eighteenth century.
Much like the mediums mentioned above, modern watercolours are fine pigment particles added to a binder such as gum arabic, or synthetic glycol, to hold the pigment in suspension. Additives, such as glycerin, corn syrup and dextrin, as well dispersants and fungicide, can also be included.
Watercolour is a versatile medium, the difficulty, however, lies in learning how to anticipate and influence the behaviour of water, rather than trying to control or dominate it.
Gouache
Sometimes referred to as ‘opaque watercolour’ gouache is another medium that has a long history going all the way back to ancient Egypt.
The name is derived from the Italian guazzo, meaning mud, and was originally a term used to describe the early 16th century practice of applying oil paint over a tempera base. In 18th century France, the term gouache was often applied to opaque watermedia.
During the same time it was also often used for adding fine details to pastel paintings. In the nineteenth century gouache tends to be used in conjunction with gum arabic watercolours, as well as ink or pencil, mixing it with an opaque white pigment.
Later it became mass produced into the 20th century by combining it with a cheaper dextrin binder, and is often referred to by the name ‘poster paint’, used by school children the world over.
The use of gouache didn’t really come into being as an artistic medium until the Impressionists discovered its value in the 19th century, who popularised en plein air, or open-air painting.
Wanting to get out of the studio and do their painting outside, they required a paint that could convey bright, rich colour. Unlike oil paints that took a long time to dry and required more care, gouache was quick-drying and easy to use. By adding chalky white paint to their watercolours, they created a medium that could be used anywhere.
Gouache can be rewetted and reworked, unlike other paints. As it is water-soluble, a wet brush can go back to soften edges or lift colour, even after the paint dries. The pigments used are more coarsely ground than watercolours, which make it different in its matte finish, opaqueness and drying time.
Pastels
Originating in Northern Italy in the 16th century, pastels were produced from pure powdered pigments, mixed with gum arabic and animal glue as a binder.
They soon found approval with many of the iconic artists of the time, including Hans Holbein the Younger (c.1497-1543), even though initially being available only in red, white and black.
Later in mid 18th century Britain, a craze developed having ones likeness done in ‘crayon painting’, as pastel was known then, in the upper echelons of English society. Along with Francis Cotes (1726-70), who is regarded as the father of English pastels, Daniel Gardner (1750-1805) and John Russell (1745-1806), brought Britain to the forefront of pastel use.
Much like their meteoric rise in the 18th century, they had plunged in favour by the first quarter of the 19th century due to the vagaries of fashion. However in the late 1860s Edgar Degas (1834-1917) started to use it, transforming pastels from a sketching tool into a core artistic medium.
The exact composition and characteristics of an individual pastel stick depend on the type of pastel and the type, and amount, of binder used. Pastels come in a variety of types:
- soft pastels – the most commonly used, which have a higher portion of pigment to binder.
- hard pastels – higher proportion of binder to pigment.
- pan pastels – made with minimum binder.
- pastel pencils – pencils with pastel lead.
- water-soluble pastels – containing a water-soluble component, such as polyethylene glycol.
- oil pastels – mixed with oil and wax.
Crayon
The origins of crayons are slightly murky, with the notion of combining wax with pigments going back thousands of years. The French word crayon, originally meaning ‘chalk pencil’, dates to around the 16th century, and comes from the word craie (chalk) which in turn comes from the Latin word creta (Earth).
The earliest crayons were made from mixing charcoal with oil. Later, powdered pigments of various hues replaced the charcoal. It was then discovered that substituting wax for the oil in the mixture made the sticks sturdier and easier to handle.
Crayons, as we know them, began in Europe, sharing roots with pastels as an art medium. However it wasn’t until 1903 that a company called Binney & Smith, an American company, offered crayons for sale, under the trade name Crayola, that they really became embedded in our culture.
They aren’t just for children though as many famous artists have used them over the centuries such as Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Claude Monet (1840-1926), Camille Pissarro (1830-1903),and Paul Cézzane (1839-1906) to great effect.
Coloured Pencils
As can be seen from above coloured pencils share some history with crayons going right back to the ancient Greeks combining wax, oils and pigments as an art medium. However, one has to jump quite far forward into history to find what we know a coloured pencil to be, when in 1834, Staedtler, a German company invented a coloured oil pastel pencil.
However it wasn’t until the early 20th century that artist-quality coloured pencils were first produced from companies like Faber-Castell in 1908.
Essentially comprising of a narrow, pigmented core encased in a wooden cylindrical case they come in various versions depending on their make up:
- artist and professional grade – higher and better quality of pigments, durability and colour range.
- student grade – less expensive, smaller colour range and lower quality pigments.
- watercolour pencils – can either be used dry or in conjunction with water allowing more versatility.
- oil based pencil – pigment with an oil binder.
- pastel pencils – similar to hard pastels, and can be used dry, wet or blended.
Graphite Pencil
The pencil as we know it today was invented by Nicholas-Jacques Conte in 1795, a scientist serving in the army of Napoleon Bonaparte. However, like most mediums it has a much earlier history going back to the Romans and their use of the stylus, a thin metal stick used for scratching on wax tablets or papyrus.
The name pencil comes from Old French pincel, from Latin penicillus meaning ‘little tail’ and originally referred to a small ink brush that was used in the Middle Ages for writing.
While often referred to as lead pencils they have never contained the toxic substance, but instead consist of a form of carbon called graphite (from Greek graphein meaning to write). After the discovery of a large deposit of graphite in 1564 in Cumbria, England, its usefulness for mark-making was quickly realised, however it was erroneously thought of as lead and named plumbago.
It wasn’t until the late 18th century that graphites true chemical make up was determined, however by that time the name ‘lead pencil’ was in popular use.
Graphite pencils are made of a combination of graphite and clay with the more clay the harder the pencil. There is a large tonal range available from light grey to black giving artists many options.
Most makers of pencils grade them with the letters H (hardness) and B (blackness), as well as F (fineness). However there is no common standard and two similarly graded pencils but from two different manufacturers will not have an identical tone or hardness.
The graphite pencil has been a mainstay of the art world with artists like Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Michelangelo (1475-1564), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Rembrandt (1606-1669) who all used the pencils for their sketches to contemporary artists like Paul Cadden (1964-) and Dirk Dzimirsky (1969-) who create hyper-realistic drawings.
Charcoal
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, charcoal goes right back to our pre-history, first appearing in cave paintings dating back to at least 28,000 years. These were probably created using charred sticks from a fire though, and not intentionally made charcoal.
During the Renaissance it was commonly used for preparatory drawings, but it wasn’t until the late 15th century that methods of fixing charcoal drawings to its surface, using a gum bath fixative to prevent the charcoal from flaking away, that it came into functional use.
Artist’s charcoal, as we know it today, is made from either compressed charcoal, held together by a wax or gum binder, or charcoal sticks, which are wooden sticks burned in a kiln.
While charcoal can be applied to a variety of surfaces, its weak structure means it can easily be smudged or flake away, thus artists today use a spray on fixative as a preserving agent.
Artists such as William Kentridge (1955-), Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) and Henry Moore (1898-1986) have all used charcoal to great effect.
Chalk
Also dating back to our Stone Age ancestors, red, black, and white chalk are naturally occurring minerals that are mined from the earth, needing no complicated tools or special preparation.
Like charcoal and graphite, it was a medium favoured for making quick preliminary sketches, but increased in use during the Renaissance as a medium for finished drawings.
It is a medium, due to its cohesiveness, that renders both line and tone very effectively depending on its hardness.
The base component of chalk is calcium carbonate (a form of limestone), or dehydrated calcium sulphate (gypsum). Pigments are then blended in after which some water is added to create a paste and is extruded through a die. They are then cut and paced in an oven where the chalk cures for up to four days at a medium heat. Once cured they are then cut again to the required length.
Many, if not most, Old Masters used chalk for either their finished drawings or sketches, while many artists adopted the medium for street art or sidewalk art. Originating from the I Madonnari, who were travelling artists in 16th century Italy that came into the cities to work on the huge cathedrals there.
Often when the work was done they would recreate their art on the pavements outside, which would normally be of the Madonna, hence the name.
I Madonnariwere folk artists, that for centuries had been reproducing simple images with chalk until World War II disrupted their traditions. Street painting was rejuvenated in 1972 by the formation of a festival in Grazie di Curttone in Italy and is now a recognised world-wide performance art.
Ink
Ancient cultures had been using ink to to keep records, create manuscripts and document the world around them for thousands of years. However in China, sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries, ink was first developed as an advanced artistic medium where illustrations, using brushes fashioned from animal hair and feathers, were created.
During the Renaissance new tools, like metal point and wooden styluses, were used to create fine media with ink, as opposed to the broader line of chalk and charcoal.
At this time, in Italy, the most common ink was made from iron gall. One of its main ingredients, gall nuts, were rich in resin and tannic acid. After being soaked in water or wine, it was strained, and then mixed with iron sulphates and gum arabic, resulting in a black ink perfect for drawing. Iron gall ink fades over time, however, so that most Renaissance drawings now have warm brown tones but would have been much blacker originally.
At the time ink was generally applied to paper with a quill, and as such with the need to constantly dip the quill, it remained unsuitable for large scale drawings. Instead, it was used for quick sketches to small, detailed drawings. Sometimes diluted ink was used, with a brush, to shade a drawing.
From Leonardo de Vinci, and later into the 18th and 19th centuries, ink was used with great precision by draughtsmen and artists, especially as the vehicle to deliver the ink became more sophisticated such as reservoir pens and fibre tipped markers were developed.
Often termed as pen and ink as a medium, nowadays modern inks contain dyes or pigments, mixed with a binder such as water-soluble resin, animal-hide glue, shellac, or acrylic.
Mixed Media
As the name would suggest this is used to describe an artwork that is made up of a combination of materials, and as such is more a term than an actual medium.
While the term is relatively new, artists have been combining mediums for millennia. Leonardo DaVinci mixed pastels with ink while Edgar Degas combined pastels and charcoal.
From the early 20th century its use became more widespread as artists developed more open and explora attitudes to the media of art.
As one can see the origins, and applications, of these mediums is vast with much overlapping histories. Essentially art can be made from anything, from engine oil to blood, from smoke to dung, however the above mentioned mediums are the principal ones that are found in paintings and drawings.
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