"How paintings were made--in the most literal sense--is an important but largely unknown aspect of the story of American art. This book, like the authors' previous volume on American painting techniques from the colonial period to 1860, is based on descriptions of the materials and methods that painters used, as found in artists' notebooks, painting manuals, magazines, suppliers' catalogues, letters, diaries, books, and interviews. In interpreting this evidence, the authors have made use of their experience as conservators who have treated many important American paintings."--Book jacket.

A study of an important but anonymous part of the history of American art: the materials and techniques used by American painters. Based on research including artists' recipe books, letters, journals, and painting manuals, it includes topics such as the quest for the 'secrets' of the Old Masters; the application of 'toning' layers; and more.

Grab your paintbrush and discover all the fundamentals of successful painting. A comprehensive overview, The American Artist Guide to Painting Techniques shows you all the techniques you need to know to paint in watercolor, oil, acrylic and pastel. From clear instruction to new painting ideas, this a four-in-one foundation book for every artist interested in improving fundamental painting skills. First, you'll learn 45 painting techniques step-by-step through photographs and valuable tips. Each technique includes specific details for use in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastels. Next, you'll discover how to apply the techniques to subjects of particular difficulty, including landscapes, animals, portraits, still lifes, and more. Beginning painters will love the specifics on the unique properties of each painting skill, while intermediate painters will rely on the tips and reference materials to produce outstanding results. An easy-to-navigate resource manual, The American Artist Guide to Painting Techniques provides clear instruction, new painting ideas, and inspiration in encyclopedic detail for any artist picking up a brush.

Dissects and studies twenty-one classic Western paintings, and analyzes the lives and styles of the artists, including Remington, O'Keefe, and Catlin.

The Painted Sketch is the first volume to focus on the sketches of major American artists of the period. Eleanor Jones Harvey, author and consulting curator of American Art for the Dallas Museum of Art, follows the artists from field to studio, examining the changing perception and growing public appreciation for these small works. Her study is based on much new research as well as on her close analysis of existing resources.

Luminous works by Childe Hassam, Ernest Lawson, Maurice Prendergast, John Henry Twachtman, are among the 100 seminal works featured in this book showcasing 27 artists. As members of the first generation of American painters to absorb the technique, brighter palette, and subject matter of Impressionism from their French counterparts, these artists transformed the heroic American landscape into a modern idiom, in atmospheric park and beach scenes, urban views, and charming interiors, with particular interest in optical effects, light, and the seasons. This book provides a vivid summary of the movement, starting with its roots in earlier American art and its relationship to French Impressionism. It charts the response of many of these American artists to one of the most beloved movements in 19th century painting. All of the masterworks are here, in full color, from Hassam's sun-drenced gardens to Twachtman's snowy landscapes. It is a celebration of the Impressionist style and it's fresh interpretatiuon of America's landscapes

Describes the transformation in American art as a vast group of American artists settled in Paris to study with the great French painters, and continued through the twentieth century as French artists began to leave Paris for New York.

Color field painting, which emerged in the United States in the 1950s, is based on radiant, uninflected hues. Exemplified by the work of Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Larry Poons, and Frank Stella, among others, these stunningly beautiful and impressively scaled paintings constitute one of the crowning achievements of postwar American abstract art. Color as Field offers a long-overdue reevaluation of this important aspect of American abstract painting. The authors examine how color field painting rejects the gestural, layered, and hyper-emotional approach typical of Willem de Kooning and his followers, yet at the same time develops and expands ideas about all-overness and the primacy of color posited by the work of other members of the abstract expressionist generation, such as Adolph Gottlieb, Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. From the fresh historical standpoint of the 21st century, this fascinating reassessment ranges across the artists’ individual approaches and their commonalities, concluding with insights into the ongoing legacy of post-1970s color field painting among present-day artists.

Bridging the fields of conservation, art history, and museum curating, this volume contains the principal papers from an international symposium titled "Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice" at the University of Leiden in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from June 26 to 29, 1995. The symposium—designed for art historians, conservators, conservation scientists, and museum curators worldwide—was organized by the Department of Art History at the University of Leiden and the Art History Department of the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science in Amsterdam. Twenty-five contributors representing museums and conservation institutions throughout the world provide recent research on historical painting techniques, including wall painting and polychrome sculpture. Topics cover the latest art historical research and scientific analyses of original techniques and materials, as well as historical sources, such as medieval treatises and descriptions of painting techniques in historical literature. Chapters include the painting methods of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Dutch 17th-century landscape painting, wall paintings in English churches, Chinese paintings on paper and canvas, and Tibetan thangkas. Color plates and black-and-white photographs illustrate works from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.

A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, this memoir of one woman's later in life career change is “a smart, funny and compelling case for going after your heart's desires, no matter your age” (Essence). Following her retirement from Princeton University, celebrated historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school––in her sixties––to earn a BFA and MFA in painting. In Old in Art School, she travels from her beloved Newark to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; finds meaning in the artists she loves, even as she comes to understand how they may be undervalued; and struggles with the unstable balance between the pursuit of art and the inevitable, sometimes painful demands of a life fully lived. How are women and artists seen and judged by their age, looks, and race? What does it mean when someone says, “You will never be an artist”? Who defines what an artist is and all that goes with such an identity, and how are these ideas tied to our shared conceptions of beauty, value, and difference? Bringing to bear incisive insights from two careers, Painter weaves a frank, funny, and often surprising tale of her move from academia to art in this "glorious achievement––bighearted and critical, insightful and entertaining. This book is a cup of courage for everyone who wants to change their lives" (Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage).