Chapter 2: Materials, Techniques and Processes

Learning Outcomes

This chapter in Thinking About Art allows you to:

define the concepts of materials, techniques and processes in relation to painting, sculpture and architecture
outline the qualities of various materials
describe the many different ways in which artists and architects have used the properties of their chosen mediums to help them determine the appearance and interpretation of painting, sculpture and architecture
analyse the ways in which artists have overcome the apparent limitations of different media
compare and contrast different works of art and architecture of similar or different types which have been made using different materials, techniques and processes.

Thinking About

This chapter introduces you to the various materials, techniques and processes used by artists and architects. The book allows you to compare and contrast art and architecture in various materials spanning more than five centuries, although examples may be drawn from the entire book, and beyond, from the time of Classical Antiquity. The term material is used interchangeably with medium to describe the physical elements used by artists and architects in the creation of works of art and architecture.

Techniques and processes describe the various methods used in the creative process. In painting, knowledge that oil can be applied thickly in impasto or thinly in glazes affects our understanding of the artwork. Brushwork may be fine and disguised, thickly applied with a palette knife or stencilled.

In sculpture, it is important to know the differences between carving and modelling, and about the subtractive/reductive processes (removal of stone and wood) in direct carving, the additive process (modelling in a soft medium such as clay), and casting (lost-wax process), assemblage, and the lack of process involved in readymadesand found objects.

In architecture, we should be able to recognise whether a building has been erected brick by brick or largely prefabricated off site and moved to the location where they are assembled.

Painting

Painters have used a variety of painting materials through the ages, such as natural and, later, chemical pigment in fresco, egg tempera, watercolour and oil. More contemporary materials include acrylics, household emulsions and ‘mixed media’ – a range of different materials all in one work.

Painting is typically paint applied to a flat surface and comprises pigment mixed with a binder, to hold the particles of the pigment together, and a thinner (or vehicle), to render the substance liquid so that it can flow from thebrush. The type of paint used, or its combinations with other materials, hasa tremendous effect on the look of a painting and on our interpretation ofit.

The range of coloured pigments available during earlier centuries (beforethe advent of the chemical industry and when only natural materials wereused) was limited and so the colour palette and relatively muted tones of fourteenth-century paintings are in stark contrast to the extensive colour rangeand vibrant tones of the early twentieth century.

Every material has its owncharacteristics, but the effects of a material such as paint can vary, dependingon the artist’s choice of technique and even the size and type of brush theyuse.

Exploring materials, techniques and processes of painting further

Evelyn Welch’s Art in Renaissance Italy 1350–1500 (Oxford University Press, 2000) provides an entire chapter on the materials and methods used by artists during the Renaissance period.

A detailed research paper by Rachel Billinge and Lorne Campbell provides evidence which allows us to question some of the symbolism art historians have held as central to the meaning of The Arnolfini Portrait for hundreds of years, and provides fascinating images which document the artist’s many alterations as he worked. See R. Billinge and L. Campbell,‘The Infra-Red Reflectograms of Jan van Eyck's Portrait of Giovanni(?) Arnolfini and his Wife Giovanna Cenami(?)’ (National Gallery Technical Bulletin, No. 16, pp.47–60).
For more information on Van Eyck’s materials, techniques and process visit the webpage ‘Van Eyck’s Handling of Oil Paint’ on the National Gallery website.
In relation to the use of oil paint, the webpage ‘Monet Impressionism, Impressionistic Painting Techniques and How to Paint Like Monet’ provides a detailed discussion of Impressionist artist Monet’s colour palette and range of painting techniques.
Visit the webpage ‘25 Oil Painting Techniques You Should Master’.
For further information about the crimes of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, visit the relevant webpage from the BBC’s On This Day series: ‘1966: Moors Murderers Jailed for Life’ and click on the ‘play video’ button.
For more information about acrylics see the Liquitex website.

Ask yourself what kind of brushstrokes the Impressionists used, and why. Why did the Impressionists juxtapose colours rather than blend them? What was the effect of applying wet paint onto wet paint (a technique known as wet-on-wet, or alla prima, or au premier coup, or simply direct painting)?As a critical-thinking exercise consider how early twentieth-century artist Gwen John’s Nude Girl, 1909–1910, compares and contrasts with Jenny Saville’s Branded, 1992: both chose oil on canvas, and both employ a limited colour palette and build up their paint surfaces to achieve a certain effect.

Watch Girl with a Pearl Earring, 2004, starring Scarlett JohanssonandColin Firth, for an insight into Dutch seventeenth-century materials, techniques and processes.
Watch Pollock, 2002, starring Ed HarrisandMarcia Gay Harden, for an insight into Jackson Pollock’s iconic ‘drip’ paintings of mid-twentieth-century America.

Sculpture

Sculptors have traditionally used materials such as wood, marble and bronze, but contemporary artists also use ‘non-art’ materials, such as cardboard, plastic and everyday household items.

Marble and bronze are the traditional materials of the sculptor within the Western canon, and the entire Renaissance was based upon the perceived elegance and purity of the figures and buildings of Antiquity. It is ironic therefore that the classical white marbles of ancient Greece upon which the Renaissance based its style were, in fact, originally painted in many colours, and only became white as their ancient paint flaked and peeled away over time.

Marble has been used for centuries and continues to impart connotations of nobility, purity and status to its subject. Sculptural techniques tend to be either subtractive (taking stone, wood or plaster away) or additive (building up a soft material, often prior to casting in bronze). The subtractive technique (sometimes referred to as the reductive technique) involves the direct or indirect carving of a block of stone, marble or wood.

Exploring the materials, techniques and processes of sculpture further

Watch Simon Schama’sThe Power of Art, 2006, for an in-depth discussion of Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and other artists too.
Watch ‘The Sacred Made Real’, 2009, by Xavier Bray.

View a video on the Victoria and Albert Museum website for a fuller understanding of the materials, techniques and processes involved in the lost-wax process.
The V&A also has a video on bronze casting.
A further video that explains how to make a bronze sculpture is ‘How to Make Bronze Sculptures: Lost Wax Bronze Casting’ by the AP Gallery.
See the BBC’s archivefor a comprehensive guide to the materials, techniques and processes of Elisabeth Frink’s bronze-casting process.
Visit the National Gallery website for a general introduction to sculptures, and follow the link to the ‘exhibition guide’ for a more technical brief on the creative process.
Visit ‘Ron Mueck: The Making of Pregnant Woman 2002’ on the National Gallery of Australia website for details relating to Mueck’s modern sculpture-making techniques.
Go to YouTube and search for ‘Ron Mueck, Big Man, 2000’. The clips provided allow you to gain a sense of Big Man’s scale in the gallery space and indicates his tremendous level of engagement with the viewing public. Mueck’s technical mastery of his materials in Big Man’s face and the rendition of flesh and variant skin texture and tone provide unprecedented levels of verisimilitude.
For a comprehensive guide though the process of making a silicone mould, view the ‘Neil Winn Project’ on YouTube.

The bed features in art history more than you may think. Compare Tracey Emin’sMy Bed, 1998, with the use of beds in the works of Eugène Delacroix, Edvard Munch and Robert Rauschenberg.

Architecture

In architecture, the form of a building is often dictated by an architect’s choice of materials, such as stone, brick, concrete, cast or wrought iron, reinforced concrete, steel, glass and aluminium. Various materials have been used to clad buildings such as glass, cedar shingles (thin wooden tiles which overlap) and titanium.

The materials, techniques and processes used in architecture often have a significant relationship with the building’s form, style and function. It is therefore important to recognise the materials and methods used to construct a building if we want to be able to analyse it.

Exploring the materials, techniques and processes of architecture further

Visit Victorian Web and navigate your way through a series of articles on William Morris (in the ‘Decorative arts and design: ceramics, furniture, jewelry, textiles, metalwork’ section) and Philip Webb (in the ‘Architecture’ section). Some of Webb’s original architectural drawings can be found here too.
Further websites related to Philip Webb, William Morris and Red House include the National Trust’s page on Red House and the website of the William Morris Society.
Visit the Lloyd’s Bank website and navigate to information relating to Lloyd’s history, architecture and extensive copyright-free image bank. Also view the BBC television series entitled How We Built Britain, 2007, which features Lloyd’s as an example of ‘high-tech’ city architecture.

Exam Practice Based on Chapter 2

1Comment on how the use of different materials affects the appearance of two sculptures of your choice.

2Analyse and evaluate the visual characteristics of different media used in two paintings of your choice.

3Examine the way materials and structural methods affect the appearance of two buildings.

4Compare and contrast the appearance of two paintings that each use a different medium.