Customer Reviews

The Materials of the Artist and Their Use in Painting: With Notes on the Techniques of the Old Masters, Revised Edition

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While most curriculums today in art schools will have the words conception underlined, there is a desparate need for the craft of painting to be taught. If you do not want to wait until craftsmanship comes back in style and are a painter, than you must have this book. If you are learning how to better understand the painters of yesterday; you must have this book. If you are curious as to how painters such as Vermeer etc could accomplish want they did, this book is for you. Though the language is sometimes formal the information is so fascinating and inclusive it makes for great and enjoyable reading; Painter or just admirer.

Max Doerner lectured art students with the most accurate information ever compiled up to 1932. About 1900 there was a big change in the manufacturing of color, Max was the artist's protector. "Art has abandoned the sound principles of craftsmanship and is therefore lacking in a dependable foundation". Max Doerner 1931

1916, THEORY, The last color-wheel (square) of college record was by Church-Ostwald. It has Yellow, Red, Sea Green and Ult. Blue at the corners. It made way for the new coal-tar colors, all pigments were replaced by there top-tone matching colors. Naples Yellow, Rubins favorite, and artists favorite for two thousand years, was replaced by a mixture of Zinc and Ocher. Pigments were moving from the Iron Age to the Oil Age. Church-Ostwald had no regard for transparency/opacity, or raw pigment content. Only the final dried color. This is the way todays pigment manufactures make colors. Clearly, the artists interests are not at heart.

1886, COLOR,

THE FIRST AND LAST PUBLIC STANDARD OF PIGMENT COLORS FOR ARTISTS As noted by Max Doerner.

A. W, Keim, German. "Deutche Gesellschatf zur Forderung rationeller Malverfahren", The German Society for the Promotion of Rational Methods in Painting. They set up control for the pigments in colors found best by the artists, to guarantee the color's characteristics and ingredients. These are the colors deemed necessary by the artists; 1.White Lead, 2. Zinc White, 3. Cadmium Yellow Light, Medium and Orange. (Cadmium Red wasn't discovered until 1909), 4. Indian Yellow, 5. Naples Yellow Light and Dark, 6. Yellow to Brown, Natural and Burnt Ochers and Sienna, 7. Red Ocher, 8. Iron Oxide colors, 9. Graphite, 10. Alizarin Crimson, Madder Lake, 11. Vermilion, 12. Umbers, 13. Cobalt Blue, Native and Synthetic, 14. Ultramarine Blue, Natural and Synthetic, 15. Paris-Prussian Blue, 16. Oxide of Chromium, Opaque and Transparent Veridian, 17. Green Earth, 18. Ivory Black, 19. Vine Black.

Today we still have no exceptable replacements for the Naples Yellows or Indian Yellow Transparents, Golden or Brown.

Turpentine is the best thinner for oil paints. I don't agree with Mayer's Handbook saying that petroleum distilled paint thinner works for fine artwork. Doerner explained in his 1934 book, The Materials of the Artist, how they are unnatural with paints that absorb oxygen while drying. Being refined from a nondrying petroleum oil, they only evaporate, without absorbing oxygen. Petroleum thinners are good only for cleaning brushes of the trade, not the expensive brushes we use as artists. Petroleum thinner will not dissolve the valuable damar varnish either, as turpentine does so well.

You can see now why this book was suppressed after the wars. It was not in the paint manufactures best interest to let this knowledge get back to the new emerging artists.

If you are a serious artist, I urge you to get this book, The Materials of the Artist by Doerner. Compare it to the Mayer's Artists Handbook and see how just information pertaining to new colors is mentioned and the rest of Max's historical work was usurped. Don Jusko

The language, as inaccurately mentioned in one of the previous reviews, is not that difficult at all. This is not a book for complete beginners, but definitely a must for anyone who considers himself serious as an artist. It provides a very detailed insight into the preparation of materials, the handling of paints and reveals numerous techniques, which were employed by the great masters (not only Renaissance and Baroque, but 18 and 19th century painters and some of the impressionists). There is a separate chapter dedicated entirely to the technique of the old masters. Though, the only drawback I find in this book is that it doesn't spend more time on any of the old masters in particular (it explains their technique quite superficially at times, and only touches the surface when it comes to some of them, so don't expect this book to be about the old masters' technique - it is about technique in general; "the proper way to paint" if you will, with numerous specific examples throughout on how different painters employed this or that method).
Overall it is a very good, informative and well-written book, I deeply recommend it!

As a novice painter (hobbyist) with great admiration for the works of the Great Masters, I purchased this as a textbook to help me understand the great works as well as to learn proper technique. Given my "real world" schedule, it would be impossible to get to a proper art class, so this was to be a compromise. It is full of fascinating historical details, but the language used is often so cumbersome it's difficult to follow unless one has either a great deal of concentration, some prior experience with the subject under discussion, or both. The lack of illustrations is also a barrier to using this as a primary textbook. Mayer's book ("The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques") is written in a much clearer style and covers more modern materials as well as those of the greats. In sum, this is a very good book to have in one's library, but if you are looking for a primary text, use Mayer's instead.

The reality is that I would have rated this book as a three had it not already been over rated. As an introduction into the techniques of old masters materials the book may serve as a means of basic knowledge. Admit tingly the book has other attributes but nothing so unique that there is a revealing of information that couldn't be found more complete and satisfied some where else.

Writing as a conservator I don't have the book right in front of me so I'll be general. First and foremost the book doesn't come close to rivaling Mayer's book. I say this because Mayer's book on materials and techniques is far more conclusive and also acknowledging different artists approach materials with certain attitudes. This is leading to my biggest complaint with Doerner's book.

Doerner approaches his subject much more subjectively and with out much flexibility. The real problem with this is that the author is suppose to be acting as a historian and instead lays down guild lines that he considers superior for contemporary artist. I discovered particular errors through out the book; an example is a pigment attributed to Rembrandts use that analysis hasn't found. Doerner also dismisses cotton canvass painting as a serious support while it has in fact been a popular support for four to five hundred years and has shown as much empathy and durability for good paint film as linen. In truth theses little fictions creep up here and there through out the whole book.

Mayer's book offers a much more accurate detail of the actual properties of materials and he isn't so subjective. Mayer's book also provides chemical information on pigments and the newest edition tells when each pigment was introduced. Mayer's book also quotes the regional and historical introduction of most other materials and is there for nearly as informative historically as Doerner's book; certainly much more accurate.

However Doerner's book offers its own perspective and a little bit more detail about materials from the perspective of the past. For this reason I have found some use to use the book as an occasional reference.

I recommend this book as part of any library reference and also as a perspective but not as a conclusive authority on the subject. For any one not familiar with Mayer's book on materials it is far more informative and accurate.

I would not use this book primarily as a reference. The organization is not useful for the beginning painter. However, experienced artists will enjoy reading the book, like one would a collection of biographies about old friends. In this case though, the old fiends are pigments, oils and various resins. As an artist I found this book to be more interesting to read than Mayer's book and also a great deal less preachy. The text appears to rely on Eastlake's history with respect to which artist's what used what media, etc. These kinds of references are dated and are not supported by contemporary research. Fortunately, Doerner presents an accurate account of each material and lists both advantages and problems with each.

Ralph Mayer's classic handbook of art materials has been revised in the fifth edition to include many modern pigments inclusing those of artistic value that come from other industries such as the automotive industry.
If you are looking for a comprehensive overview of the materials available to the artist, the Mayer manual is the ideal work.
Doerner's treatise, summed up from a series of lectures, is important as a historical work but is not as scientifically in-depth as Mayer's new edition for today's artist or conservationist. Indeed, many claims made by Doerner are not scientifically true just as in Goethe's Theory of Colors (another great book even when compared to the more scientifically accurate "Opticks" by Newton). The veracity of Doerner's approach is in question simply because many of the materials are now outdated, either for their toxicity or for the findings of the scientific community with respect to pigments (i.e. Minium, Vermilion, Naples Yellow, Whie Lead, etc. are now rare finds due to their toxicity). Although I am not necessarily a critic of Doerner, it is important to note that Doerner's importance lies in the realm of evaluative approaches with respect to the techniques of the old masters. If the work of the old masters interests you or if you are an artist, this English translation of Doerner is a worthy addition to your library.

For the Artist who knows what he or she is at and its certainly not for the hobbiest who would be lost with this book.This for me is a great book as it has enrichened me....information is always good.I am delighted to have it. a worthy addition in any collection.

Max Doerner (1870-1939) taught at Academy of Fine Arts in Munich for 25+ years, and in his day an major expert on painting techniques. This book has played a major role in art history and research since the first day it was published. Do note the book was first published in 1934, and then translated from German, hence the writing style can be somewhat turbid. Perseverance pays with there being more information in here than you can shake a stick at.

My comment about being careful is a result of recent studies of old master paintings. The old masters would typically have a team of apprentices working alongside them, mixing paint, painting parts of the painting that the master was probably too bored to bother with (as well as good training for the apprentice) etc. The Master/Apprentice setup allowed for a continuous stream of knowledge being passed along the generations. However as oil paint technology advanced, in particular the ability to buy premixed paints off the shelf, the painter no longer needed a team of apprentices. He could pretty much get by on his own. Hence there was no longer anyone for the painter to pass on his knowledge to. This resulted in a considerable amount of technical knowledge being lost. (A good example is the recent theory promulgated by David Hockney that the old masters were able to paint such realistic paintings as they used rudimentary projection techniques to place a guide image on the canvas, overwhich they painted. No one knows if he is right or wrong).

From the 1800's on, technical experts such as Doerner and Charles Eastlake ("Methods and Materials of Painting") began to impart their wisdom on how the old master paintings were created. But the techniques thay had available were very rudimentary, more often than not being a case of the expert trying to reproduce a certain style and looking at the painting surface close up. The experts proferred their theories and techniques, often with much aplomb leaving no room for doubt. Unfortunately they were often quite off the mark - they could emulate a style somewhat but never 100%. There are too many variables involved even for a discerning eye. It has only been with recent advances in scientific analysis, usually chemistry based, that a truer understanding of the old master technique is finally being determined. Van Wettering's excellent "Rembrandt - the painter at work" book details the findings of extensive research carried out on a number of paintings considered to have been painted by Rembrandt. The book is 340 pages, and they still haven't got all the answers. But what they have done is to throw in to doubt the theories and techniques of the 19th/20th C experts.

There is a welter of information in this book, but if you are trying to perfectly replicate a certain old master painterly technique, and failing to do so, then be warned the experts might not be such experts afterall.

All said and done, I do recommend this book for the wealth of information it contains. Along with oil painting it addresses pastels, tempera and mural techniques. Even if you do take the techniques in here as verbatim for an old master then there is all likelihood that you'll create a great painting.

I first came across this product in 1961 when I was exploring oil painting. It was one of the few books that gave any information about the techniques of the 'old masters' Most of the information in thsi book is unknown in art schools today and this makes it a particular valuable resource for anyone who is interested in painting like an 'old master'.