The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax (Paperback)

~ (Author) "When I interviewed Jasper Johns for Women's Wear Daily in 1986, he remarked rightly of encaustic, "It's an archaic medium, and few people use it..." (more)
Key Phrases: true encaustic, encaustic art, encaustic work, New York, Joanne Mattera, Rachel Friedberg (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

According to Roman historian Pliny the Elder, encaustic was used as early as the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. It is made by melting beeswax with a small amount of resin and then adding pigment while the mixture is still molten. The artist works quickly out of the pot, for the wax begins to harden as soon as it leaves the heat source. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Jasper Johns was virtually the sole practitioner of encaustic. Today, thousands of artists have caught on to this ancient, luminous medium, yet most art lovers are still unaware of it. Mattera provides a fascinating history of the art and several excellent technical chapters on waxes, pigments, papers, brushes, etc. Studio safety takes high priority since, unlike quiet media like watercolor, this one brings with it the possibility of studio fires and wax burns. Though no book can capture the mutable incandescence of encaustic, this one provides enough inspiration and solid technical advice to kindle the interest of any artist. For a good history of the medium in America, see Gail Stavitsky's Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America (Rutgers Univ., 2000).
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Encaustic is a waxed-based painting medium characterized by luminous color and a lush surface. It's an ancient art, dating as far back as Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, and today is enjoying a revival.

Here is the first comprehensive guide available on mastering this beautiful yet demanding medium. In The Art of Encaustic Painting, readers will learn surefire ways to achieve vibrant color and create surfaces that look as light as a wash or as densely textured as impasto. They will see how to produce effects from abstract to figurative to minimal. Finally, they will discover dozens of clear, step-by-step directions detailing how to use these various encaustic techniques in their own art.

This remarkable reference also includes 200 attractive full-color photographs of the author's own work, as well as stunning examples by such premier encaustic artists as Jasper Johns, Arthur Dove, and Nancy Graves.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill; illustrated edition edition (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823002837
• ISBN-13: 978-0823002832
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 9.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,678 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed information, great gallery, April 29, 2002

By	Angel Lee "Liocorno Amethyst Moonstone" (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I have long been fascinated by the technique of encaustic painting and this book fills a void in references on the subject. It contains a vast array of detailed information on everything from making your own paints to exhibiting your artwork.

The book starts out with a history of encaustic art. A gallery section then showcases four different portfolios of art including representation, color and pattern, dimension and modular work. Captions include artist, title, materials used, size and date introduced. Artwork is displayed in a variety of sizes. Some of my favorites are a beautiful face by Tony Scherman and the organic looking "Miasma Morph" by Sylvia Netzer, made of wax with pigment fired on ceramic.

The next sections focuses on encaustic materials. It starts out with details on the wax types. A reference chart of all the wax types, their source, composition, properties, melting point, flash point, color range and average price is here too. Information on heating equipment and well as melting and fusing the wax are next. Then pigments and making your own paints is covered. Selecting and caring for brushes is also here. There is even a great section on using materials safely.

Painting preparation and techniques follow. These include information on substrates and grounds with step-by-step instructions on how to make your own. Recipes of rabbit-skin glue and gesso, as well as tips on using them are explained as well. Then techniques and tips for textured, smooth, scraped and incised surfaces accompanied by example artwork are given. There are also details on collage, mixed media, creating artwork on paper and making large-scale pieces. I loved the helpful answers common questions such as what are good beeswax mixes, what wax is best for glazing, how does one get rid of bloom and what do if you get a wax burn?

In the back of the book there are very helpful resource sections including supply sources, galleries, a glossary and bibliography as well as photo credits and an index. This book is an indispensable reference for anyone wanting to learn about and create encaustic art.

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Art of Encaustic Painting, April 14, 2005

By	Joanne Mattera (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

All of the reviewers of my book, "The Art of Encaustic Painting," said quite positive things about it and most gave it five stars. Thank you, one and all. However for those two reviewers who described it as "cultish," I'd like you to know how I researched the book:
. I ran a classified ad for two months in Art News asking for "reproduction quality" images of strong encaustic painting.
. I searched the visual data base, maintained by a wax paint manufacturer, of the work of hundreds of artists who work in wax.
. I visited galleries in New York City and elsewhere for at least a decade, taking announcement cards and getting contact information.
. I found very little in the way of representational or figurative work. I did, of course, find some wonderful images, which I included in the book, but percentagewise, the number was small. And it was smaller still because some of the slides were not repro quality or the work did not have the boldness it needed to hold its own in print.
. On this last point--the boldness: By the time you see a work in print, it is many times removed from the original painting. Sublety gets lost, which is why I opted for bold, bright, luminous images.

Since the publication of "The Art of Encaustic Painting," I have found some wonderful figurative and representational painters. Or, should I say, they have found me. But to imply that I somehow selected images from limited group of artists when in fact I made a wide-ranging search, does a disservice to both the art and to me. The fact is that there ARE more artists working abstractly in encaustic that representationally.

If you work representationally or figuratively, I'd like to see your work. Send me a j-peg at [e-mail].

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The best book on encaustic painting but..., March 4, 2005

By	David "purelypygmalion" (Vermont) - See all my reviews

This is the best book on encaustic wax painting that I know of in print, but...
in my opinion, it leaves something to be desired. The reviewer's comments about a "select clique of fellow (abstact) artists" seems to me quite apt. Encaustic wax can be a beautiful medium in which to express, not only abstract, but realist, impressionist, and pretty much any other style of painting. It's an excellent medium in which to use traditional, natural hair bushes and techniques. Focusing almost entirely on abstract work done with all manner of spatulas, gouging tools, and clothes irons, is a disservice to the potential of wax. I also found some of the advice on supports to be rather questionable. I think, for instance, most museum conservators hold a rather dim view of using things like conventional plywould and the like as a painting supports. (I use a heavy, acid-free paper like Arches Cover or Stonehenge glued to well-sized Masonite with hide glue for studies; but I switch to 4 or 8 ply museum board glued to an 1/8 in. archival corrogated board which is in turn glued to a 1/4 archival corrogated board. Glue it up with rabbit-skin glue. In larger sizes cradle if neccesary. [yes, it's expensive. Are you a fine artist, or a hobbyist?]) Don't get sucked in by the list of exotic waxes and what not in this book though. A mixture of 1 part damar resin, 1 part carnuba wax, and 16 parts heat refined (NOT "bleached") bee's wax makes a good all around medium. This isn't a bad book; I just feel it's rather incomplete and somewhat misleading. Use it as a jumping off point as it is the best available, but temper it with likes of Ralph Mayer and the other classics on materials.