Before you read

Discuss these questions:

1) What is meant by “craft of painting”?

2) How do you understand the term “art of painting”?

Vocabulary:

· interrelated and overlapping - взаимосвязанный

· consideration – анализ, суждение

· ravage – разрушительное действие

· obtain – получать, обретать

· transparent - прозрачный

· sag - подтекать

· drip - капать

· оpaque - непрозрачный

· coating – слой, грунт

· crisp – четкий, решительный

· blend – смешивать, переход оттенков

· easel - мольберт

· denote - означать

· awkward - неудобный

· treat - обрабатывать

· layer - слой

· skill - мастерство

· verify - проверять

The craft of painting is a study apart from the art of painting; yet the two closely interrelated and overlapping. The artist cannot entirely divorce the artistic or aesthetic aspects of his work from his studies of materials and methods by treting the subject on a completely scientific or mechanical basis. Nor can he ignore all technical considerations in his efforts to establish a personal technique for the expression of his aims.

It is not enough for a paint to be permanent – resisting the revages od aging and the effects of sunlight and atmospheric conditions – but, in order to be an acceptable material for artists’ use, it must also be capable of being manipulated; that is, it must be under control of the artist at all times so that the effect he seeks can be obtained without troublesome procedures. For example, for some styles of painting a paint must be capable or being brushed out thinly and smoothly to a transparent layer that will not sag, drip, or run; for others it must be applied in a thicker, more opaque coating. Again, some paints are required to produce crisp, clean brushstokes; with others a softer, blended effect is required. Also, the color of paint must be clean, clear, true to its type, and there are several requirments it must meet in order that the painter may control color effects.

We can point easel painting as an example. This term means a bit more than just a picture that has been painted on an artust’s easel. It denotes the kind of painting that is meant to be hung on wall, usually in a picture frame, as distinguished from a mural painting, which is either painted directly on the wall or pasted to the wall. Easel painting is also distinguished from works of by commercial artists, illustrators, and designers, which are exclusively done for reproduction in or translation to other materials (for example, printer’s ink). Such work need not follow the rules for permanent painting, since the original is seldom valued as a unique work of art, and if it must be preserved for future reference, is kept away from light in a portfolio or file. By inference, the easel painting has been done in accordance with the rules for permanent painting.

These requirements have not always been in effect. For instance, thvery early European easel painters used materials rhat seem to us awkward and difficult to command. They paid considerable attention to the use of permanent materials, but they overcome difficulties in these matters by developing a very high degree of skill rather than by improving the working qualities of their materials. The modern painter has the advantage of improved materials and methods, which have been developed and standardized through the ages and verified by scientific controls, combined with the opportunity to study the basic underlying principles of the craft.

The choice of a technique that will be most appropriate to the subject at hand involves several considerations besides purely technical ones. But the final choice is largely influenced by technical considerations, and the artist who has a broad general knowledge of all painting methods – regardless of which one is his specialty – has a great advantage. He is thereby able to modify and alter his technique to suit his personal requirements by taking what he needs from other technical methods of painting; he is also able to vary his technique to suit the different types of painting he may want to do from time to time.