CategoriesMedium and Techniques
Impasto
Paint applied so thickly that it stands up from the surface in ridges and peaks, keeping the marks of brush, knife or fingers.
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About
Impasto is paint laid on so thickly that it stands up from the surface, keeping the marks of brush, knife or fingers. Its ridges catch real light and cast tiny shadows, so the surface changes as the viewer moves.
Old Masters kept shadows thin and built highlights thick, so a lit cheek or glint of metal projects forward. J. M. W. Turner loaded sunlight onto his canvases, and Gustave Courbet spread rock faces and snow with a palette knife in the 1860s. After 1945 whole surfaces became relief. Frank Auerbach scraped back and repainted heads until the paint lay deep; Eugène Leroy let figures emerge from a crust of colour; Pierre Soulages dragged and grooved black paint so that reflected light, not hue, makes the image. Bram Bogart and Zhu Jinshi have pushed paint towards sculpture. Thick paint dries slowly, so look for wrinkled skins and fine cracks.
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