OCCASIONAL PIGMENTS FOUND IN RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE WORKS

• Lead Iodide / Iodine Yellow • Phthalocyanine Pigments • Titanium White

• LEAD IODIDE / IODINE YELLOW – PbI2

Swatch of dry powder pigment

K.. Malevich, detail Musical Instrument, 1913 th

The yellow pigment, lead iodide, is only rarely found in paintings by Kazimir Malevich. Lead iodide, PbI2, is an early 19 century pigment and as “iodure de plomb” its first mention seems to be in the 1830, De la peinture à l’huile (On Oil Painting) by J.-F.-L. Mérimée:

Subsequently it was included in the pigment manual, Chromotography, by George Field, published in London in 1835 where it reads:

Lead iodide has been found in works by other avant-garde painters in Russia and one of the reasons may be that it is cheap pigment, being easy to produce. Because it does not retain its full colour and because it is a lead-based pigment – therefore toxic – it was taken off the commercial market perhaps around 1950.

• PHTHALOCYANINE PIGMENTS from Kurt Wehlte, The Materials and Techniques of Painting, 1967; English translation 1975. New edition by Kremer Pigments. Monastral Blue – The discovery in 1927 of complex pyridin compounds paved the way for experiments with phthalimide, one of the dyestuff intermediates, and certain metal salts. This resulted in the production of phthalocyanine dyes by Linstead in 1928. The first products were still unreliable, and a grade of monastral blue used by the author in 1932 showed surprisingly serious defects in lime [for fresco painting]. The pigment was only accepted very gradually by artists’ colour manufacturers, but it has since proven reliable. Commercial artists especially welcome a pigment representing a colour analogous to the printers’ standard cyan. Attempts to replace Prussian blue completely with monastral blue have failed so far because of the predominantly cooler shades of the latter. However, some manufacturers are working intensively on phthalocyanine production processes, so we may expect further advances in this field. (p. 154) Monastral Green – a modern pigment in existence only since 1927. (p. 136)

• TITANIAN WHITE – TiO2,

Titanium White – 1890s / 1914 / 1920 / 1921 The complete article will be published in JOURNAL OF INCORM, but the introduction and the conclusions are presented here. They are complemented by two documents – an advertisement about titanium white commercialised in 1914, and a Russian text about titanium white and trials for an artist’s pigment dating from 1912 to its commercialisation in 1920.

The question of when the pigment, titanium dioxide white, TiO2, appeared as an artists’ pigment has been fraught with confusion over recent years. This has been due to a variety of factors and the most prominent ones include: 1 • a lack of clear distinction between the pigment made for industry and as an artists’ grade pigment; 2 • a lack of distinction between mineral titanium white pigments and synthetic titanium white pigments; th 3 • a lack of early 20 century works in which the pigment has been identified. This article is but an introduction to a subject that suffers above all from the very few known examples of art from the th early 20 century that contain titanium white. This can begin to be discovered only now that highly sophisticated scientific instruments make possible the detection of the pigment in its particular form as either mineral or synthetic types. Here, “mineral” refers to titanium dioxide, usually in its rutile form, that has been ground and roasted,i being an “artificial” pigment according to the traditional classification of a raw material that has been treated with “artifice” or “skill”; “synthetic” means that the raw material has undergone processing and “synthesis” with chemicals in the laboratory to produce the pigment. The fact that titanium pigments underwent many phases of development – first coloured, then white – beginning in th the early 19 century, raises the question of how to date a work of art. For knowing the identity of the exact form of the pigment makes it possible to date works with some reliability. The dates in the title, above, indicate significant moments in the development of the pigment. The first – 1890s – would be its little-documented use as a ground mineral pigment, usually rutile, sold by makers of artists’ colours; the second – 1914 – the beginning of its sale as a synthetic industrial pigment in powder form;ii the third – 1920 – a date as an artists’ grade pigment in powder form; iii and finally – 1921 – a documented date when it was marketed as a packaged tube oil colour for artists.iv Missing in this sequence are dates for the inclusion of titanium white in artists’ colour charts as a dry powder or as watercolour cakes. Early experiments with titanium powders are known to have begun by the 1830s producing deep green to black pigments,v while by the 1890s whiter powders were obtained although they were slightly tinted, from pale yellow or pink.vi Thus the dates given here may be superseded as research in the archives of artists’ pigment makers from

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the late 19 to the early 20 century progresses. In the mean time, these dates may serve as a guideline until more information comes to light. Each of the three factors set out above will be addressed in turn, opening with a brief introduction to what titanium dioxide white is. ••••••••••

Drawing Some Conclusions At a time when there is so much uncertainty surrounding the proper methods for authenticating works of art – not only of the Russian Avant-Garde but more generally, as the series, Fake or Fortune?, broadcast on Channel 1 by the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, has demonstrated – the case of titanium dioxide white pigment presents particular problems due to the lack of clarity about its historicity. Based on the factual information set out in this article, it becomes th th clear that, being a pigment that underwent so many stages in its development over the 19 and early 20 centuries, it is necessary to establish a chronology of the various forms in which it could appear in works of art, but this has to be undertaken in a collaboration between art historians and scientists. It also necessitates the cooperation of the major th European colour makers from the 19 century and their experiments with titanium white for various artistic media. Based essentially on the particular kind of titanium white – artificial or synthetic, anatase or rutile – a few conclusions can thus be proposed. 1 • Originating in mineral powder form, titanium anatase, rutile or mixed could be found in watercolours and other media from the 1890s, with experiments as an artists’ pigment dating from around 1870. 2 • Due to experimental batches made up by scientists and producers of titanium white in both the USA and Norway, synthetic variants of anatase titanium white could possibly be found in works of art as of 1908. 3 • Having been commercially produced by Titanox in 1914 and “experimental” batches sold commercially by Titan Co. in 1914, industrial synthetic anatase titanium white could plausibly be found in works of art from 1914. 4 • Trials for an artists’ grade synthetic anatase titanium white in powder form date from 1912 and was on the market in 1920 in Europe and probably in Russia. 5 • A tube oil-based synthetic anatase titanium white was marketed by Frederick Weber in Philadelphia in 1921 and by Winsor and Newton in 1922, therefore these grades could be found in works of art from those dates. 6 • Given that in 1923 Wilhelm Ostwald remarks that titanium white has “recently been manufactured” would imply that in 1922 at least, if not earlier, the pigment was available in Germany as an artists’ grade pigment. 7 • Based on the examples of Suprematist paintings by Kazimir Malevich and Ivan Kliun, synthetic anatase titanium white may have been used in Russia from around 1927. It could have been available before that but this is subject to research. This is not to claim that the pigment would not be found in works before that time because artists such as El Lissitzky were travelling between Russia and Germany from 1922 (or 1921) and could have brought German pigments back to Russia and to their friends. Indeed, as he lived in Germany in the early-mid 1920s, Lissitzky may have used titanium white himself from that time but this is something that has yet to be investigated. 8 • Finally, works containing synthetic rutile titanium white would date from 1939 at the earliest and more convincingly of the late 1940s and 1950s onwards. Therefore synthetic rutile titanium white would not be found in Russian Avant-Garde works of the 1910s and 1920s because it did not exist. The pigment, titanium white, is like a chameleon, appearing at different times in different aspects. To catch its time one must catch its aspect, which only the scientist can do. This may be particular to a pigment that has such a short history as a synthetic, man-made product, and a slightly longer but little documented history as a mineral pigment. So there is no single start-date for titanium white as a modern pigment. It can conceivably be found in works of art from the 1890s, but the question that must always be asked is, “Which titanium white?”.

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Marilyn Laver, “Titanium Dioxide Whites” in, Artists’ Pigments A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Volume 3, Elisabeth West FitzHugh, Editor. Washington, D. C.: National Gallery of Art, distributed by Oxford University Press, 1997, 296. ii Paul Craddock, Scientific Investigation of Copies, Fakes and Forgeries, London: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2009, Table 12.1, pp. 298-9. iii D. I. Kiplik, Techniques of Painting / Tekhnika zhivopisi (1928), Moscow, 2000, 69. iv Permalba by Frederick Weber, Philadelphia. Website of Martin F. Weber. v Laver, loc. cit. [1], 296. vi Joseph Barnes, “The Use of Titanium Compounds as Mordants and Pigments”, The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, London, 31 January 1899, 15-16.

D. I. Kiplik, Techniques of Painting Leningrad, 1928, Moscow 2000 TITANIUM WHITE The first attempt to use titanium white mixtures in painting goes back to 1870. Since 1912, experiments were carried out in Norway with a number of titanium whites and in 1920 they appeared on the market. The chemical composition is TO2 but those which are sold commercially are not pure TO2 because they contain only from between 15%-65% with the addition of zinc and barium whites. The qualities of whites are as follows – the specific gravity is 4.3, whose covering power is almost as great as lead white. Not poisonous. It is not sensitive to sulphur gases, in art they dry slowly. One of its disadvantages is the tendency to yellow with oil so it is better to make a weaker strength in the oil layer, and also use not a very strong mixture with cobalt, cadmium, and madder. Recognition. This TO2 is dissoluble in concentrated sulphuric acid. The solution under the influence of peroxide of oxygen acquires an intensive yellow colour. If a solution of yellow is neutralised you get a solid substance of yellow colour which is T03. ––––––––––––––––– Posted November 2014