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Zinc white -- a coming catastrophe.
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Message
Posted
Hello! I'm new.
According to the following article, zinc white leads to catastrophic deterioration, whether or not it is mixed with other colours or other variants of white.
This is a big problem, because pure titanium white is not a good substitute for zinc white, which has attractive qualities.
I suppose Picasso and Matisse used lead white(?), which explains why their artworks have not deteriorated much (they both used white extensively.)
Read the article here: Zinc white oil paint
Comments?
Mats Winther
Posted
I'll read it later, but for the moment - Zinc White is a disaster in underpainting, and should never be used for that purpose. It has been used in upper layers for a very long time now, without disaster ensuing. I use it very sparingly, because it's a phenomenally slow drier, and it's brittle when dry.
I prefer to use a lead white in oil, although obtaining it is very difficult these days, and it tends to be extremely expensive (although it's economical in use). Titanium has a good pedigree, and is useful for most purposes - and the paint manufacturers have produced a range of mixes in recent years which are designed to capture the working qualities of lead white with the advantages of Titanium; eg, Gamblin has a Flake White Replacement; Winsor and Newton offer a Flake White Hue. These are interesting, and useful, and worth a try.
I'll come back when I've read the article to which you've linked.
Posted
I have ideas of how to mitigate the problem. It seems that it is mostly UV radiation plus humidity that causes it to become brittle, etc. So I suppose that UV varnish will help. Moreover, one could cover the backside of the canvas with acrylic paint to protect against moisture.
I see it as completely unrealistic, as they say in the article, that artists should abandon whites that contain zinc. Although titanium white is a very good pigment, it cannot replace zinc, for us who use much white.
I wonder whether artists use UV varnish at all. /Mats
Posted
I've read most of it now, and am familiar with the Natural Pigments website.
As said above, I very rarely use Zinc White, and never in underpainting. The snag is that many companies, including Winsor and Newton, and (I think) Daler-Rowney, have used it in Titanium White mixes in order to approximate to the feel on the brush of Flake White - ie, the real, lead chromate pigment - and there are reasons to be concerned about this; particularly when painting on stretched canvas.
My recommendation, if you're concerned about longevity, is only to buy Titanium White which is pure Titanium Dioxide, with no Zinc added; and - though not everyone will wish to do this - a lead white, which for me will generally be Cremnitz. Look at the label of your Titanium White and avoid those paints containing Zinc.
This still leaves you with the problem that Zinc White has desirable properties both on its own and mixed with Titanium Dioxide - but I've by and large done without it up to now, and I think, having absorbed this article, I'll carry on doing without it.
I say this even though I suspect that some of the problems referred to have a lot to do with the method of applying the paint, the surface on which it's applied, the layer of the paint, and so on. I've always been very cautious about using it in anything other than the top layer, but I might not have thought of having a care with the mixed whites before now - I have one painting here, on wood, in which I know I used Winsor and Newton's Flake White Hue, which contains Zinc; it's a few years old, and there are no signs of any problem with it; nor do I anticipate any, be it said.
It would be interesting to have Martin Kinnear's take on this - he won't like the lead white involvement, but he and I can cheerfully differ on that - not least because he uses Gamblin oil paints and could tell us if their Flake White Replacement contains Zinc, and what he thinks about that if it does. Gamblins also have a website which contains a lot of information on their paints, and I understand that Mr Gamblin himself is prepared to discuss all sorts of technical issues if approached.
Finally, if you do look at the linked article, the charts there are a bit out of date, at least so far as paint availability in Europe is concerned; eg, one refers to Old Holland Cremnitz White, which is no longer offered for sale in Europe (more's the pity). Not much use saying you offer the real ole original paint if, in fact - you don't. We've managed to save the Cadmiums, but the lead whites are an endangered species - so far as I'm concerned, I offer a daily prayer of thanks to Michael Harding, and Rublev paints from the USA, for continuing to offer this high quality product (and yes, it's toxic: but then so is household bleach - no one's suggesting you swill it down with your cornflakes; and so far, it's hardly killed me at all).
Posted
Agreed, it's a very interesting site. The one thing I did notice though was the the brand is owned by Colart - which also owns Winsor and Newton, and Lukas. Maybe this isn't a problem for so long as they retain these paints' unique characteristics, but monopolies have a nasty tendency to standardize, and I hope they don't. I should hate to see Michael Harding disappear into the corporate maw, for example - it would probably be very profitable for him, but a disaster if there were any cutting back of the extensive development work he's put into his brand, and the loss of paints that were difficult to produce and not so profitable to market.
Eg, genuine Flake and Cremnitz whites have disappeared from the W & N range, as has real Naples Yellow. No problem if you don't use them, but a big one for those who want to experiment with their paint and push the boundaries of their medium.
Mind you - I'm the worrying kind; I do admit that: and many a great painting has been produced without once troubling either lead or, for that matter, zinc white.
Posted
Indeed, but I think that people tend to use the term amateur to denote their inferior technical ability. As a besides, I have been haunted by my dreams to take up oil painting. I dream about discovering wonderful paintings, and paintings are being delivered in my letter box, etc. I find in a dream that my clothes have been stained by oil paint. So my unconscious thinks of me as an artist, although in my conscious personality I am quite intellectual.
I found that Holbein has introduced a white pigment made of strontium, called Ceramic White. They claim that it has very fine properties. (But "strontium" sounds scary. When it is radioactive it is extremely dangerous.) They also have a lead white and a mixed white of calcium carbonate(!) and titanium. Calcium carbonate was used by the ancient Egyptians. It is fine for fresco paintings, but doesn't work well with oil. It is interesting that they have found a way to use it in a medium of poppy oil and alkyd resin.
Holbein
I think this white pigment problem is very important, after all. Of course, it makes no difference to art historians if my paintings fall apart after a couple of decades, but it matters to me. Creative people usually want their products to last. When one sees what is happening to William Blake's paintings, then one is struck by sadness.
Zinc white is very attractive, but perhaps I should try one of Holbein's new variants instead. By the way, I wonder what pigment Mondrian used. He was obsessed with white. /Mats
-------------------------
Addendum: I found this review at Utrecht Art Supplies, concerning Ceramic White:
"excellent, good lead white substitute"
Reviewed on 7/13/2015
As reviewed by Julie
Experience: PROFESSIONAL
This white makes beautiful pale mixes without any of the chalkiness associated with titanium white. Pricey but definitely worth considering, especially as a lead white substitute.
Edited
by 9230114
Posted
Returning to the issue of zinc white, I noted that the variant I use (Beckers "A") has soybean oil as medium. It seems to be the only zinc white that uses this medium. The above article only accounts for variants with safflower, linseed, and poppyseed oil, etc. Soybean oil functions as natural UV protection. If smeared on the skin, it has a UV protection factor of 10 (i.e. one can be 10 times longer out in the sun).
Arguably, soybean oil as medium has a protective effect on zinc pigment, since UV radiation is the main culprit behind deterioration. It is surprising that several brands use linseed oil as medium in whites. It means that a winter landscape painting will soon turn yellow. Some variants turn almost orange. See the following tests, by two different authors. Note that whites with "modified soya bean oil" (Beckers) have not been tested.
The White Test...5 Years in the Making
The White Test--After 8 Years...
Mats Winther
Edited
by 9230114
Posted
I have decided that this issue is not yet sufficiently researched. We don't know the long-term effect of soybean oil on zinc oxide. It might be much better than the others. Moreover, since brittleness and flaking is the problem, I suggest that Liquin should be used as medium for zinc colours. Unlike linseed oil, it retains its flexibility.
The combination of soybean oil and Liquin could well be the solution. If I want a lighter red but not a pink variant I must use zinc white. If I want a lighter blue but not baby blue, then I need to use zinc. Moreover, zinc white has attractive properties also when unmixed, because thick layers are very bright, whereas thin layers are somewhat transparent. This creates variegation. So I'm going to continue using zinc white.
Edward Hopper stopped using zinc white, and continued using only lead white, after it was found that areas of this painting ("Nighthawks") had turned brittle. But he didn't use Beckers "A" zinc white and he did not have recourse to Liquin. (Beckers white is probably only available over the counter in Sweden, but at least one retailer ships abroad.)
M. Winther
Edited
by 9230114
Posted
I assume Nighthawks was painted on stretched canvas - this will exacerbate any weakness in the paint film, because there are strains in the fabric according to atmospheric conditions; they may only be tiny, and to some extent they can be managed by the environment in which the painting is hung, but then they only NEED to be tiny if the paint is susceptible to cracking, peeling, or crazing.
I take all the points you make, and of course you're quite right that if you mix Titanium White with red, you'll get a pink, not a pale red. I've also thought again, and concluded that I never use Zinc White in layers under other paint, or on unpainted canvas or board. So I will continue to employ it with great caution in upper layers only.
I think the bigger problem, which you raised and I hadn't previously considered, is the use of Zinc in some Titanium White brands - I'm not at all sure how happy a marriage that is; I have read (wish I could remember where) a theory that the Titanium, the stronger pigment, will strengthen the Zinc, the weaker, in the mix. But I don't quite see why that wouldn't be the case the other way round, ie the weaker damaging the stronger; the proportions may be key here, but I think you're probably right that the research has not been done. Nonetheless - paint companies employ chemists: I wonder if I could persuade Winsor and Newton's technical team - which has a high reputation, or certainly had and I hope still has - to visit us with an opinion.... I'll have a bash, over the weekend.
Edited
by Robert Jones