art materials
Arts media is the material and tools used by an artist, composer or designer to create a work of art, for example, "pen and ink" where the pen is the tool and the ink is the material. Here is a list of types of art and the media used within tho ...
, focusing exclusively on the development, manufacture and distribution of
acrylic paint
Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry. Depe ...
s. Founded by Henry Levison as "Permanent Pigments" in 1955, the company created the first water-based acrylic
gesso
Gesso (; "chalk", from the la, gypsum, from el, γύψος) is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these. It is used in painting as a preparation for any number of substrates suc ...
. That same year, Levison decided to reorganize the company under the name "Liquitex". In 1956, the company starting selling water-based "Soft Body" acrylic paints. In 1963, "Heavy Body" paints were available with a thicker consistency. The company offers the largest number of acrylic paint products in the world.
History
Liquitex was developed by the Permanent Pigments Company, established in 1933 by Henry Levison. Permanent Pigments was a small, family-owned business located in Cincinnati that focused on developing oil paint.
In 1950, Henry Levison, along with other professionals in the art materials industry, established the National Art Materials Trade Association, now known as the
International Art Materials Trade Association
The International Art Materials Trade Association (NAMTA), also known as the National Art Materials Trade Association is an international nonprofit corporation based out of Huntersville, North Carolina. It is the largest organization in the world ...
. It was the first trade organization in the world that focused on promoting and sustaining the manufacture, distribution, sales, and training in the use of art materials.
In 1955, Levison developed a quick-drying, water-emulsified acrylic
polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...
resin
In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...
. In selecting a name for the new product, Levison chose "Liquitex" as a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words
In 1964,
Binney & Smith
Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing company specializing in list of art media, art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered in Forks To ...
acquired the Liquitex brand, eventually selling it in 2000 to its present owner,
Colart
Colart, or the Colart Group, is a large international supplier of art materials, with subsidiaries and brands such as Winsor & Newton, Liquitex and Lefranc & Bourgeois.
.
Products
Notable adopters of acrylics
Helen Frankenthaler
Helen Frankenthaler (December 12, 1928 – December 27, 2011) was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades (early 1950s u ...
and
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
were early adopters of Liquitex acrylic paints.
David Hockney
David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...
switched from oils to acrylics after Liquitex made a less liquid medium in 1963 (High Viscosity Artist Color).Ball, Philip. ''Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color'', Issue 7432, University Of Chicago Press; first edition, April 15, 2003.
Liquitex is used by mural artists like Thomas Hart Benton.
Abstract expressionist
Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
artist
Robert Motherwell
Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American Abstract Expressionism, abstract expressionist Painting, painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of th ...
switched to acrylic paints due to his use of large amounts of black, a color that (as oil paint) takes an especially long time to dry. He continued to use oil paint for some work, but mostly used acrylics after the mid-1960s.