Strata of Mischtechnik Variations

This week furthers your understanding of the benefits of considering the foundation of the painting. If you have a cartoon, much can be achieved by considering choice-space at the level of the imprimatura. Much depends on whether you are making a ‘Venetian mischtechik’ painting or a ‘Doerner-Fuchs mischtechnik’ painting. The diagram below helps explain the obscure difference:

A Venetian mischtechnik painting uses primarily Earth Pigments – it is a ‘symphony of browns’. A Doerner-Fuchs mischtechnik uses a very high chroma (highly colored) underpainting to exploit opalescence that arises out of the mixing of primary colors.

Factors that Contrast the Traditional From the Modern

The main innovation to have occured between the traditional and the modern is the development of cheap, easily procured pigments of a luminosity unknown before the 20th century. Before the 20th century, lead white was the only white – now we have titanium white, a much more brilliant white. Before the 20th century, the only incredibly powerful red possessed was vermillion, produced by a lengthy and dangerous alchemical operation from mercury sulphide – now we have cadmium red, produced in abundance primarily to color plastics and cars. The only deep sky blue before the 20th century was made from ground up Lapis mineral – now we have ultramarine blue. Along with many colorful metals such as cobalt teal, and transparent dyes such as quinacridone magenta. The modern mischtechnik avails itself of this cheap abundance of brilliant color and transparency. The pre-modern worked with what was more available – meaning most of the work was achieved with earth pigments such as umbers, ochres and siennas.

An Example of Opalescence in Doerner/Fuchs Mischtechnik

The ability to use brilliant translucent glazes is fully exploited in Doerner/Fuchs technique to produce an effect refered to as Opalescence.

This physical mineral opal sculpture is a good example of why Doerner-Fuchs mischtechnik is called opalescence – the shimmering coincidence of indeterminate colors occuping the same space. This is caused by the splitting of light into its various prismatic wavelengths (i.e ‘colors’). The glazing in a Fuchian mischtechnik painting achieves the same ends by ‘splitting light’ via glazing, to be reflected at various depths of the painting by the reflective white highlights. Light is absorbed, diffused and bounced back out of different layers of the painting. The sequence of red, yellow, blue – traditional ‘primaries’, create optical color mixes of the ‘secondary’ colors, orange, violet and green, ideally.

Comparing Outcomes to a more traditional ‘Venetian Mischtechnik’

Since Venetian Mischtechnik evolved in a situation where different materials and different sensibilities were dominant, this more traditional technique does not set out to produce prismatic optical color mixing, and works more with semi-neutrals. The general outcome is more ‘sfumato’ and ‘chiaroscuro’ (more atmospheric and more sculptural respectively) than the ‘cangiante’ (colorful) outcome of the modern mischtechnik variant, the paintings are more ‘quiet’ on the eye and natural. Brilliant colors are used in localised instances for specific effect.

Examples of this technique are plentiful, from the early mischtechnik works of Mantega and Giorgionne to the later works of Gustave Morea and the Slav Epic paintings of Mucha.

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The decisions of which technique to pursue happen early on. Of course, the choice presented is something you can interplay between to make the technique your own. Many options for the color and texture of the imprimatura exist.