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A BRIEF HISTORY OF DECORATIVE PAINTING* Humans have always decorated the walls of their shelters. In pre-historic times, the first artists used just a few earth pigments bound with animal fat to paint the walls of their caves with scenes of hunting and daily life. In ancient Egypt, artists painted the walls of tombs and sarcophagi with a still limited palette of earth pigments using waxes and gums as binders; the ancient Greek palette also included primary colors, which they used to decorate their temples. The ancient Romans invented mural painting, mixing their earth and plant based pigments with water based binders to paint frescos featuring faux moldings, marbleizing and other forms of ornamentation. During the 19th century, decorative painting reached glorious heights, and again in the 1920's and 30's. Demand fostered the emergence and subsequent growth of art materials manufacturing. Advancements in paint chemistry produced new pigments and the introduction of synthetic resins and binders eventually lead to the widespread ease of use of premixed house paints and wallpapers. After World War II, the craft declined to its lowest point, a result of the rejection of academic standards of aesthetics and traditional painting techniques, in favor of innovative styles and techniques practices by such influential artists as Picasso and Matisse. Today, some form of decorative painting most commonly stenciling, glazing, marbling and mural painting can be found in virtually every home. The prevalence of faux finishing is due, in part, to the widespread accessibility of the right materials, reference books, and other sources and seminars. Decorative painting is a craft practiced by trained technicians; technicians with a disciplined commitment to methods and aesthetic sensibility. Today's decorative painter is an heir to a legacy that was once passed on from master to apprentice.
* An excerpt from Pierre Finkelstein's book THE ART of FAUX (Watkins-Guptill Publications 1997) |
