Liechtenstein Museum - The Princely Collections, Fürstengasse 1, A-1090 Vienna.
12 December 2008 - 14 April 2009, Friday to Tuesday 10 am - 5 pm.

On Gold Ground
Italian Painting between Gothic Tradition and the Dawn of the Renaissance

Summary: Gold-ground paintings, as they are referred to in art-historical circles, have featured in the Princely Collections since their inception. Now a temporary exhibition is being devoted to these early Italian paintings in their own right.
Around 50 works of art dating from between 1325 and 1520, including paintings by Bernardo Daddi, Lorenzo Monaco, Giovanni di Paolo, Sassetta, Bartolomeo Vivarini and Liberale da Verona, demonstrate both the development of Italian painting from the Gothic and early Renaissance as well as the rich variety of subjects from these epochs.

The Technique of Gold-Ground Painting
Il Libro dell’Arte (c. 1390/1400) by Cennino Cennini (c. 1360 - c. 1420), the first known handbook of early Italian painting, gives a detailed description of the techniques of gold-ground painting, the origins of which are to be sought in Byzantine art.
Wooden panels, often first covered with linen, were primed with several layers of gesso made from a mixture of finely ground chalk and size. The basic outlines of the composition were then sketched or incised on this ground. The quality of the gesso ground, which had to be sanded down between each application, was crucial for the surface texture and durability of the gilding. In some cases the artist created raised areas by applying the gesso more thickly in order to bring into relief certain pictorial elements such as haloes, flowers, framing elements or other ornamental features. Additional effects could be created by pressing decorations of paste or precious gems into these raised areas while still wet. Known as pastiglia, this technique can be traced far back into history. It is assumed that it spread to southern Europe from Byzantium, before experiencing a heyday in Italy during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
In the final stage of preparing the ground, a warm-toned bole (a finely ground orange, red or reddish-brown clay) mixed with size was applied in several thin layers. This had two purposes, firstly to saturate the gesso ground and secondly, as it was very soft, to form an ideal cushioned surface for the metal foil that was to be applied. At the same time, the bole in combination with dilute alcohol formed an adherent medium for the gold or silver leaf. The composition of this clay has not changed since the Middle Ages, and the technique of gold-ground painting has also been preserved to this day.
Parts of the painting were then wetted with dilute alcohol and the gold leaf - mostly cut into small squares - applied with a special "gilder’s tip". The gold leaf had to be beaten out from high-carat solid gold as thinly as possible (to hundreths of a millimetre) by specially trained gold-beaters. As described in Cennini’s handbook, after it had dried the gold surface could be burnished with agates, haematite or even precious gems such as rubies or emeralds in order to enhance the surface sheen and create the illusion of a layer of solid gold. In particular in the paintings of Giotto, Duccio or Orcagna, gold was sometimes substituted by or complemented with silver. However, unlike gold, the propensity of silver to tarnish today makes it appear black due to oxidation. The exhibition features an example of this in Niccolò di Tommaso’s Triptych, where the silver used to render the pattern of the brocade has tarnished with age.
In order to decorate the background, parts of the clothing or crowns, or to represent haloes and ornamental framing elements, the gold surfaces were punched with decorative patterns. These could be effected with simple punchmarks or elaborate motif punches, and today often provide clues to the identity of the artist’s studio or evidence for the dating of a work. Punching and tooling not only served to enrich the decoration of a painting but also reinforced the optical illusion of a solid gold ground, thus enhancing the precious quality of a work. The sculptural effect of relief work could also be heightened through the use of stamped rows of dots.
The tempera pigments used on the rest of the surface were very quick-drying and did not allow any blending or reworking. They were obtained from finely-ground natural pigments and dyes: earth pigments (ochre, green earth, etc.), minerals (lapis lazuli), vegetable pigments (a plant sap known as "dragon’s blood", saffron, etc.) or dried and pulverized insects. These pigments were then mixed with egg yolk and water. Flesh tones were commonly underpainted with green bole (verdaccio). If the pigment was applied over the gold ground, the artist could then employ the sgraffito technique, using a pointed birch or bone stylus to score fine lines in the pigment layer, thus producing special effects through exposing the underlying layer of gold.
It was not until the middle of the 15th century that oil began to be commonly added to the pigment mix for panel paintings, with egg-yolk eventually being completely replaced as the vehicle for the pigment. In a final stage, the painted areas were often given a thin coat of glair (egg white).
Additional information: A catalogue in German accompanying the temporary exhibition is available.
The comprehensive catalogue compiled by the Galerie G. Sarti is published in English and French and includes scholarly articles by Keith Christiansen, Luciano Bellosi, Andrea De Marchi, Machtelt Israëls and Frank Dabell.
Source: Information for the press provided by the museum, Vienna, December 2008.
More on the web: www.liechtenstein-museum.at (Ger./Eng.) (2009-03-18).

Tate Britain, Clore Gallery, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG, England.
2 May 2007 - 30 April 2012; daily, 10.00 - 17.40 (last admission 17.00); closed 24 - 26 December.

Colour & Line: Turner's Experiments

Profile: Works on paper by Turner, with experiments and interactive displays exploring his working methods and techniques.
Summary: Discover how Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 - 1851) revolutionised two different kinds of image-making: watercolour and print.
Learn more about printmaking and see the extraordinary care Turner took to produce the finest prints of his time. You can also experience the scientific experiments with colour which formed a vital background to his work.
See the changes in Turner’s watercolour palette as he travelled across Europe, responding to different light effects, and using newly-developed colours and paints. Find out how Turner worked, as well as trying some of his drawing techniques for yourself.
Additional information: Free Entry; the works on display change every 6 months.
Source: Information provided by the organizer.
More on the web: www.tate.org.uk/britain/ (Eng.) (2008-02-05).

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Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4BB, England.
29 May 2009 - 13 September 2009; May: Tuesday - Sunday 10.00 - 17.50; June - September: daily 10.00 - 17.50; and open until 21.00 on the last Thursday of every month; Admission: £8 (£6 concessions).

Colour Chart: Reinventing Colour, 1950 to Today

Profile: An alternative survey of mid to late twentieth-century art, emphasising the significance of colour.
Summary: This special exhibition looks at the shifting moment in twentieth-century art, when a group of artists began to perceive colour as 'readymade' rather than as scientific or expressive. Taking the commercial colour chart as its point of departure, the exhibition emphasises a radical transformation in the post-War Western art that is characterised by the departure from such notions as originality, uniqueness and authenticity.
Colour Chart celebrates a paradox: the beauty that occurs when contemporary artists assign colour decisions to chance, readymade source, or arbitrary system. Midway through the twentieth century, long-held convictions regarding the spiritual truth or scientific validity of particular colours gave way to an excitement about colour as a mass-produced and standardised commercial product. The Romantic quest for personal expression instead became Andy Warhol's "I want to be a machine"; the artistry of mixing pigments was eclipsed by Frank Stella's "straight out of the can; it can't get better than that."
Colour Chart is the first major exhibition devoted to this pivotal transformation and offers an alternative survey of mid to late twentieth-century art, emphasising the significance of colour as an indicator of shifting conceptions around art, commodity and creativity. It will also explore ideas of systems and structure, and offer a renewed perspective on the existing aesthetic debates on geometric abstraction, colour-field painting and pop art.
The exhibition has been created by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in collaboration with Tate Liverpool and includes major works by more than forty artists, including Ellsworth Kelly, Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, Frank Stella, Yves Klein, Richard Serra, John Baldessari, Dan Flavin, Damien Hirst, David Batchelor, Jim Lambie, Angela Bulloch and Cory Archangel.
Source: Information provided by the organizer.
More on the web: www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/ (Eng.) Future Exhibitions (2008-11-17).