New book on Picasso’s use of enamel paints
Picasso Express
Musee Picasso, Antibes, 2011. 166 pp.
Soft cover. In French with English translation.
Description: Pablo Picasso is renowned for pushing the boundaries of conventional art making and for his innovative experimentation with materials, including Ripolin, a line of matte and glossy enamel paints–“Ripolin Express” being one of those–manufactured by the eponymous French company. Ripolin paints gained enormous popularity in France and Europe starting from the beginning of the 20th century
and had a profound impact on artists.
This interdisciplinary book, integrating the voices of art historians, scientists and conservators offers an original, highly detailed and yet accessible vision on the different aspects of Picasso’s experience and practice in Antibes, shedding ultimate light on the legend that has grown around the artist’s use of Ripolin.
Produced by the Musee Picasso, Antibes (France) this book delves deeply into Picasso’s use of enamel paints, which has long been known in the literature and cited on gallery labels, but has rarely been scientifically demonstrated in individual works. With evidence from documentary sources as well as new, extensive scientific analysis of the works in the Antibes collection, created during the
artist’s prolific 1946 residence in the Chateau Grimaldi, this book for the first time presents a scientific study of Ripolin and how it can be distinguished among the paints chosen by artists in the first half of the 20th century. An in-depth art-historical overview of Picasso’s use of this unconventional medium before 1950 sets the stage for the discussion. The book also explores in detail the
surface of the paintings and illustrates the fascinating new creative solutions inspired by enamel paint in Antibes, providing the material vocabulary to articulate the evolution of the artist at this critical time of renewal. Extensive background information on the history of the Ripolin manufactory and the technology of its renowned products is also gathered here for the first time.
Authors: Jean-Louis Andral is Director, Musee Picasso, Antibes; Francesca Casadio, Gwenaelle Gautier and Kim Muir are members of the Department of Conservation of the Art Institute of Chicago; Marilyn McCully is an independent art historian; Michael Raeburn is an independent scholar; Daniele Giraudy is Curator Emerita and Former Director, Musee Picasso, Antibes; Benoit Dagron is an independent
conservator; Alain Colombini and Emilie Hubert are scientist and photographer, respectively, at the Centre Interregional de Conservation et Restauration du Patrimoine, Marseille.
Available online at http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?paratrk=&isbn=9782905315014
Gertrude Stein in “Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” says of Picasso
“It was in that year that he began to use ripolin paints instead of the usual colours used by painters. Just the other day he was talking a long time about the ripolin paints. They are, said he gravely, la santé des couleurs, that is they are the basis of
good health for paints. In those days he painted pictures and everything
with ripolin paints as he still does, and as so many of his followers
young and old do.
The year in question was 1914, and her book was published in 1933.