Leonardo

Paintings on Cotton or Linen Absorbent CanvasAuthor(s): SoshanaSource: Leonardo, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Summer, 1971), pp. 271-272Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1572305 .

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Leonardo, Vol. 4, pp. 271-272. Pergamon Press 1971. Printed in Great Britain

PAINTINGS ON COTTON OR LINEN ABSORBENT CANVAS

Soshana*

I am an expressionist painter. I began with figurative subject matter but later turned to non-figurative or abstract subjects. My trip to China in 1957 left a lasting influence on my work. In China, many artists still apply to rice paper traditional ink and water-colours made from minerals. I was struck by the fact that sometimes more than one artist makes a painting-the first may be expert in painting birds, the second trees and the third flowers. I was taught the traditional Chinese painting technique on rice paper by an artist in Hangchow. When I returned to Paris I tried applying oils with a palette knife on canvas in a similar way and I continue to use this technique.

When I met Pinot Gallizio in 1959, we decided to make a series of paintings by working together on the same canvas. We prepared the ground of a canvas with the yolk of eggs mixed with Vinavil, a latex of vinyl resin produced by the Montecatini Company of Milan, Italy. Since the Vinavil dries to a colourless film, we gave it colour by adding powdered pigments. We prepared some raw linen canvases with a mat white acrylic paint called Valnyl, produced by the Valentine Co. in France, and, after the surface was dry, applied the Vinavil. Edouard Adam, an expert on paints, assisted us in the choice of plastic products [1]. On other canvases, we simply applied bleached linseed oil and oil paint with a rag. To some I added paint with a palette knife. The final step was to throw turpen- tine on the prepared canvas. The accidental effects

Fig. 1. 'Atomic Explosion', oil on absorbent German linen canvas, 89 x 146 cm, 1965. (Photo: Y. Hervochon,

Paris.)

*Austrian artist living at 9 rue de la Grande Chaumiere, 75-Paris 6, France. (Received 1 October 1970.)

Fig. 2. 'Hunger', oil on absorbent German linen canvas, 81 x 130 cm, 1966. (Photo: Studio Y. Hervochon,

Paris.)

produced [2] were interesting, although a number of viewers did not find them to their liking.

The various techniques and media we tried changed my way of working to the one I now use. I especially take advantage of the texture provided by different kinds of canvas, for example, that made of absorbent Mexican cotton or that of very absorb- ent German linen produced by the Schminke Company of Disseldorf. I cover a primed canvas with linseed oil, apply oil paints with a palette knife and then throw turpentine on the surface to obtain

Fig. 3. 'Mermaid', oil on absorbent German linen canvas, 73 x 92 cm, 1969. (Photo: Y. Hervochon, Paris.)

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Soshana

accidental effects. As Leonardo da Vinci pointed out, one can find recognizable images on such a surface. Since I have been strongly influenced by Surrealism, the images I see and develop, with the help of a palette knife, consist mainly of animals, faces and figures in the midst of fantasy landscapes.

I like great expanses of the ocean and of the desert, which are echoed in the backgrounds of my paint- ings. According to Vedanta philosophy, the material world we see does not really exist. Only conscious- ness exists; thoughts and matter are products of it. We see only illusions. I realize that this view conflicts with most contemporary philosophies and

I am aware of the comment that if a monkey leaped for a tree branch that existed only in its conscious- ness and not in reality, it would come to a crashing end. Nevertheless, Vedanta philosophy appeals to me emotionally and I try to express its ideas in my paintings.

Examples of paintings made with the technique I have described above are shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 [3]. The strokes of paint applied with a palette knife and the effects produced by throwing turpen- tine on the painted canvas are clearly evident in these paintings. The two figures in Fig. 2 and the face in Fig. 3 were also done with a palette knife.

REFERENCES

1. E. Adam, Les materiaux plastiques a la disposition des peintres et des sculptures, Leonardo 3, 169 (1970).

2. J. F. O'Brien, Design by Accident (New York: Dover Publications, 1968). 3. Exhibition catalogue (Vienna: Seiler-Statte Gallery, 1970). 4. G. R. Delbart, L'artiste ne peut pas echapper a la nature, Leonardo 3, 39 (1970).

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