Alkyds in contemporary painting

Abstract

Alkyd resins and paints had been very represented in the ambit of modern painting during the last seventy years, mainly through alkyd enamels, alkyd oils and alkyd mediums. Paradoxically they are very little known materials, partly because the painting’s technical information that we’re given many times is short or inexact. So, with the objective of rectifying this ignorance, it has been made a representative selec-tion of twenty-two contemporary artists who work or have worked with these materials, trying to include the most technical and stylistic variety of painters. These artists have been separated into three different groups depending on their use of alkyd enamels, alkyd oils or mixed media. Then, through a combination of personal interviews and bibliographic information it has been explained which kind of alkyd products are used by each one, how they use them and, including representative works, the results they have achieved. At the end, this report encloses a summary of the main advantages and disadvantages that, in the selected artist’s opinion, this kind of paints can offer.