On page 36 of Gil Elvgren: The Complete Pin-Ups, Charles Martignette wrote of Elvgen's processes:
Gil Elvgren's ability to capture the spirit of American feminine beauty was unsurpassed. His pin-ups were pictures of real girls in real, everyday situations. Sometimes they were a bit exaggerated, but they always worked. Painting with thirty-two colors on his palette, he mostly used canvas measuring 30 X 24" (76 X 61 cm) placed on a large wooden easel. While painting, Elvgren usually sat in a chair on wheels, so he could move about and look at the work in progress from every angle. A mirror on the wall behind him enabled him to see the painting over his shoulder. During the years in Winnetka and for several years after they moved to Florida, young Drake prepared his father's painting materials each day.¹
I was very surprised to read that Elvgren employed such an extensive palette, and was curious to learn more about the colors he used. Unfortunately, Martignette, the author of the biography, passed away last year, and if he was aware of Elvgren's choices, I have no way of knowing. Instead I contacted Louis K. Meisel, co-author of Gil Elvgren: The Complete Pin-Ups, and owner of Louis K. Meisel Gallery in New York City, and asked him if he knew of the palette, or where I might obtain the information. Here is his response:
I am sorry, there is no way I could possibly know the answers to your questions, A Charles died last year. I would think any serious artists could either figure out what colors were used, Or more importantly invent their own palette to achieve the result they want.LKM
A sad blow to my curiosity, but I do hope that the information has been preserved for posterity somewhere. Of course, there are many routes to the right color mix, but I always enjoy knowing where the artist began, and possibly learning more about his or her individual perspectives on color. Elvgren's son, Drake, having helped his father in the studio, might possibly remember the long list. I'll just have to keep trying!
¹ Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel, Gil Elvgren: The Complete Pin-Ups, (Tashen Publishing, Los Angeles, 1999), p. 36.
6 comments:
I would be interested to know this also. I always find it interesting to know what materials artists used.
I would like to take a shot at guessing. My educated guess is that Gil Elvgren used a palette much the same as Andrew Loomis did.
In fact his book on illustration has a lot of very similar looking examples to work such as this.
Loomis basically used a full spectrum palette and he also used strings not unlike Reilly's.
If you extend a full spectrum palette you can get up there.
1-Cad Yellow lt.
2-Cad Yellow med.
3-Cad Yellow deep.
4-Cad Orange
5-Yellow Ocher
6-Cad Red lt.
7-Cad Red med.
8-Cad Red deep.
9-Alizarin
10-Cobalt Violet
11-Cerulean Blue
12-Manganese Blue
13-Ultramarine Blue
14-Prussian Blue
15-Viridian
16-Cobalt Green lt.
17-Cobalt Green drk.
18-Earth Green
19-Phthalo green
20-Raw Sienna
21-Burnt Sienna
22-Raw Umbra
23-Burnt Umbra
24-Ivory Black
I'm sure you can find more colors to add to the list.
Personally I think 32 is way to many, but I have read that Ted Seth Jacobs has a palette with 52 colors.
Hey Jeff! Happy New Year! I think your analogy to Loomis is a good one, especially since the two had a similar background. Other students of Mosby, however don't use strings and have open palettes, so it is quite possible Elvgren just used a lot of colors (his style doesn't seem to support that though). I can only hope he did use strings; I agree that 32 is too many, if not.
Despite being a Reilly student, Jacobs sure does use a lot of colors on his palette! So does Jacobs' student, Ryder, who started off with 23 on day one of the demo I watched, and by the end of the week had actually added colors rather than narrowing down. Of course, it works for Ryder, whose work is beautiful.
Hope you are well.
I would agree with Jeff with perhaps a few pigments common in that era and less so today. They woulod be Vermilion (Mercuric sulfide not cad, red in drag)and genuine Rose Madder.His oldest stuff might have included chrome yellow also.I imagine his white was Flake lead too at least through the 50's. He might have used cobalt litholeate as a dryer, its use was popular in the days before alkyds.Or he might well have used Taubes copal as a medium,it was very common.Those are all somewhat educated guesses and not based on any real information.
.....Stape
Hi,
I just bought the 'Gil Elvgrens - COmplete pin ups' yesterday. Wow that guy could paint! I can see the Andrew Loomis similarity as well! A shame in the A.L. books he never goes into much detail about paints/mediums etc. The purity of colour, economy of brushstrokes is absolutley amazing in both artist work! Not to mention the underlying drawing.
A shame you couldnt find more!
Post a Comment