Art Terms in Action: Enamel
The narrator places abstract expressionist painters in the 'early 20th century'; the movement was mid-20th century. No question tests this.
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Enamel paints are household or automotive paints that artists from Picasso onward have used. 'Enamel' describes the properties of a paint rather than its type: there are alkyd, acrylic and latex enamels. Enamel paint is fluid (low viscosity), has high covering power, is self-levelling and usually dries hard and often glossy.
You'll be able to
- explain that 'enamel' describes paint properties, not one type of paint.
- list the main properties of enamel paint.
- give examples of different kinds of enamel paint.
Key words
- enamel paint
- Fluid household or automotive paint with high covering power that dries hard and often glossy.
- viscosity
- How thick or runny a fluid is.
- covering power
- How well one coat of paint hides what is underneath.
- self-levelling
- Paint that flows flat on its own so brush strokes disappear.
Transcript
Male: Enamel paints are essentially household paints or automotive paints, and they've been used by artists for a long time as early as well, Pablo Picasso. In the early 20th century many abstract expressionist painters used it, but enamel is a tricky term because it doesn't really tell you what type of paint you're talking about, but rather the properties of that paint.
There is alkyd enamel paints. There is acrylic enamel paint. There are latex enamel paints. It just means that actually the paint is quite fluid and you can see that it has a very low viscosity as I'm pouring it from the can here. It also means that the paint has a high covering power.
So, that for consumers at home painting walls one coat should do the trick so you shouldn't see brush strokes and things like that on your wall. It also means that the paint is self leveling, very, very flat. Usually dries to a hard, often glossy finish.
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