WHENEVER YOU SEE a photo of a painter's studio, notice one thing: the large number of cans holding a great number of brushes. It illustrates not only a painter's joy in collecting these tools of the trade, but also the many choices to be made—which brush to use for which kind of painting?
In the age of classical painting, up through the 1800s, it was seen as a demerit if the painter showed the brush strokes in the work. It was to look polished, that is, "with finish." The modern art revolt put this conceit in its cross hairs. The new vogue was to show brushwork.
Indeed, over time, art experts said they could determine whether a disputed painting was real, or a forgery, by discerning the artist's "hand." That is, the brushstrokes.
The mere painted sketch, known since the early 1800s, has now moved to the forefront of modern painting, inasmuch as the "painterly" quality of the brush must show through. In this arena, both viewer and painter have a stake. The first enjoys seeing the hand-work of the painter, the second must decide which brush to use for the desired effect.
The choices are myriad, but can be listed shortly. The brush can be of stiff bristles, such as hog’s hair, or it can be soft, as in sable. Stiff can move volumes of paint, the soft endows subtle effects or glazes. Then there is shape, by name: flats (squarish), rounds (with a muted point), chiseled (with an angled edge), filberts (with a curved edge), and liner (for painting lines).
It can be surprising how these are used. I once watched a portrait demo, and one artist used a round to get every effect, even the edges of geometric shapes. This was surprising, since rounds are perhaps most famous for use by watercolorists because of the amount of water they hold (and the sharper wet tip for linear work).
Typically, the filbert is used by most portrait painters, since their subject is not geometrical, but round and often soft-edged. Landscape painters mostly use flats, it seems. One prominent painter told of how he once used filberts, but how they leave an annoying fingerprint—an oval edge—so he turned to flats.
Another successful painter I have watched uses the chisel-shaped brush. It provide the square edge effect of a flat, but can also be turned to get into corners or to draw lines with its tip.
All of the choices have a history and are promoted by one school of painting or another. Famously, the avant-garde artist Marcel Duchamp, after trying out cubism, besmirching what connoisseurs called "the hand" of a painter, as seen in the brush technique. He went anti-hand by assembling his art works.
Less cynically, other modernist painters eschewed the brush. Most notable was Jackson Pollack, who did "drip paintings," or "aerial paintings," as one wag said, applying poured paint from above the canvas. Others would also begin to pour paint on the canvas, then tip and turn it to create abstract formations.
One brush style that gained currency arguably was begun with Cezanne. Experts now call Cezanne’s use of multiple short brush strokes "passages." During my stay at an art college, I once asked a senior painting student if the school had a painting style. She said, "It's a kind of chunky application of paint, like Cezanne." That took flat brushes.
Another woman painter, after giving a demo in the "Annapolis Impressionist" style of painting, was asked which kind of brush she used. "Whatever is in my hands," she said. That made sense since that Impressionist style emphasized large "spots" of color, which being amorphous spots, can be put down by any sort of brush.
For the indecisive brush-user, books on "how to paint" often include guidance on carrying out a brush stroke for effects, such as foliage or clouds. It gets down to positioning the arm and flicking the wrist in certain ways, all of which require motor skill and practice.
Some brushes carry the name of their usage. The long thin brush for painting lines—their length lets them hold lots of media—have been called "riggers." They were used in maritime painting to limn masts and rigging. Today they are called liners. In a long chiseled form, they are called "daggers," looking like long knife blades with sharp points.
One of the more difficult choices of painters today is to go hard or soft in their bristles. It still seems ideal to paint portraits with a hog bristle filbert, whether on slick linen or tooth canvas. A recent trend is to use a badger hair brush—now produced synthetically to save the badger—to create a soft and fuzzy edges. To get a sharp edge, you must load down this brush with a good deal of medium and, in effect, lay it on the surface (given the softness of the brush hair). Glazing has always required a soft brush. Fortunately, synthetic version of all the classic natural hair brushes are now produced as able substitutes.
Looking at all those cans of brushes, artists probably face the first important decision of a painting, and it’s not easy. Which brush to use? Stay with the tried and true, or try a different one this time? The astute painter probably has a systematic logic in these choices, and in time, will be use every kind of brush in the quiver. Most, however, stick with the same. All those other brushes in cans are simply the painter’s desire to be surrounded by pageantry.
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