Painting question...

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JbNormandog

JbNormandog

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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Apr 8, 2004
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NJ
Hi all,

A store next to me has a yearly art sale that sells mostly canvases. This works great for me because I get most of the framing.

Most of the art is on canvas. They seem to be really painted on but I noticed that most of them have never been stretched and only have thumbtack holes in the corners.

There is actual paint on the surface (not a silkscreened knockoff) but I was just wondering what is the overall impression of this kind of stuff.

She sells it for top dollar but I always thought most artists prefered to paint on a stretched canvas. It just made me wonder if they are starving artist type paitnings or not.

Either way my rent is paid and my customers are happy so I'm not trying to rock the boat! I just would like to broaden my knowledge on the subject a bit and didn't know if this might be common practice I am unaware of.

Thanks,

Bob
 
Bob, at the risk of being the next one to be tarred and feathered, I will say that many gallery owners will go on buying trips, my boss is out on one right now, and they purchase large quantities of originals from many more than one artist on their trips. My boss will bring back maybe 150 canvases from all of the artists and their agents that she has made appointments with prior to the trip. And, believe it or not, she may go through a 4' high pile of canvases to pick out what we can use in our gallery, much like those piles of Chinese art lying on the trade show floors. But there is a definite difference in the quality of the artwork and vibrance of color and depth of subject matter in a good quality oil than in much of the "curtain canvas" art coming out of the Far East.

It is much easier to transport this art rolled up than to try to haul back 150 stretched canvases. So, by frequent request, most of the artists nowadays paint on unstretched canvas and let the galleries do the stretching themselves. Frankly I have had to tear down quite a few that did come to us stretched because they weren't stretched properly or were stretched crooked or some other problem. An artist is an artist. And they usually don't excel in the framing aspects of their talents as framers don't usually possess a professional level of artistic ability with oil on canvas. That's not to say that there are many who still do paint on stretched canvas but the shipping on those is very high compared to a rolled canvas shipped in a heavy duty mailing tube. We usually try to pick up the artwork we buy at the time we buy it and save any shipping costs as she drives a large van on these trips and may pick up other needed items for the gallery on the same trip.
 
I would hazard a guess that the "painted on unstretched canvas" theory is correct. It sounds like they just thumbnail the canvas to a board to save time and money and paint on the unstretched canvas.

We used to buy European paintings from traveling salesmen who brought in unstretched paintings rolled (paint side out! ...always) in tubes. These were high quality paintings which wholesaled for hundred if not thousands of dollars back in the '60's. Some of them I still have and a few are valued at over $ 10,000 each.

They were painted on stretched linen canvas but taken off the stretchers for ease of transport.

Just because a painting is not stretched does not mean it is schlock art.
 
Pardon my ignorance, but I need to ask. If a painting is created on an unstretched canvas, wouldn't that cause problems down the line when the painting is finally stretched? Would there be a problem with the paint crackling or coming away from the canvas as it is stretched? If paint is applied to an un-tensioned substrate, wouldn't stretching (adding tension) cause problems, if not immediately, then somewhere down the line? Or is canvas so sturdy that there is very little stretch and pulling it taught will actually not cause undue stress?
 
Dani, I would suggest that painting on an unstretched canvas isn't wise and indeed stress could be caused to the adhesion of pigments when same painting is stretched. There would be less problems with acrylic paintings because they are more flexible.

The oils we use to buy were painted on stretched canvas and then removed from the stretchers for transport.

The paintings Bob is referring to appear never to be properly stretched which would indicate mass production and therefore inferior quality but still "originals".

As to your question about canvas strength, linen canvas has much longer fibers and usually more tightly threaded than cotton which would indicate to me that linen as a substrate would be more stable and have less distortion than cotton or jute canvas.
 
Thanks Dave! That was very helpful!
 
I wouldn't mind if these things came in with enough canvas margin to actually use and sometimes they don't because they have indeed been painted on stretched canvas, the folds are still there, but rather than taking the staples/tacks out, someone has simply run a blade inside those staples/tacks and cut away what you need to stretch the dam thing.
 
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