Although encaustic was
something which fascinated antiquarians
and historians, it did
not become popular until the
development and widespread
diffusion of electricity in the 20th
century. Mexican muralists were
among the first to revive the
technique, as well as French
spiritual artist Georges Roualt, in
the first half of the 20th century.
In pre-war America, Karl Zerbe
and David Aronson were known
as artists who investigated and
experimented with encaustic.
This period did not have the antiquarian
passion of a previous
generation, but nonetheless did
see the publication of a landmark
book on encaustic, which was
to be crucial for modern artists
curious about the method—The
Painter’s Companion, A Basic
Guide to Studio Methods and
Materials (1949) by Reed Kay .
In post-war America,
Jasper Johns began to experiment
with the method for his
“Target” series, and in the
years following, artists such as
Robert Rauschenberg, Mimmo
Paladino, Roy Lichtenstein,
and Julian Schnabel made it an
integral part of their practice.
In the 1980’s and 90’s
encaustic became the “bestkept
secret” of emerging artistic
media, with artists such as
Joanne Mattera, Paula Roland,
Tony Sherman pushing the
medium to its limits in abstract,
figurative, and mixed-media
directions. Today encaustic has
become one of the most popular
artistic media, with artists discovering
an endless potential for
layering and process. Artists
like myself have been astonished
by encaustic’s capacity
for rendering optical reality in a
way which evokes Xenephon’s
depiction of Socrates visiting
the atelier of Parrhasios: “Is not
painting, Parrhasios, a representation
of what we see?”[1]
Tony Sherman
1. Richard Frumess, Encaustic Painters of Ancient Times,
2009 (founder of R&F Handmade Paints).
2. Aerial perspective or atmospheric perspective refers
to the effect the atmosphere has on the appearance
of an object as it is viewed from a distance.
3. Paolo Moreno, Apelles: The Alexander Mosaic, Skira, 2001.
4. Margaret Bevier, http://gallery.sjsu.edu/arth198/painting/encaustic.html
5. Margaret Bevier, http://gallery.sjsu.edu/arth198/painting/encaustic.html
6. Joanne Mattera, The Art of Encaustic Painting, 2001.
7. The Whole Works of Xenephon, Harvard, 1916.
Francisco Benitez
Featured Artist
11
For more information about Francisco:
http://www.franciscobenitez.com/
Francisco Benitez, The Voyage 18”X24”
Spring
www.EAINM.com