Page 30 - December_2015_Life_in_Naples_Magazine
P. 30
599 NINTH STREET NORTH SUITE 309 | NAPLES, FL 34102 | 239.261.2637
ASK THE ARTSPERTS MEDIUM EGG TEMPERA www.harmonmeek.com
by Juliana Meek and Kristine Meek
Dear Artspert: ROBERT VICKREY PAINTING IN HIS STUDIO IN 2010
My daughter came home from school and tells me that you can paint with Egg
Tempura. What is Egg Tempura?
Signed, “KIM FROM ABOVE” ROBERT VICKREY,
EGG TEMPERA, 30” X 40”, 1988
Just Yolking
WILLIAM ENTREKIN PAINTING IN HIS
Dear Yolking, STUDIO IN 2015
It sounds like a mispronunciation of Egg Tempera, though tempura is making us “JOURNEY” WILLIAM
hungry for Japanese food. And yes, Egg Tempera is a type of painting medium created ENTREKIN, EGG TEMPERA,
by the artist who mixes color pigment with egg. You may be surprised to learn that 24” X 48”, 2015
the part of the egg that is mixed with pigment to form the paint, is not the white, but
instead the egg yolk. The white of the egg and the membrane of the yolk are discarded
(the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the
liquid inside). Egg yolk is never used by itself with pigment; it dries almost immediately
and crackles when it is dry. To prevent this, artists use an agent like vinegar, water or
white wine in variable proportions.
As tempera dries, the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to
balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air. Once prepared, the paint cannot
be stored. Egg tempera is water-resistant, but not waterproof. Egg tempera is not a
flexible paint – it dries both hard and fast. Anyone whose house has been the victim of an
egging will understand this.Tempera paintings are very long lasting, and examples from
the 1st centuries AD still exist today. Egg tempera was a primary method of painting
until after 1500 when it was superseded by the invention of oil painting. In fact, every
surviving panel painting by Michelangelo is egg tempera. Tempera painting continues
to be used in Greece and Russia where it is the traditional medium for Orthodox icons.
Some notable American Artists who used/use egg tempera include Andrew Wyeth,
Thomas Hart Benton, Paul Cadmus, Reginald Marsh and Robert Vickrey.
Robert Remsen Vickrey (1926 –2011) was a Massachusetts-based artist and author
who mastered the medium of egg tempera. His works are in the collections of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn
Museum in New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art,
Rio de Janeiro. A large memorial retrospective exhibition of Robert Vickrey paintings
were on display at the Melvin Gallery of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida,
this fall and will be on display, free for the public, at Harmon-Meek Gallery April 4 –
29. The exhibition will then travel to the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia
in 2017.
If you would like to see examples of egg tempera in person this month, Harmon-
Meek|modern has a special feature starting December 17 of works by William Entrekin
(b. 1946 - ). Many of his paintings are egg tempera and some of the works were last on
display at Entrekin’s solo exhibition at the Morris Museum of Art in 2014.
So Egg Tempera is very much real – no yolk!
Sincerely,
The Artsperts
30 Life in Naples | December 2015
