stain technique
Quick Summary
The term "stain technique" in painting refers to a method where pigment is soaked into unprimed canvas, making surface and color inseparable. This technique is a hallmark of color-field painting, a major strain of Abstract Expressionism. Unlike gestural brushwork, color-field paintings feature large canvases with flat expanses of color and minimal surface detail, focusing on the inherent properties of painting: flatness and color. Artists like Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis utilized this method, with Frankenthaler soaking her canvases with pigment to create amorphous color fields, and Louis pouring paint to achieve rainbow effects. The goal was to evoke an optical response, with subject matter and illusionism being forbidden.1
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