Lacquer painting is a form of painting with lacquer which was practised in East Asia for decoration on lacquerware, and found its way to Europe and the Western World both via Persia and the Middle East and by direct contact with Continental Asia. The artistic form was revived and developed as a distinct genre of fine art painting by Vietnamese artists in the 1930s; the genre is known in Vietnamese as "sơn mài." [1]
Making a lacquer painting may take several months depending on the technique used and the number of layers of lacquer. In Vietnam's sơn mài lacquer painting, a black board is prepared first. Then colour chalks are used on the prepared board for base sketch. Needles can also be used for carving the base sketch as an alternative. In lacquer painting, eggshells are used as white colour due to the lack of pure white colour in lacquer. Layers of clear varnish can be applied optionally depending on the purpose of the painting. Polishing is done in the end to reveal the different layers of colours applied before. The first layer of coloured lacquer is applied, usually followed by silver leaf and another layer of clear lacquer. Then several more layers of different coloured lacquers are painted by a brush, with clear lacquer layers between them. In Vietnam, an artist may apply up to ten layers or more of coloured and clear lacquer. In Ming China artwork, up to a hundred layers are included. Each layer requires drying and polishing. When all layers are applied, the artist polishes different parts of the painting until the preferred colours are shown. Fine sandpapers, a mix of charcoal powder and human hair are used to carefully reach the correct layer of each specific colour. [2] Consequently, "lacquer painting" is in part a misnomer, since the bringing out of the colours is not done in the preparatory painting but in the burnishing of the lacquer layers to reveal the desired image beneath. [3] Therefore, lacquer painting is considered a "subtracting method" of drawing technique.
Lacquer had been used since the Shang dynasty (1384-1111 BCE) for decoration and preservation of wooden objects. By the Han dynasty decoration had become more intricate. [4] Lacquer painting is sometimes used for decoration of wooden objects such as the traditional "Chinese candy box".
In Japan lacquer painting is secondary to techniques such as silver inlay, Maki-e on Japanese lacquerware, and carving on Kamakura-bori, and Ryukyuan lacquerware. Painting featured on the "Japanning" works of industrial Britain.
The Korean art of najeon also involved lacquer painting, with najeonchilgi a particular kind of Korean handicraft.
Russia's tradition of lacquer painting (Russian: лаковая живопись, lakovaya zhivopis) before the revolution was connected with folk art and production of icons. The Fedoskino miniature (Russian: федоскинская миниатюра) of Fedoskino village is a genre of lacquer miniature painting on papier-mâché, originating from the late 18th century. From the 1930s this genre also began to be used in proletarian art. [5] Russian lacquer painting is built up through several layers of varnish, creating a three-dimensional effect. [6]
Lacquer painting, known as sơn mài, from the resin of the sơn tree, Rhus succedanea, was developed in Vietnam as a freestanding form, separate from decoration of wooden objects. A revival and a combination with French techniques occurred in the 1930s which was closely associated with the French teachers and Vietnamese students of the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine in Hanoi from 1925 to 1945 such as Joseph Inguimberty and Nguyễn Gia Trí. [7] [8] Among the prominent newer generation of Vietnamese lacquer painters is Cong Quoc Ha, who received numerous awards and his works are regularly exhibited worldwide.
Toxicodendron is a genus of flowering plants in the sumac family, Anacardiaceae. It contains trees, shrubs and woody vines, including poison ivy, poison oak, and the lacquer tree. All members of the genus produce the skin-irritating oil urushiol, which can cause a severe allergic reaction. The generic name is derived from the Greek words τοξικός (toxikos), meaning "poison," and δένδρον (dendron), meaning "tree". The best known members of the genus in North America are poison ivy (T. radicans), practically ubiquitous throughout most of eastern North America, and western poison oak, similarly ubiquitous throughout much of the western part of the continent.
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print. The block is cut along the wood grain. The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas.
Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity.
Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Before lacquering, the surface is sometimes painted with pictures, inlaid with shell and other materials, or carved. The lacquer can be dusted with gold or silver and given further decorative treatments.
Maki-e is a Japanese lacquer decoration technique in which pictures, patterns, and letters are drawn with lacquer on the surface of lacquerware, and then metal powder such as gold or silver is sprinkled and fixed on the surface of the lacquerware. The origin of the term maki-e is a compound word of maki meaning "sprinkling" and e meaning "picture" or "design". The term can also be used to refer to lacquerware made with this decorative technique. The term maki-e first appeared in the Heian period.
Russian lacquer art developed from the art of icon painting, which came to an end with the collapse of Imperial Russia. The icon painters, who previously had been employed by supplying not only churches but people's homes, needed a way to make a living. Thus, the craft of making papier-mâché decorative boxes and panels developed, the items were lacquered and then hand painted by the artists, often with scenes from folk tales.
Zhostovo painting is an old Russian folk handicraft of painting on metal trays, which still exists in a village of Zhostovo in the Moscow Oblast. It appeared in the early 19th century mainly under the influence of the Ural handicraft of flower painting on metal. Subsequent development of the Zhostovo painting handicraft was stylistically related to porcelain and enamel painting techniques, used by factories near Moscow, flower motifs on printed cotton, produced by the Ivanovo factories, and Lukutin miniature.
Palekh miniature is a Russian folk handicraft of a miniature painting, which is done with tempera paints on varnished articles made of papier-mâché.
French polishing is a wood finishing technique that results in a very high gloss surface, with a deep colour and chatoyancy. French polishing consists of applying many thin coats of shellac dissolved in denatured alcohol using a rubbing pad lubricated with one of a variety of oils. The rubbing pad is made of absorbent cotton or wool cloth wadding inside of a piece of fabric and is commonly referred to as a fad, also called a rubber, tampon, or muñeca.
Fedoskino miniature is a traditional Russian lacquer miniature painting on papier-mache, named after its original center Fedoskino (Федоскино), an old village near Moscow widely known from the late 18th century. The contemporary Fedoskino painting preserves the typical features of Russian folk art.
Toxicodendron vernicifluum, also known by the common name Chinese lacquer tree, is an Asian tree species of genus Toxicodendron native to China and the Indian subcontinent, and cultivated in regions of China, Japan and Korea. Other common names include Japanese lacquer tree, Japanese sumac, and varnish tree. The trees are cultivated and tapped for their toxic sap, which is used as a highly durable lacquer to make Chinese, Japanese, and Korean lacquerware.
Lacquerware is a Japanese craft with a wide range of fine and decorative arts, as lacquer has been used in urushi-e, prints, and on a wide variety of objects from Buddha statues to bento boxes for food.
Vietnamese art is visual art that, whether ancient or modern, originated in or is practiced in Vietnam or by Vietnamese artists.
Toxicodendron succedaneum, the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnam or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus Toxicodendron found in Asia, although it has been planted elsewhere, most notably Australia and New Zealand. It is a large shrub or tree, up to 8 m tall, somewhat similar to a sumac tree. Because of its beautiful autumn foliage, it has been planted outside Asia as an ornamental plant, often by gardeners who were apparently unaware of the dangers of allergic reactions. It is now officially classified as a noxious weed in Australia and New Zealand. It is one of the city tree symbols of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan.
Mexican lacquerware is one of the country's oldest crafts, having independent origins from Asian lacquerware. In the pre-Hispanic period, a greasy substance from the aje larvae and/or oil from the chia seed were mixed with powdered minerals to create protective coatings and decorative designs. During this period, the process was almost always applied to dried gourds, especially to make the cups that Mesoamerican nobility drank chocolate from. After the Conquest, the Spanish had indigenous craftsmen apply the technique to European style furniture and other items, changing the decorative motifs and color schemes, but the process and materials remained mostly the same. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the craft waned during armed conflicts and returned, both times with changes to the decorative styles and especially in the 20th century, to production techniques. Today, workshops creating these works are limited to Olinalá, Temalacatzingo and Acapetlahuaya in the state of Guerrero, Uruapan and Pátzcuaro in Michoacán and Chiapa de Corzo in Chiapas.
The conservation and restoration of lacquerware prevents and mitigates deterioration or damage to objects made with lacquer. The two main types of lacquer are Asian, made with sap from the Urushi tree, and European, made with a variety of shellac and natural resins. Lacquer can be damaged by age, light, water, temperature, or damaged substrate.
The conservation and restoration of paintings is carried out by professional painting conservators. Paintings cover a wide range of various mediums, materials, and their supports. Painting types include fine art to decorative and functional objects spanning from acrylics, frescoes, and oil paint on various surfaces, egg tempera on panels and canvas, lacquer painting, water color and more. Knowing the materials of any given painting and its support allows for the proper restoration and conservation practices. All components of a painting will react to its environment differently, and impact the artwork as a whole. These material components along with collections care will determine the longevity of a painting. The first steps to conservation and restoration is preventive conservation followed by active restoration with the artist's intent in mind.
Carved lacquer or Qidiao is a distinctive Chinese form of decorated lacquerware. While lacquer has been used in China for at least 3,000 years, the technique of carving into very thick coatings of it appears to have been developed in the 12th century CE. It is extremely time-consuming to produce, and has always been a luxury product, essentially restricted to China, though imitated in Japanese lacquer in somewhat different styles. The producing process is called Diaoqi.
Trần Quang Trân, also Tran Quang Tran, (1900–1969) was a lacquer artist and a Vietnamese painter.
