Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Art materials |
Founded | 1832London | in
Founder | William Winsor and Henry Newton |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | acrylics, oils, watercolor, gouache, brushes, canvases, papers, inks, graphite and colored pencils, markers, charcoal |
Brands | Artist's Hog, Azanta, Winton, Cotman, Monarch, Artisan, Sceptre |
Parent | Colart Group [1] |
Website | winsornewton.com |
Winsor & Newton (also abbreviated W&N) is an English manufacturing company based in London that produces a wide variety of fine art products, including acrylics, oils, watercolour, gouache, brushes, canvases, papers, inks, graphite and coloured pencils, markers, and charcoals.
The company was founded in 1832 by William Winsor and Henry Newton. The firm was originally located at Henry Newton's home in 38 Rathbone Place, London. This was then part of an artists' quarter in which a number of eminent painters, including Constable, had studios, and other colourmen were already established. [2]
The standards of quality for W&N's most renowned line of kolinsky sable brush, the Series 7, began after Queen Victoria ordered it should be "the very finest watercolour brush" in 1866. [2] A few months before his death, Henry Newton sold the business to the newly incorporated firm of "Winsor & Newton Ltd.", which included members of both families amongst the shareholders. In 1937, W&N introduced its gouache paints. [2]
The company moved to Wealdstone in northwest London in 1937. After World War II, W&N opened a brush-making factory in Lowestoft. In 1970, the company introduced its first range of acrylics, and the first artists' alkyd oil colour came six years later. Later, in 1992, a series of oil bars were launched. [2]
The company was formerly owned by conglomerate Reckitt & Colman until it was sold in 1990. [3] [4]
The Winsor & Newton student range of watercolours was named after John Sell Cotman.
Art products made by Winsor & Newton, distinguished by size, series, material and function (e.g. effects or process). [5]
Product | Range / brand |
---|---|
Brushes | Natural hair (kolinsky sable -Series 7, squirrel, hog -Artist's Hog, Azanta, Winton), synthetic fibres (Cotman, Monarch, Artisan, Galeria), natural/synthetic mix (Sceptre) |
Paints | Oil (Winton, Artist's, GriffinArtisan), acrylic (Galeria, Finity), watercolour (Cotman, Artist's), gouache (Designers), marker pens (Promarker), (Promarker Brush), (Promarker Watercolour), charcoal, graphite and coloured pencils |
Inks | Drawing and calligraphy inks |
Papers | Watercolour, oil (Winton), acrylic (Galeria), marker, sketching |
Canvas | Cotton, polycotton |
Accessories | Canvas boards, solvents, masking fluids, varnishes, easels, travel bags, brush holders, stools, instructional books |
The Winsor & Newton paints are repeatedly referenced in Dorothy Sayers' 1931 detective novel Five Red Herrings , whose plot deals with a painter being murdered and six other painters being suspected of killing him. The painting habits of the suspects, including which kind of paint is used by each, turn out to provide crucial clues that eventually lead Lord Peter Wimsey to the real culprit.
In Michel Bussi's 2011 detective novel Black Waterlilies (French : Nymphéas Noirs) set in Giverny, "Winsor and Newton" is frequently referenced, although it is imagined to be an American, rather than a British, company.
Karlheinz Stockhausen and his studio assistants read product names from the Winsor & Newton catalogue aloud in his electronic composition Hymnen .
In Leonard Pickard's novel The Rose of Paracelsus, a tube of "Winsor & Newton" indigo oil paint is used to make covert contact with the protagonist.
Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry. Depending on how much the paint is diluted with water, or modified with acrylic gels, mediums, or pastes, the finished acrylic painting can resemble a watercolor, a gouache, or an oil painting, or it may have its own unique characteristics not attainable with other media.
Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel or copper for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of the world. The advantages of oil for painting images include "greater flexibility, richer and denser color, the use of layers, and a wider range from light to dark". But the process is slower, especially when one layer of paint needs to be allowed to dry before another is applied.
Gouache, body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent, and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache has a long history, having been used for at least twelve centuries. It is used most consistently by commercial artists for posters, illustrations, comics, and other design work.
Watercolor or watercolour, also aquarelle, is a painting method in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-based solution. Watercolor refers to both the medium and the resulting artwork. Aquarelles painted with water-soluble colored ink instead of modern water colors are called aquarellum atramento by experts. However, this term has now tended to pass out of use.
Enamel paint is paint that air-dries to a hard, usually glossy, finish, used for coating surfaces that are outdoors or otherwise subject to hard wear or variations in temperature; it should not be confused with decorated objects in "painted enamel", where vitreous enamel is applied with brushes and fired in a kiln. The name is something of a misnomer, as in reality most commercially available enamel paints are significantly softer than either vitreous enamel or stoved synthetic resins, and are totally different in composition; vitreous enamel is applied as a powder or paste and then fired at high temperature. There is no generally accepted definition or standard for use of the term "enamel paint", and not all enamel-type paints may use it.
Figure painting, or miniature painting, is the hobby of painting miniature figures and/or model figures, either as a standalone activity or as a part of another activity that uses models, such as role-playing games, wargames, or military modeling.
Water-miscible oil paint is oil paint either engineered or to which an emulsifier has been added, allowing it to be thinned and cleaned up with water. These paints make it possible to avoid using, or at least reduce volatile organic compounds such as turpentine that may be harmful if inhaled. Water-miscible oil paint can be mixed and applied using the same techniques as traditional oil-based paint, but while still wet it can be removed from brushes, palettes, and rags with ordinary soap and water. One of the ways its water solubility comes from is the use of an oil medium in which one end of the molecule has been engineered to be hydrophilic and thus bind loosely to water molecules, as in a solution. This type of paint is different to those that are engineered to enable cleaning of brushes and application equipment in water but are not in themselves water reducible.
James Duffield Harding was a British landscape painter, lithographer and author of drawing manuals. His use of tinted papers and opaque paints in watercolour proved influential.
Sennelier is a French manufacturing company of art materials, mostly famous for its hand selected pigments. The company produces a wide range of paint products, including acrylic, oil, watercolor, gouache, oil and soft pastel, india ink, tempera, and other media.
Grumbacher is a US brand of art materials. Grumbacher offers products for artists including acrylic paints, oil paints, watercolor paints and other painting media, as well as brushes.
Corel Painter Essentials is a home software studio for turning photographs into paintings. Corel Painter Essentials is now in its 7th incarnation.
Painting is a visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and airbrushes, may be used. One who produces paintings is called a painter.
Reeves and Sons is an English art materials brand and a former manufacturing company established by William Reeves (1739–1803) in 1766. Reeves is credited with having invented the soluble watercolour.
A palette is a surface on which a painter arranges and mixes paints. A palette is made of materials such as wood, paper, glass, ceramic or plastic, and can vary greatly in size and shape. Watercolor palettes are generally made of plastic or porcelain in a rectangular or wheel format, and have built in wells and mixing areas for colors. For acrylic painting, "stay wet" palettes exist, which prevent the paints from drying out and becoming inert.
Henry Charles Newton (1805-1882) was a British painter, and one of the original founders of the art material company Winsor & Newton.
Utrecht Art Supplies is an art materials manufacturing and chain store company, based in Brooklyn. Utrecht, founded in 1949 in New York City by artist Norman Gulamerian and his brother Harold Gulamerian, sells a large range of art material brands including its own line of products. Art materials produced by Utrecht include acrylics, watercolor, oils, brushes In 2013, Utrecht was acquired by Dick Blick, one of the chain's largest competitors. As a result, Dick Blick became "Blick Art Materials". Products sold at Utrecht stores include acrylic, oil, watercolor, brushes, canvas, papers, pencils, inks. Utrecht art supply also sells office supplies such as adhesives, paper clips, push pins, and others.
Royal Talens is a Dutch company located in Apeldoorn that specializes in art materials. The company produces and markets its own products, apart from commercializing other licensed brands, such as Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Bruynzeel. Products commercialised include acrylic paints, oil paints, watercolor paintings, brushes, markers, inks, pastels, pencils, pens, gouache, canvas, papers.
A paintbrush is a brush used to apply paint or ink. A paintbrush is usually made by clamping bristles to a handle with a ferrule. They are available in various sizes, shapes, and materials. Thicker ones are used for filling in, and thinner ones are used for details. They may be subdivided into decorators' brushes used for painting and decorating and artists' brushes use for visual art.
Watercolor paper is paper or substrate onto which an artist applies watercolor paints, pigments, or dyes. Many types of watercolour papers that are manufactured for the use of watercolors are currently available. Watercolor paper can be made of wood pulp exclusively, or mixed with cotton fibers. Pure cotton watercolor paper is also used by artists, though it typically costs more than pulp-based paper. It is also available as an acid-free medium to help its preservation.