50 Years of Acrylic Paint
Saturday February 26, 2005
One of the things I love about Liquitex acrylics is that it comes in plastic tubes, so you can really squeeze and manipulate it to try to get every last millimetre out of it, though I do stop short of cutting the tube open! (A particular favourite is Liquitex's Turner Yellow, which I used in this abstract.) This year Liquitex is celebrating 50 years of making acrylics.
The company was started in 1933 by Henry Levison, producing oil paints. In 1955 he started the range of acrylic products, first a gesso and a year later fluid acrylics.
Where did the name Liquitex come from? According to the Liquitex timeline "Levison tried to come up with a name that captured the essence of the medium and the fact that it could go from fluid liquidity to heavy texture and everyplace else in between. The color was called liquid texture. Or Liquitex."
Liquitex was apparently the first to "list pigment identification and lightfastness ratings on artists’ paint container labels". It's hard to imagine that this information wasn't standard.
• Liquitex 50th birthday timeline
• Studio safety tips from Liquitex, including working with cadmium paints
• Liquitex label information explained
• Liquitex colour charts
• What's the difference between curing time and drying time?
• Liquitex FAQ
Comments
Dear Marion,
Just a note. Liquitex tubes are actually metal and plastic. The metal layer gives the maximum prtection to the paint for long shelf life.
You’re right, their tubes are made from “glaminate”, or laminated layers of plastic, metal, and paper.
I’ve a few tubes of Liquitex acrylics that I’ve had for some years now, and the paint is still 100%.