In 1841, the American painter John Goffe Rand introduced a revolutionary invention – the collapsible paint tube. It was a groundbreaking innovation, which was hailed for its practicality and is often credited with enabling the emergence of Impressionist art through its support of plein-air painting. However, the very gesture it entailed – the pressing, the oozing, and the collapsing – has never been given the academic attention it deserves.
In this presentation, I endeavour to illuminate how this transformative technological leap can be interpreted through an epistemological lens. Drawing on the fact that the metaphor of the tube is widely used to explain the second law of thermodynamics – where once substance is expelled from the tube, it cannot be restored – I explore the potential for a methodical exploration of the connections between the practical, manipulative, and receptive aspects of the collapsible paint tube and the coeval field of thermodynamics, which gave rise to the concept of entropy in 1865.
Despite its increased efficiency compared to traditional pig bladders, the collapsible paint tube still incurs losses. Paint remains usable for a certain set of time once removed from the tube requiring the addition of water to the palette. Yet the tube itself occasions an inevitable loss of matter whether due to excessive extrusion or leftover paint trapped in the metal folds of discarded packaging. Viewing this residue as a novel form of detritus prompts intriguing parallels with the representation of industrial dregs.
In this presentation I will thus contend that the actions associated with the use of the paint tube, what Jennifer Roberts might describe as ‘operations’ (specifically, the acts of pressing and squeezing) offer valuable insights into the complex web of influences on knowledge production during that era. By exploiting scientific as well as artistic sources, my approach builds on art-historical methods in order to stage painting as a scene of epistemological and aesthetic significance. This examination of the paint tube’s physicality, its use as a new artistic tool and its impact on the artistic process may reveal hitherto unrecognized links between art, science, ecology and the broader intellectual currents of mid-nineteenth century.
Sarah Gould
Assistant Professor, Paris 1-Panthéon Sorbonne, https://www.pantheonsorbonne.fr/page-perso/sgould
PhD (defended in 2016): Making Texture Matter: The Materiality of British Paintings, 1788-1914
Research topics: British Art, American Art, Material Studies, Ecocriticism
In 1841, the collapsible paint tube, a revolutionary invention by American painter John Goffe Rand, transformed the art world. Hailed for its practicality, it has been credited with enabling the emergence of Impressionism. However, the very gesture it entailed – the pressing, oozing, and collapsing – has been overlooked. This presentation will explore the epistemological implications of this technological leap. Drawing on the tube as a metaphor for the second law of thermodynamics, it will delve into the connections between the collapsible paint tube and entropy, showing that despite its efficiency, the tube also incurred losses, creating intriguing parallels with industrial detritus.