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Arthur Dove, Silver Sun, an early use of titanium white
Arthur Dove, Silver Sun, 1929. The painting is an early documented instance of titanium white’s use.[1]: 340 

Titanium white, also Pigment White 6 or CI 77891 is a family of white pigments composed primarily of titanium dioxide.[1] It is the most widely used white pigment in contemporary artistic applications because of its affordability, low toxicity, and high hiding power. Though the term titanium white most often refers to pigments containing titanium dioxide, it can also describe any white pigment that contains a titanium compound (e.g. zinc titanate, barium titanate, potassium titanate, titanium lithopone, titanium silicate).[1]: 295 

History

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a bright white substance first named and created in a laboratory in the mid-19th century. It was initially used as a pigment in the ceramic arts for yellow glazes later in the century, and by the 1890s artists started to use white mixtures containing the compound.[2][3] Industrial adoption of titanium dioxide in the early 20th century depended on improvements in pigment processing, including refining and grinding techniques that made the compound suitable for stable dispersion in oil-based paints.[4]

Titanium dioxide became dominant in the paint industry because it had significantly higher tinting strength and hiding power than earlier white pigments such as lead white and zinc white. This meant manufacturers needed less pigment to achieve the same level of coverage, making it more economically efficient for large-scale industrial paint production. These properties helped drive its adoption in the early 20th century.[5] The pigment was further developed for industrial use in the 1910s by the Titanium Pigment Company in the United States and the Titan Company in Norway, each working independently. The two manufactures cross-licensed their patents in 1920.[1]: 297  By the late 1920s, titanium and zinc white had unseated lead white as the dominant product in the market for white pigment.[6] Most art supply companies now explicitly advise that titanium white should be used instead of lead white for safety reasons.[7]

Visual characteristics

Titanium white provides greater hiding power and tinting strength than any other white pigment.[1] Titanium white was initially more expensive to produce than lead white, but its superior hiding power soon made it a more economical choice because smaller quantities were required to achieve the same degree of opacity.[1]: 309 

Notable occurrences

Titanium white featured regularly in the palette of Arthur Dove, who was among its earliest adopters in the 1920s.[8] It has also been identified in the work of Thomas Hart Benton,[9] Diego Rivera,[10] Pablo Picasso,[11] and Jackson Pollock.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Laver, Marilyn (1997). “Titanium Dioxide Whites”. In Fitzhugh, Elisabeth West (ed.). Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics. Vol. 3. Archetype. pp. 295–355.
  2. ^ “Titanium White | Painters Palettes”. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
  3. ^ “A brief outline of the historical chronology of the use in painting of the pigment “Titanium White”“ (PDF). irp.cdn-website.com. May 2022.
  4. ^ Heaton, Noel (1922). “The Production of Titanium Oxide and Its Use as a Paint Material”. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 70 (3631): 552–565. ISSN 0035-9114.
  5. ^ “Pigments through the Ages – Overview – Titanium white”. www.webexhibits.org. Retrieved 2026-04-16.
  6. ^ Markowitz, Gerald; Rosner, David (1987). Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution. University of California Press. p. 54.
  7. ^ Finlay, Victoria (2002). Color: A Natural History of the Palette. Random House. p. 111.
  8. ^ Wimsatt, J. (1982). “Wax Emulsion, Tempera or Oil? Arthur Dove’s Materials, Techniques, and Surface Effect”. American Institute for Conservation: Preprints: 183–88.
  9. ^ Branchick, T.; Braun, E. (1985). “The Restoration of ‘America Today’“. Thomas Hart Benton: The ‘America Today’ Murals. Williams College Museum of Art. pp. 66–82.
  10. ^ Heller, B. (1988). “The Conservation of Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry Fresco Cycle”. American Institute for Conservation: Preprints: 85–98.
  11. ^ Coupry, C. (1987). “Analyses de pigments blancs appliquées à I’étude chronologique des peintures de chevalet-blanc de titane”. www.icom-cc-publications-online.org. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
  12. ^ Gabrieli, Francesca; Rosi, Francesca; Vichi, Alessandra; Cartechini, Laura; Pensabene Buemi, Luciano; Kazarian, Sergei G.; Miliani, Costanza (2017). “Revealing the Nature and Distribution of Metal Carboxylates in Jackson Pollock’s Alchemy (1947) by Micro-Attenuated Total Reflection FT-IR Spectroscopic Imaging”. Analytical Chemistry. 89 (2): 1283–1289. doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.6b04065. ISSN 0003-2700. PMID 28035811.