Airbrush for Beginners - Brief History

HISTORY OF THE AIRBRUSH

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The airbrush is a precision instrument in the form of a pen, but with the characteristics of a small paint gun, which connected by means of a small hose to a compressor allows to spray a jet of color that can be controlled by a pushbutton as well as by varying the pressure Of the air, the consistency or density of the paint, and the distance between the airbrush and the surface being painted.

The airbrush was invented in 1893 by the American watercolorist Charles Burdick. At first, in fact since his presentation by Burdick, the airbrush was disqualified by critics as an instrument for creating art. This is not surprising since in the past disaffiliated anyone who went beyond what was considered academic, as happened with most artistic trends such as the impressionists.

For many years the airbrush survived in the field of illustration, the commercial art of retouching photographs, painting posters, and illustrating commercials, thereby making the airbrush out of the field of Fine Arts. However, things changed in the 60's when Pop Art appeared, an artistic movement inspired by the images of advertising and commercial art. This new art offered to the public images of Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup pot, Lichtenstein's enlarged comic cartoons, Wesselmann's stylized nudes, and so on. Pop Art used without any prejudice all the means of expression at its fingertips: oil, acrylic, serigraphy, and of course the airbrush.

Later, at the beginning of the 1970s, another artistic movement appeared, the theme of which was the photographic image that presented large paintings painted with an absolute realism and presenting images of enlarged details, gigantic portraits, details of motorcycles or automobiles, urban landscapes, Shops, bars, gas stations and luminous signs super detailed. In 1972 at the biennial of Paris, this new artistic movement was established as Hyperrealism, that is, the realism elevated to its maximum expression. Unsurprisingly, the airbrush was the perfect instrument for this style as it offered a perfect finish of the images. Thus this new form of artistic expression definitively opened the doors of Fine Arts to the airbrush in the years 80.

Since then, the airbrush has proven to be a very versatile tool in expert hands, as an extension of the artist's hand. In the age of the computer, the airbrush has definitely entered through the doors of Fine Arts, in fact, it can still contribute a lot to the art since with it you can get lights, effects of smoke, steam, subtle shadows, beautiful mixtures of colors and Get plenty of textures and effects. It is an instrument that allows the artist to express their feelings with full power.

So there is no reason to reject the airbrush as a tool to create art at the dawn of the 21st century.