Magna

DEFINITION

A line of painting products made by Bocour Artists Colors, 552 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019. Magna Plastic Colors are permanent pigments ground in an acrylic resin with solvents and plasticizer. They are miscible with turpentine as well as mineral spirits. They dry rapidly, leaving a mat finish. Magna Varnish is a transparent isolating varnish for use with Magna Plastic Colors and also useful as an isolating varnish in oil painting and some complex techniques. Without its use the Magna colors are too readily picked up by additional coats.Examples: Barnett Newman (American, 1905-1970), The Name II, 1950, Magna and oil on canvas, 104 x 94 1/2 inches (2.642 x 2.400 m), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. [Unfortunately, I can't tell you which parts of these pictures Newman and Lichtenstein painted with Magna.