Object Image

Castle's favored painting media was wood soot, which created a soft black pigment when diluted. He gathered mail and printed ephemera and used these materials in various ways. Sometimes the text, illustrations, or photographs inspired Castle to make closely related images, and at times he painted directly on cast-off envelopes or fragments of commercial cartons. When Castle obtained colorful printed materials or bits of crepe paper, he leeched their dyes by saturating them in water, extracting his own water-based paints. He roughed up the surfaces he worked on so they would better absorb the diluted colors.

(We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection, 2022)

Cr...

Ca. 1931-1977
Color of unknown origin and soot on found paper
12.1 x 12.1cm
2016.38.16
Image and text: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2023

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