Toxic Pigments in the 21st Century
Summary: Pigment toxicity is a topic repeatedly discussed in books, essays, and blog posts on art safety. However, many of the pigments cited are no longer in use today. Some historical toxic pigments make for gruesome stories that emphasize a lack of understanding or disregard for mounting evidence that the colorant had dangerous properties. But these historic colors make for more interesting reading than contemporary art materials. This essay examines today's pigment marketplace and the risks it poses to health and safety.
A simple search for toxic pigments yields many posts about a broad range of chemical compounds artists used in the past. Many of these dangerous historic pigments are no longer sold. They are relics of a time when chemistry was more like alchemy and knowledge of materials was limited. Making a color, no matter what chemicals were involved, mattered more than how safe it was to use.
To some extent, today's pigments share some of the same toxic properties as those of the past. But remember, most pigments are made for commercial/industrial applications. Artists use pigments in very small quantities. Manufacturers employ whatever commercial pigments are available to formulate a line of paints. Only children’s paint makers formulate nontoxic colors using materials that lack the hues, chroma, or longevity artists expect from the paints on their palettes.
Toxicity depends on the method of use and application techniques. Fortunately, most media, except pastels, bind pigments in a wet aqueous, oil, wax, or resin-like material that makes it difficult for the body to absorb the chemicals without deliberate exposure. To absorb toxic materials found in colors sold today, one would have to intentionally eat, inhale, or rub colorants into open wounds.
Focusing on inhalation puts dry pigments and pastels at the forefront of art materials that can potentially do harm. Pigment dust can become airborne and inhaled, and it can cause problems not only because the chemicals are harmful, but because the particles can lodge in the lungs and remain there indefinitely. Look no further than articles written by woodworkers documenting lung issues caused by wood dust. Some wood species are highly toxic, and their use comes with warnings about inhaling dust generated by cutting or sanding.
Artists who use dry pigments, along with pastel artists, should use personal protective equipment to protect against inhaling pigment dust. The same applies to oil painters who sand painted surfaces. (I attended a lecture/demo several decades ago in New York City where an artist was shocked to learn that sanding his lead-primed canvases to make them glassy-smooth without protective measures was bad.)
So, for pigments bound in a medium, while the list of toxic compounds is clearly defined, the caveat for all of them remains the same. Avoid internal exposure by using the materials responsibly and safely.
Fortunately, artists no longer have to buy a host of highly dangerous pigments, some invented in antiquity, to build a workable palette of colors. We no longer need to worry about many of these pigments, with some notable exceptions
(asterisk *) that are still manufactured and sold today:
Antimony: Naples Yellow*, Naples Yellow Light*, Naples Yellow Deep*
Arsenic Compounds: Orpiment, Realgar, Emerald Green
Lead: Red Lead, Massicot, Naples Yellow*, Lead-Tin Yellow*, Lead White*
Copper: Azurite, Malachite, Verdigris, Egyptian Blue
Mercury: Vermilion
Several of the colors still sold today (asterisk *) are by manufacturers in both the mainstream and a niche market of artists who gravitate toward ancient colorants. It is difficult to understand why artists choose to use them, given the abundance of hues that mimic the appearance of some of the highly toxic colors.
In the world of contemporary pigments, a different group of toxic materials makes up a substantial portion of artists' palettes. But as emphasized before, safe handling of these materials to eliminate inhalation, ingestion or skin infiltration makes these colors relatively safe to handle.
To be perfectly clear, no pigments are benign or harmless. They contain natural, organic heavy metals, and/or synthetic chemical compositions. Even seemingly benign earth pigments contain substances that should never be inhaled or ingested.
Along the same lines, we use household cleaning products, gasoline for our automobiles, lawn care products, and other chemical compounds woven into our daily lives. We think before using them and plan accordingly to avoid associated risks.
Given a contemporary list of pigments, it's no surprise that we should avoid ingesting them. Chemicals, especially heavy metals, form the basis for evaluating these colorants' toxicity.
Cadmium: Cadmium – Red, Yellow, Orange
Cobalt: Cobalt Blue, Cobalt Violet, Cobalt Yellow, Aureolin
Lead: Lead White, Flake White,
Manganese: Manganese Violet, Manganese Blue
Nickle: Nickle Titanium Yellow
As described previously, the most significant way modern colorants can harm artists is through inhalation. Warning labels on colors state this potential hazard. Practices like sanding a painting to remove unwanted parts, making your own paint by grinding powdered pigments into a medium, and eating food with your hands while painting can lead to ingestion.
For those who paint outdoors, environmental stewardship should be part of the plein air experience. This is especially true when using lead-based paint outdoors. Discarding lead-paint-soaked paper towels in an open trash container can cause problems when animals dig through the trash for food. Maintenance workers may come into contact with the wet paint on paper towels after animals make a mess of a spilled trash container.
Another element to consider when using a pigment like lead white is an “annoyance factor.” Being extra careful about potential contamination in a studio takes added concentration. A smear or drip of titanium on an easel or the floor is easy to clean up. Allowing lead pigment to infiltrate surfaces requires extra effort to mitigate. Also, burning unwanted paintings in a bonfire is a very bad idea. It releases toxic metals into the environment. A bonfire is not equivalent to high-temperature incineration that destroys chemicals entirely.
Finally, artists should consider how they discard waste paint and paper towels if lead or cadmium could reenter the environment through wastewater solids converted into fertilizer for agricultural use. Pouring waste paint down the drain sends the material to a sewage treatment facility where solids may become fertilizer. Heavy metals should be dried and delivered to landfill sites that segregate paints and other toxic materials, which are incinerated so they don't return to the environment and end up in fruits and vegetables grown with wastewater solids as fertilizer. Consider this carefully when cleaning and maintaining a studio.
This is the final essay on pigments and studio safety. I am moving on to other topics. Several other Syntax essays address health and the proper handling of art materials. See past essays for more on toxic historical pigments and studio practices.
The Syntax of Color
Focus Keywords: Toxic Pigments Historical and Contemporary Toxic Pigments in the 21st Century
Past essays that focused on pigment toxicity, solvents, and health.
Thank you so much for your excellent research and advice.
Linda Blondheim