Arthur Dove’s Primitive Music (1944) is in the studio for treatment to stabilize flaking paint.
In a diary entry dated May 8, 1944, Arthur Dove describes this painting as a “painting in tempera.” Often, Dove used a homemade tempera mixture, made from a whole egg, dammar resin, stand oil, and water. Usually, Dove used tempera for just the first layers of a painting that he then finished with oil paint or wax emulsion. But in Primitive Music, Dove used the tempera paint on its own, for a smooth, translucent paint film with a velvety, matte surface.
Arthur Dove. Primitive Music, 1944. Gouache on canvas; 18 x 24 in. The Phillips Collection