tube

tube. Collapsible container for paints. It was devised in 1841 by John G. Rand (1801–73), an American portrait painter working in London, and was commercially manufactured very soon afterwards. Before this time, artists either mixed their own paints or bought them in rather cumbersome bladders or in metal cylinders that were emptied by means of a piston and could be refilled at the colourman's shop. With the success of the tube, the preparation of paints now passed from the studio to the factory and the painter lost part of his character as craftsman. Moreover, a less fluid consistency had to be given to oil paints to make them suitable for packing in tubes, and other ingredients had to be added during manufacture in order to ensure that the pigments would stay suspended in the oil. Consequently manufactured paints do not flow from the brush as those of the Old Masters used to do and a stiffer, shorter brush is needed for handling them or a diluent must be used. The tube, therefore, brought about a quiet revolution in painting technique. Furthermore the availability of ready-made paints in tubes made the practice of painting out of doors in oils much easier (see plein air) and also encouraged artists to experiment with a much wider range of colours instead of mixing the smaller number with which they were familiar.