A specialist in the pictorial world

Based in the idyllic setting of Zurich in Switzerland, itself famous for its artistic talents, Lascaux was founded 40yrs ago by Alois K Diethelm. Being an artist himself, Diethelm could continue his passion and benefit from the advice (and sometimes constructive criticism!) of his artist friends.

The key to Alois Diethelm's success was the launch of a paint that allowed artists to work on a large scale, many wanted to - it was simply the fact that previously there had been nothing suitable. Acrylic represented the best solution to the problem, even though it was dismissed by artists as something more for children than huge masterpieces! However Lascaux managed to re-value acrylic and more importantly tell artists that their acrylic was the solution.

Since then Lascaux has become a firm favourite of professional artists, art teachers and therapists, graphic studios, restorers, conservationists, and prestigious museums. In just 3 decades Lascaux has climbed to first place in the world for manufacturing water based colours and picture restoration products.

Taking its name from the famous works at the Lascaux caves, Lascaux wanted to put its focus on the long life and resistance of its products. Lascaux has developed 10 ranges and numerous mediums to meet needs and is always on hand to offer technical support and teaching in any technique. Within this theme, Lascaux often organises events to try and demystify their products and allow artists to become fully acquainted with them. Lascaux also produce a large range of comprehensive supporting literature for all their products, including how to get started, mediums, health and safety sheets and the usual colour charts. All of these are available on request from Great Art.

Know How in Colours

Lascaux colours are made in a solvent free process and there are regular, strict toxicology tests carried out. The protection of the environment is also a first consideration, all colours are water based and cleaning is carried out solely with water. Waste water is purified in Lascaux's own on site filtration and purification system producing more than 10 million litres of perfectly pure water every year.

Lascaux colours are the result of a traditional production process. Each colour has its own alchemy, its own recipe, and manager, who is responsible for the batch from start to finish. Just as a chef would use ingenuity to create the perfect dish the manager does the same for his colour - adding a little more or less here and there to ensure the product is the best at the end. As regards to colour, or pigment, Lascaux has a gigantic store at any one time making sure the same colour is available for many months, and no dramatic differences should be noticed in the colours sold.
Production starts in the mixing room where the ingredients are added one by one, and in a specific order into the large mixers. Almost immediately a rigorous quality control process swings into place and samples are regularly taken off for analysis.

After mixing the colour then passes onto the rollers where any remaining pigment particles are ground out between the steel triple roll mills. As this happens air gets mixed into the paint making it more homogenous. All Lascaux products, including mediums, pass through this milling stage. After this stage the product is bottled or tubed, as required on semi automatic machines. Labels are applied after this stage, by hand, just to give that final personal touch to the production process.

All raw materials are closely examined in the lab and the final product is subjected to traditional tests of lightfastness, age, and water resistance etc. Lab technicians are always looking for possibilities to improve the product or colour ranges.
Lascaux has also developed an interesting freeze test. If the paint freezes fast then thaws back to the original state quickly, then the colour will be passed and left untouched. If however the freeze and thaw is slow then this can be damaging, as certain elements freeze and thaw faster than others - if this happens a colour is subjected to further tests.

Some examples of Work

During the summer of 1998 more than 800 life size plastic cows painted by around 400 artists and designers were exhibited throughout Zurich. The majority of the works were created with Lascaux products namely Uni primer, Studio acrylics, and UV transparent varnish. In 2004, Great Art supplied UV varnish to many artists involved in the Cow Parade project throughout the UK, Eire and Sweden.

Another example is this shop front mural in Zurich, with marbled studio acrylic
colours applied on primer and then covered with UV Varnish.

Lascaux Studio acrylics have proven themselves in numerous exterior works and resist the passage of time and the elements well. However in order to last the painted surface must be carefully prepared and the correct mediums used. It is also recommended that a final top coat of varnish is used to seal the work when dry.

You can use brushes, rollers, or even rags to create murals and the choice of support is enormous - wood, plasterboard, masonry, concrete, stone, and metal - although this must be finely polished first.
Begin by cleaning, dusting off, and degreasing the support to be painted. The surface should now be primed - for example with Lascaux Paraloid B72-10%. The excellent penetrating properties of this primer impregnate the surface and reinforce it and we recommend that 2 coats are applied - the second whilst the first is still wet in roughly 360ml/m2 quantities. For interior work, use Hydro-ground - an acrylic dispersion that can be diluted from 1:1 to 1:4. The next stage is to apply 2 coats of Uni primer diluted with about 10% water. An approximate guide to quantity is 230ml/m2. When dry colour can then be applied using Gloss(1), Mat(2) or Satin(3) medium if desired. A thickener will help prevent paint running and make it easier to apply. The final stage is 2 coats of UV transparent varnish (diluted with 20% water) - this will further protect your work from UV rays and takes about 6hrs to dry.

For internal frescoes Studio acrylic remains the colour of choice. Why not mix it with Structura paste, A or B modelling paste, or impasto gel to create some great effects? UV varnish is normally unnecessary indoors - unless work is in the path of direct sunlight, which should be avoided wherever possible.

The suggested use of Lascaux products in the above examples is in no way concrete advice - although application instructions should be followed. Art and the creation of artwork are so varied and it is a truly personal choice of methods and materials - each piece of work is an individual's interpretation of an idea. For this reason we always recommend you try a test area first and select from the vast ranges in the Great Art catalogue - you don't have to do what we tell you! In fact the best pieces of artwork are often made if you just go with your judgement! Happy acrylic painting!