Titanium White Pigment
Titanium White is the strongest, most brilliant white available to artists in the entire history of art. Its chemical stability is likewise outstanding.
The masstone of titanium white is neither warm nor cool and lies somewhere between lead white and zinc white, in that respect. It has a tinting strength superior to either of the other whites, and a drying time that is slower than that of lead white but faster than that of zinc white. It is truly an all-purpose white oil color.
In oil, it dries to a spongy film that is quite unsuitable for artistic purposes. For this reason, titanium dioxide is always blended with one or more of the other white pigments, or an inert pigment to make a suitable artists oil color. Since titanium dioxide, by itself, dries to a spongy film and zinc oxide dries to a brittle film, the two are combined in a balanced blend for better quality, professional grade titanium whites. In some brands, where zinc oxide predominates in the mixture , the color is called titanium-zinc white. Titanium White is truly the white of the 20th century. Although the titanium pigment, titanium dioxide was discovered in 1821, it was not until 1916 that modern technology had progressed to the point where it could be mass produced. First made commercially in Norway for industrial purposes, it was not until 1921 that a titanium white oil color suitable for artistic purposes was introduced by an American manufacturer. There are many industrial grades of titanium white pigment, none of which are used in their pure form for artists oil color.
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