{{Short description|White pigment invented in the 20th century}} alt=Arthur Dove, Silver Sun, an early use of titanium white|thumb|Arthur Dove, ''Silver Sun,'' 1929. The painting is an early documented instance of titanium white's use.<ref name="Laver-1997" />{{Rp|pages=340}} '''Titanium white''', also '''Pigment White 6''' or '''CI 77891''' is a family of white pigments composed primarily of titanium dioxide.<ref name="Laver-1997">{{Cite book |last=Laver |first=Marilyn |title=Artists' Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics |publisher=Archetype |year=1997 |editor-last=Fitzhugh |editor-first=Elisabeth West |volume=3 |pages=295–355 |chapter=Titanium Dioxide Whites}}</ref> It is the most widely used white pigment in contemporary artistic applications because of its affordability, low toxicity, and high hiding power. Though the term titanium white most often refers to pigments containing titanium dioxide, it can also describe any white pigment that contains a titanium compound (e.g. zinc titanate, barium titanate, potassium titanate, titanium lithopone, titanium silicate).<ref name="Laver-1997" />{{Rp|page=295}}
== History == Titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>) is a bright white substance first named and created in a laboratory in the mid-19th century. It was initially used as a pigment in the ceramic arts for yellow glazes later in the century, and by the 1890s artists started to use white mixtures containing the compound.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Titanium White {{!}} Painters Palettes |url=https://painterspalettes.net/titanium-white/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://irp.cdn-website.com/81f1c13c/files/uploaded/The%20historical%20chronology%20of%20the%20use%20of%20the%20titanium%20white%20pigment.pdf | title=A brief outline of the historical chronology of the use in painting of the pigment "Titanium White" | website=irp.cdn-website.com | date=May 2022}}</ref> Industrial adoption of titanium dioxide in the early 20th century depended on improvements in pigment processing, including refining and grinding techniques that made the compound suitable for stable dispersion in oil-based paints.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heaton |first=Noel |date=1922 |title=The Production of Titanium Oxide and Its Use as a Paint Material |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41355880 |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Arts |volume=70 |issue=3631 |pages=552–565 |issn=0035-9114}}</ref>
Titanium dioxide became dominant in the paint industry because it had significantly higher tinting strength and hiding power than earlier white pigments such as lead white and zinc white. This meant manufacturers needed less pigment to achieve the same level of coverage, making it more economically efficient for large-scale industrial paint production. These properties helped drive its adoption in the early 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pigments through the Ages - Overview - Titanium white |url=https://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/indiv/overview/titaniumwhite.html |access-date=2026-04-16 |website=www.webexhibits.org}}</ref> The pigment was further developed for industrial use in the 1910s by the Titanium Pigment Company in the United States and the Titan Company in Norway, each working independently. The two manufactures cross-licensed their patents in 1920.<ref name="Laver-1997" />{{Rp|page=297}} By the late 1920s, titanium and zinc white had unseated lead white as the dominant product in the market for white pigment.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Markowitz |first1=Gerald |title=Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution |last2=Rosner |first2=David |publisher=University of California Press |year=1987 |pages=54}}</ref> Most art supply companies now explicitly advise that titanium white should be used instead of lead white for safety reasons.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Finlay |first=Victoria |title=Color: A Natural History of the Palette |publisher=Random House |year=2002 |pages=111}}</ref>
== Visual characteristics == Titanium white provides greater hiding power and tinting strength than any other white pigment.<ref name="Laver-1997" /> Titanium white was initially more expensive to produce than lead white, but its superior hiding power soon made it a more economical choice because smaller quantities were required to achieve the same degree of opacity.<ref name="Laver-1997" />{{Rp|page=309}}
== Notable occurrences == Titanium white featured regularly in the palette of Arthur Dove, who was among its earliest adopters in the 1920s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wimsatt |first=J. |date=1982 |title=Wax Emulsion, Tempera or Oil? Arthur Dove's Materials, Techniques, and Surface Effect |journal=American Institute for Conservation: Preprints |pages=183–88}}</ref> It has also been identified in the work of Thomas Hart Benton,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Branchick |first1=T. |title=Thomas Hart Benton: The 'America Today' Murals |last2=Braun |first2=E. |publisher=Williams College Museum of Art |year=1985 |pages=66–82 |chapter=The Restoration of 'America Today'}}</ref> Diego Rivera,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heller |first=B. |date=1988 |title=The Conservation of Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry Fresco Cycle |journal=American Institute for Conservation: Preprints |pages=85–98}}</ref> Pablo Picasso,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Coupry |first=C. |date=1987 |title=Analyses de pigments blancs appliquées à I'étude chronologique des peintures de chevalet-blanc de titane |url=https://www.icom-cc-publications-online.org/3106/Analyses-de-pigments-blancs-appliquees-a-letude-chronologique-des-peintures-de-chevalet---blanc-de-titane |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=www.icom-cc-publications-online.org}}</ref> and Jackson Pollock.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gabrieli |first1=Francesca |last2=Rosi |first2=Francesca |last3=Vichi |first3=Alessandra |last4=Cartechini |first4=Laura |last5=Pensabene Buemi |first5=Luciano |last6=Kazarian |first6=Sergei G. |last7=Miliani |first7=Costanza |date=2017 |title=Revealing the Nature and Distribution of Metal Carboxylates in Jackson Pollock's Alchemy (1947) by Micro-Attenuated Total Reflection FT-IR Spectroscopic Imaging |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.6b04065 |journal=Analytical Chemistry |language=en |volume=89 |issue=2 |pages=1283–1289 |doi=10.1021/acs.analchem.6b04065 |pmid=28035811 |issn=0003-2700|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}} Category:Inorganic pigments Category:Pigments Category:Shades of white