MITRA Forum Question Details

The canvas manufacturers I am familiar with stopped using protein sizings with oil-primed canvas decades ago, replacing them with PVA and acrylic-based products. My most recent correspondence from Claessens lists PVA since the 1980s, before which RSG was the sizing.

The last brand I encountered that still used an animal-derived sizing was from Russia (about 20 years ago), sized with isinglass (fish gelatin). The Russian canvases were not coated on the bolt like modern fabric, but were sized after stretching (a necessity with these 'sack cloth' linens, which were so porous the sizing had to fill enormous gaps in the weave). I recall the stretchers were amazing, however, and I bought some on clearance just for the frames.

I agree with the above. BTW, Matthew, were those Yarka canvases? I remember buying some when I was at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the mid- 90s (at Pearl Paint I think). I remember that the canvases were like burlap but that this was stretched on really heavy stretchers.

Yes, they were Yarka. The linen actually had visible bits of tow- literally sacking/sack cloth. It was also weird (I thought) that the fish glue sizing was even used in combination with a synthetic dispersion priming. The stretchers were very solid with mortised cross braces.​ They should have just sold the stretchers!