the oil paint conspiracy [art conspiracy]

starting- i just got home. i promise i will post later on more info as i study this.

my art teacher is always ranting about the "killers" of technique and the "assasination" of the best oil formulas that ever existed.

yesterday he told us that one of the portuguese "houses" in the fifties that used to make paint [varela, but im not sure about the name] had the same fate as the other paintmakers from germany he talked about before: he got his house, store and studio pillaged and destroyed (formulas went missing) and, althoug he still knew how to make paint, he parted himself with the trade because, as my teacher said he told him, "they didn't want me to make good paint, i kept making it and look where i am now, they won".

that's the first time i adressed this. i never listened much to his rant because he's a bit nuts, but after he talked about the portuguese paintmaker's fate and what he told him i started to remember all the histories that he used to tell us about germanic paintmakers also being "taken down".


supposedly, fifty years ago u had formulas that allowed you to keep the paint fresh and workable on canvas for as long as 5 MONTHS with the same body as today's top oils, who only stay open for 9-12 days w/out adding more oil and loosing body. wich takes away alot of techniques that resided on time. they were all "destroyed" or hidden..

anyone can adress this subject? was/is oil technique under a conspiration? i am in the process of gathering information on this to post later today or maybe tomorrow, german glpers with knowledge about paintmaking know anything similar to this happening there?