HISTORY
In the mid-1980s expressionist painter and artist, Carl Plansky began making paint in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Using a small mill and supplies provided by painter Milton Resnick, Carl developed a stylistic approach to paintmaking, which reflected his concerns around materiality, texture and the luminosity of color. Experimentation with formulation and the effects of milling allowed Carl to develop his signature palette of texture, where each color is milled to enhance the beauty and luminosity specific to that pigment, a foundational approach that we maintain today.
Carl Plansky
While he had no intention of turning his passion into a business, he had enough of a following that Williamsburg Art Supply was established out of necessity. Carl's paint making operation grew to employ several people and ultimately moved upstate near Oneonta, New York, accumulating a following and international presence while preserving the handmade integrity of the paint.
The legacy and integrity of Carl's paint business survived his sudden death in October of 2009. In the Spring of 2010 Golden Artist Colors assumed the responsibility to continue Carl's dream for manufacturing a line of truly unique paints and mediums. GOLDEN and Williamsburg shared the path of developing paint out of a dialogue with artists and growing their businesses by responding to artist’s needs. GOLDEN carries forward Carl’s legacy by valuing the unique nature of each pigment, lending a handmade sensibility and range of texture and sheen across the line, while applying its expertise and equipment to ensure consistency and improve performance.
Williamsburg Oils History: The legacy of Carl Plansky as a painter and paint maker
PHILOSOPHY
It’s this shared paintmaking philosophy paired with the company’s commitment to research, testing and honest communication that brings Williamsburg to its next chapter. We provide artists with one of the largest ranges of professional oil paints, created as a sophisticated palette of texture and color to replicate handmade qualities with modern technical consistency.
We’re excited to carry forward this centuries-old medium, respecting tradition while advancing contemporary oil painting with exploration, research and testing, as well as the latest technology and materials to deliver high quality professional colors that artists can depend on.
This commitment has been demonstrated through:
Rigorous Standards – We test dry time, color accuracy, viscosity and grind to ensure each color maintains consistent appearance and feel from batch to batch. We retain a sample of each batch for rechecks and stability purposes.
Lightfastness Testing – We test all our colors based on ASTM testing protocols, not relying on designated ratings.
Continuing Research on lightfastness, flexibility, and adhesion of oil paints shared openly and transparently with artists, including on our product labels and in technical publication. We have also done research into zinc oxide embrittlement and what amount of zinc may be used with lower risk of issues, resulting in removing zinc from color blends and reducing the level of zinc in Titanium-Zinc White to under 2%.
OUR NEW LOOK
Our refreshed design for Williamsburg tubes reflects our dedication to continuous improvement, making information easy to find and providing proper health and safety labels. While we have reoriented the Williamsburg logo and changed to a white tube, artists can still easily find pigment, lightfastness and opacity information on each label along with a real, hand-painted color swatch showing what’s in the tube. Our updated look reflects the unique philosophy we bring to the manufacture of oil paints – looking forward rather than resting on tradition, continuing to let the nature of individual pigments take center stage while using expertise, research and exploration to ensure consistent performance.