It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Carl Plansky, the founder of Williamsburg Artist Materials on October 10th. He was 58.

Carl did not start out to make paint as a commercial enterprise but as part of a centuries-old tradition of the artist-craftsman. He got his first paint mill in the 1985 from Milton Resnick. Resnick had used the mill for making the voluminous amounts of oil paint that he used in his work. The arduous task of making his own paint, however, had taken its toll in time and energy, so he gave the mill to Carl in return for having Carl make his paint for him.

The mill gave Carl the freedom to play with materials on a larger scale than is usually available to the studio artist. Like a medieval alchemist, he moved about the machinery and pots of mixtures in his studio in Brooklyn, his beloved dog Bessie trailing behind, grand opera blaring from his stereo. He mixed oils and resins and waxes to make mediums of different consistencies and glosses. He figured out how to make a paint that was dense and richly pigmented, and he liked it. So did a lot of his friends who found to their delight not only that they knew someone who made paint but made it incredibly well.

In 1986, after selling or trading the pint and quart size cans of paint to the likes of Susanna Coffey, Bill Jensen, and Michael Goldberg, as well as Resnick, he realized that he had created a groundswell of interest in what he dubbed Williamsburg Oil Paints. Having studied at the New York Studio School and worked at David Davis Fine Art Materials and Torch Art Supply, Carl had cultivated a huge number of friends in the New York artist community. Slowly, the groundswell became an underground legend, and color after color appeared in the line.

What set Williamsburg oil paints apart from many other paints on the market was Carl himself. No corporate decision dictated the economics of his paint or which colors to introduce. Complex mixes with surprise undertones, like Courbet green, came out of his studio, out of the plan or accident of painting. Carl never stopped painting, and, as the business grew beyond a one-person operation, he trained his paint makers to make paint like artists.

This is the tradition that was established at Williamsburg Art Materials, and we are dedicated to ensuring that the legacy left by Carl Plansky will continue.

A memorial service was held for Carl Plansky
at the New York Studio School,
Sunday, October 18 at 3 p.m.
The school's location is 8 West 8th Street, New York, NY
Phone: (212) 673-6466