Mayer, Ralph, 1895-1979

Ralph Mayer, artist and noted authority on paint technology, was born in 1896 in New York. He was educated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a chemical engineer and later took up painting as an avocation. He became interested in the materials artists use and in 1940 published The Artist‘s Handbook of Materials and Techniques, which became a classic in the field. He taught courses in painting materials and techniques at Columbia, the New School for Social Research, and the Art Students League. He exhibited his own work and was a consultant in the conservation of paintings to museums and private collectors. Along with his wife, artist Bena Frank Mayer, he founded the Artists Technical Research Institute in 1959. The Institute provided artists with technical information on materials and methods. After his death, his wife reestablished the institute at Yale University as the Ralph Mayer Learning Center. Mayer and his wife were married in 1927. He died on August 3, 1979.

From the guide to the Ralph Mayer papers, 1940-1989, (Manuscripts and Archives)

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