petrorresina [in italic] ("petro-resin", a mixture of petroleum, dammar resin and pigment)
Explanation:
As far as I can tell there is no English equivalent of this term. It is apparently unique to Dr. Atl (Gerardo Murillo); there are no references, at least on the Internet, to its use by any other artist. He almost certainly invented the substance and the Spanish term for it. So I think what we have to do is use the Spanish term, adding a literal English equivalent (at least I would) and an explanation, either in parentheses or in a note, depending on your client's preference.
At first sight it seems reasonable to assume that it might be hydrocarbon resin, but it can't be, because hydrocarbon resin is a type of resin used as an additive (in paint and other things) whereas "petrorresina" is a painting medium. The only definition of it I can find, which I have quoted as a reference below, comes from an authoritative Mexican source, and says that it's a mixture of "petróleo, resina dammar y pigmento" used as a painting medium instead of oil paint or tempera. And that fits with the scarce references to it, including your source, which indicate that Dr. Atl painted pictures in "petrorresina". The following is from a book on the artist, the only one I can find, Dr. Atl, by Alma Lilia Roura (Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Dirección General de Publicaciones, 1999):
"Las bacantes desnudas y sexuadas, pintadas por Atl a la petrorresina —otra técnica personal— representaban al Sol, El Viento, La luna, La lluvia, La noche, El vampiro y El titán..." (p. 20)
https://books.google.es/books?redir_esc=y&id=NeJeAAAAMAAJ&fo... (only snippet view available)
You can also read it here: https://www.facebook.com/pezneo/posts/647645518609696
And this is from an article on Dr. Atl by Enrique Navarro:
"Peculiares habían sido el temperamento y la vida del artista; peculiares también sus temas y visiones; peculiares, por tanto, tenían que ser sus materiales y recursos técnicos. Ya habíamos mencionado los atlcolores. Agreguemos la petrorresina y el temple enriquecido con óleo.
Técnicas todas propensas a la mixtura y aplicación pastosa sobre superficies de todo tipo."
http://www.informador.com.mx/cultura/2009/127535/6/visiones-...
Well, I've looked at technical reference works on painting techniques and media and there is nothing in English corresponding to this mixture. Those who have written on Dr. Atl in English mention his famous "Atl-color", which consisted of a mixture of "wax, dry resins, gasoline and oil color" and were manufactured in small bars, and could be dissolved in gasoline. He also mixed it with oil and watercolour. See this chapter on Dr. Atl by MacKinley Helm from Modern Mexican Painters (1941), reproduced in Readings in Latin American Modern Art, ed. Patrick Frank (see p. 6):
https://books.google.es/books?id=TrxBcvheYccC&pg=PA6
But although the mention of gasoline here sounds a lot like "petrorresina", it's clearly not exactly the same thing; your text and the Spanish sources I've quoted show that "petrorresina" and "altcolores" were two different media. It also suggests that the "petróleo" mentioned in the Spanish definition of "petrorresina" could have been gasoline; however, I think I would use the general term "petroleum", because we can't be sure.
"Resina dammar" is a substance quite widely used in art, to make varnish and encaustic wax. It's also spelled "damar".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dammar_gum
https://books.google.es/books?id=X09r_D3mpFgC&pg=PA35&lpg=PA...
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Note added at 18 hrs (2017-09-08 10:44:50 GMT)
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Just to clarify, in the light of kittilina's response to my comment:
Hydrocarbon resin is also known as petroleum resin:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_resin
It's a resin derived from petroleum products and is used as a tackifier, an additive to make certain substances tackier or stickier. In Spanish it's called "resina de petróleo" or "resina de hidrocarburo". I have found no examples of it being called "petrorresina" (though of course it might be). But even if it were, Dr. Atl's "petrorresina" has nothing to do with petroleum/hydrocarbon resin. It contains a mixture of petroleum with a quite different kind of resin, of vegetable origin, dammar gum.
Besides this, petroleum/hydrocarbon resin is not a viable painting medium, with or without paint, and I have found no evidence of it being used by painters. It's used in industrial applications.
| Charles Davis
Spain
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Specializes in field
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