unpaintableadj.n.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈpeɪntəbl/, U.S. /ˌənˈpeɪn(t)əb(ə)l/ A. adj.
Not paintable; esp. impossible to convey in a painting.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > [adjective] > capable of being painted > not
unpaintable1818
1818 Examiner 11 Jan. 27/1 Endeavouring to paint that kind of subject, which is..in fact unpaintable.
1849 C. Kingsley Poetry Sacred Art in Misc. (1860) I. 255 Farewell to unpaintable Lynmouth.
1880 Pen & Ink Sketches Native Life S. India ii. 16 He has painted these marks on every conceivable part of his trunk, not even excepting such out-of-the-way and almost unpaintable places as the nape of the neck.
1935 ‘A. Bridge’ Illyrian Spring iii. 34 It was unpaintable, of course—too vast, too glorious, too violent.
1982 Bull. Assoc. Preserv. Technol. 14 6/2 The silicone, being unpaintable, had to be one that would match the color of the stained trim.
2005 S. Street With Love from Backyards Chicago 261 The lightning and shadows of the steel girders joining together was an unpaintable picture of nature's power and man's own power to create.
B. n.
That which is unpaintable.
ΚΠ
1870 Daily News 28 Apr. 2/5 Few things can be more pitiable than to see the deliberate efforts of an artist to paint the unpaintable.
1891 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Aug. 774 The unpaintable is becoming every day more paintable; and sometimes the vanity of technique leads men into a self-conscious display of skill.
1907 M. Urquhart Wheel xix. 179 Spoke of ‘virgin blue’ to Mary, tried to make her see with his eyes, worship the aloof, the unpaintable, as he did himself.
1950 Bull. Art Inst. Chicago 44 4/1 Van Gogh painted the unpaintable, death, the sun and people with haloes of immortality round them.
2000 Artforum Dec. 158/1 These indisputably great canvases are supposed to be representations of the unpaintable—of each artist's particular Dreaming heritage.
Derivatives
unˌpaintaˈbility n. [ < unpaintable adj. + -ity suffix: see -bility suffix]
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > [noun] > capability of being painted > not
unpaintableness1884
unpaintability1888
1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 4 Oct. 5/2 The unpaintability of Mr. Gladstone.
1996 Old-house Jrnl. Sept. 54/2 Because of health concerns, unpaintability, and flammability, it [sc. creosote] is now only applied in regulated plants.
unˈpaintableness n. now rare
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > [noun] > capability of being painted > not
unpaintableness1884
unpaintability1888
1884 Athenæum 16 Aug. 218/1 The artists who complain of the ‘unpaintableness’ of current attire.
1904 E. T. Cook & A. Wedderburn in J. Ruskin Wks. XIII. 510 (note) On the unpaintableness of the upper snows, compare p. 459.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1818