Distemper

If egg tempera was the protagonist of Jan Dickey's workshop, distemper was its quieter sibling — demonstrated side by side precisely so we could feel the difference between two animal-protein binders.

What it is

Distemper is the simplest of all: animal glue (rabbit skin glue or hide glue) plus pigment — and nothing else. No chalk (which would make it gesso), no egg (which would make it tempera). Just protein binder and color.

How it behaves

Where egg tempera dries to a slightly waxy, translucent surface, distemper dries drier, more matte, and more opaque. That opacity and chalky flatness made it the natural choice for surfaces meant to be seen as flat color rather than as luminous glaze.

• Matte, non-reflective finish.
• Opaque — it covers rather than glazes.
• Like all animal-glue paints, it re-activates with water and is reversible.

Where it came from

Distemper began as a wall and decorative painting technique in the European tradition — the paint of murals, theatrical scenery, and decorative interiors, where large areas needed even, matte coverage and where permanence under handling mattered less than immediate effect.

A note on the word

The vocabulary itself is instructive. "Tempera" comes from to temper — to bring a material to the right balance or quality. "Distemper" shares its root with temperament, the balance or stability of a thing. Both names point at the same underlying idea: a binder is something you bring into the correct temper, the right working balance of strength, flow, and film. Jan demonstrated distemper alongside egg tempera so the two could be read as variations on that single theme — different animal proteins, tempered to different ends.

Jay's Studio Note

Seeing distemper and egg tempera brushed out next to each other was the clarifying moment of the day. On paper they're both "animal-protein paint," but in the hand they could not be more different: the egg goes down with a faint sheen and a sense of depth, the distemper sits flat and dry and frank. It taught me that "matte" and "translucent" aren't surface effects you add later — they're built into the binder you choose at the very start. The etymology stuck with me too. To temper a medium is to balance it, the way you'd temper steel or a temperament. I like thinking of every batch of paint we mix as something we're trying to bring into temper rather than just stir together.

References

• Jan Dickey, Tempera & Distemper Workshop, Material Memory Studio, Seoul, 7 June 2026. Jan Dickey is a New York-based painter, curator, and art writer. Jan Dickey at Material Memory Studio
• Cennino Cennini, Il Libro dell'Arte, c. 1400 — descriptions of hide glue-based binders in the European painting tradition