Bisgart | Italian Antique Store

Masonite and Faesite are two materials which were used in the the first Half of the XX century as base for paintings. Artists used them because they were cheaper than canvas and they were resistant, too.

MASONITE was invented in 1924 by William H. MASON an American engineer and hence the name masonite.
Moreover in 1938 in Italy it began to produce a Longarone fraction of Faè in a material almost equal, which will be called Faesite.
Faesitetwo and masonite are produced using scraps of wood, broken up and crushed, which are then transformed into pulp thanks to the water vapor. This is pressed into hot molds and the lignin offers to bind the fibers without using additional additives.

The tablet produced is very resistant and difficult to deform, therefore the hardwood-masonite was widely used by painters in the twentieth century.