WHEN?Pigments in HistoryThe sixth circle Some pigments are coined Historical, some Modern, and some should be (in my humble opinion) called Contemporary or Post-Modern. Historical is a term that is definitely given to pigments known before 1704—when perhaps the first ‘modern’ synthetic mineral pigment, Prussian Blue, was created entirely in a lab (and entirely by…
Tag: art
5) Pigments from the industrial colour revolution of “The Long Nineteenth Century” (1798-1914) and beyond
WHEN?Pigments in HistoryThe fifth circle “Nothing is perhaps more peculiar than the process by which one obtains Prussian Blue, and it must be owned that, if chance had not taken a hand, a profound theory would be necessary to invent it” humbly admitted in 1762, the chemist Jean Hellot. If we discard then the discovery…
2) Pigments in Antiquity
WHEN?Pigments in historyThe second circle a) From 3000 B.C.E. to the end of the last Egyptian Dynasty Eventually, many centuries + the 3000 years of Egyptian rule later, well… it might seem that not much has changed at first glance! An inspection of the colours available to a pharaoh or his grand vizier shows pigments…
1) Pigments from eternity to c.3000B.C.E.
WHEN?PIgments in HistoryThe very first circle A timeline of pigments, such as the elegant one produced by Vivien Martineau here, should, in truth, begin like hers million upon million of years ago, in deep, deep time. My timeline unfolds from when those I have termed Art Pigments arrived in human hands. However, I am well…
Colors are not possessions
WHEN?Pigments in History “Colors are not possessions; they are the intimate revelations of an energy field… They are light waves with mathematically precise lengths, and they are deep, resonant mysteries with boundless subjectivity.” Isn’t Ellen Meloy’s definition of Colour in her Anthropology of Turquoise simply delicious? Still, we might as well admit it right now,…
C) Pigments (vs Colour)
WHAT?II. What’s in paint? One morning I woke up and told my husband: I’m going to write a book about colour! To which Vianney replied, being the tireless supporter of my wildest dreams (and privy to my darkest hours of doubt): That’s a great idea, but… do you know anything about colour? No, of course…
Art paint binders today
WHAT?II. What’s in paint?B) Binders Are you not amazed at the difference between these two paintings by Andrew Wyeth? Same talent, same subject, virtually the same angle, but the one on the left is painted with tempera on masonite and the other with watercolour on paper. The density of the board, the finesse of the…
Binders in order of appearance
WHAT?II. What’s in paint?B) Binders After this cycling detour, let’s go back to the beginning… oil will have to wait for quite a few centuries (millennia, to be fair) and have a look at binders in order of appearance.In most cases, it is hard to trace thousands of years back which binders have been used……
My introduction to binders
WHAT?II. What’s in paint?B) Binders Binder, when I first heard the word, was only evocative of books… something (thread + glue + leather embossed in gold?) that would efficiently keep the words tight, the folios in their intended order, the story making sense of this crazy world, perhaps. Could there be an analogy with binders…
The basic recipe
WHAT?II. What’s in paint? Despite all these superlatives, paint is, in fact, a rather simple material. (And yes, although I understand perfectly well that it’s a multi-ingredient affair, it still feels to me as if it’s the one material in the end… do you feel the same way?) You need a pigment or two or…
in bed with mona lisa 