The Art of Colour

Quirky online lecture form ARTScades examining the hidden meanings of pigments in art.

Kelly Grovier, author of “The Art of Colour: The History of Art in 39 Pigments” felt that there are layers we don’t understand when we look at colour and that it can it point to something outside the work. She came up with the interesting thought that we don’t question studying the depth of meaning of words in literature so why not examine colour in art.

She used a selection of examples with good illustrations. She asked whether the use of bone black, made from ground bones, could give overtones of death in a work? The effect of toxic paints on artists and how Giotto’s skull was identified by the presence of the minerals in the pigments he used in the bone.

“Flaming June” by Frederick Leighton, shown here was used to talk about how little orange was used as a colour when it could only be created using saffron which was very expensive but once Chrome Orange was manufactured it could be more widely used and this picture in particular wallows in it.

The talk gave me more things to think about when looking at a painting but I’m not sure they will be in the forefront of my mind.

 

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