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The development of organic pigments.
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The discovery of Cadmiun in the 1800's created new ecstatic colrs. Cad orange was the color of the sun in Monet's painting that created the imprtessionist movement...
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The history & disagreeable origin of Indian Yellow
Indian Yellow is a luminous, deep-mustard pigment widely admired for its depth, body and radiance. Despite its popularity, the pigment’s peculiar source of origin remained unknown to leading artists for many years. We explore everything from Indian Yellow’s luminous discovery to its mysterious disappearance from the market and the ensuing laboratory results that would shock artists around the world...
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Enzo Ferrari led an interesting life as we might imagine, although reportedly he never got in an aeroplane or a lift, perhaps leaving speed racing as his only incalculable danger. He died in 1988 at the age of 90 and soon his company, and his surname, would be associated with the name of a colour: Ferrari Red...
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The Medieval palette included Umber, however, it favoured a brighter spectrum of colour combinations, such as Azurite (blue), Cinnabar (red) and Verdigris (green), so Umber wasn’t favoured. However, later during the Renaissance when artists were painting more naturalistic scenes in comparison to graphic images typical of Medieval painting, the earthiness of Umbers and Siennas were brought back into the fold, such as with the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, when he introduced Raw Umber in the shadows of his famous triptych ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’, 1503-1515.
During the 19th century Raw Umber’s popularity decreased when the Impressionist developed approaches to the painting of shadows that relied on neither black nor umber. The Impressionists, such as Monet, used elements from the relatively new theory of complimentary colours. For example, violet to create shadows; violet being the complementary of yellow, the colour of sunlight. Other shadows and browns were made from mixtures of red, yellow, green, blue in combination with new synthetic pigments such as cobalt blue and emerald green. Even in later years such is the impact that Salvador Dali discusses his aversion to Raw Umber in his book ’50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship’ (1948).
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The history and production of Rose Madder pigments
Ruby Madder Alizarin is a new Winsor & Newton colour formulated using the benefits of synthetic alizarin. We rediscovered this colour in our archives, in a tint book from 1937, and our chemists decided to try to match this powerful deep-toned variety of Alizarin Lake. We're proud to have maintained our rich, tender Rose Madder shade throughout the ages. Read why the process remains a secret to this day.
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A little-known piece of trivia is to be found in the scene where Dorothy, from inside her farmhouse, opens the door to the Land of Oz and to a world of colour. Here we see the sepia tones of Kansas and the colour of Oz in the same single tracking shot. To achieve this illusionistic effect the interior of the farmhouse was hand-painted sepia, as was Dorothy, and so the scene could be filmed in Technicolor, rather than on black and white film. When we see Dorothy opening the farmhouse door to reveal a world of colour, what we are actually seeing is the back of Dorothy’s body double, Bobby Koshay, dressed in specially designed sepia-coloured clothes, sepia make up and, in a sepia,-painted farmhouse. She opens the door to Oz and steps out of shot allowing Judy Garland to step into frame wearing a blue dress and through the door to Oz...
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The Bauhaus school in Dessau, Germany ran from 1919-1933, during which time the students, known as ‘Bauhauslers’, held festivals or parties several times a year. Each party would have its own theme, such as ‘Kite’, ’Lantern’ or ‘Beard, Nose, Hearts’, with extensive planning including invitations, decorations and costumes. The most famous of all the festivals was the ‘Metallic Festival’ or ‘Metallische Fest’ held on February 9, 1929. At the Metal Party, Bauhauslers were invited to dress as bottle openers, egg whisks or bells, making costumes using anything they could find that was silver in colour such as tin foil, frying pans and spoons. There was a chute guests could slide down to enter a room filled with silver balls and the windows of the building were covered in tin foil making the 1929 event resemble a scene from a science fiction film...
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Viridian was an attractive choice for artists at that time as previously there were limited options for green pigments. Emerald green (copper acetoarsenite), not to be confused with ‘Verte Emeraude’ the French name for Viridian, was one of the most vibrant alternatives. However, its arsenic content made it very dangerous and, in some cases, deadly. Chromium oxide green was much less toxic but its dark and dull colour made it a less appealing choice.
In contrast, Viridian green was both non-toxic due to its insolubility and had an intense colour. Moreover, Viridian has excellent lightfastness and as a transparent pigment it is very suitable for the glazing technique. The high oil absorption of Viridian makes it a fast-drying oil paint. Artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, who made meticulous studies of the properties of paints, used substances like walnut oil to slow the drying rate of Viridian on her palette.
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The first white watercolor
Winsor & Newton’s Chinese White also had the prestige of being tested and given the seal of approval by the famous scientist Michael Faraday. Faraday (1791-1867) was known for his work in electromagnetism, magnetic fields and the Faraday Cage, amongst other discoveries. In fact, Albert Einstein had a picture of Faraday on his wall (next to Isaac Newton and other prominent thinkers). Alongside his work in magnetism, Faraday also helped with the organisation of the Great Exhibition of 1851, where he assisted with planning and judging the exhibits. The Great Exhibition, also known as the Crystal Palace Exhibition, was one of the first in a series of World Fairs exhibiting items of culture and industry. One of the exhibitors was Winsor & Newton who won the only prize medal open to competitors for artists’ colours. Faraday’s interest in arts and culture also took on the guise of adviser for the National Gallery where he was able to help with the conservation of its art collection providing cleaning and protection advice.
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