The art history of the color blue

Blue.

Blue + Our Connection

Here are some things I found out about the color blue + our society

NAVY BLUE WAS ADOPTED BY MILITARIES AND POLICE TO CONVEY A SIMILAR ESSENCE OF TRUST

Blue for Boys

"the color for boys" is an even

newer notion that primarily arose

after the post World War II baby

boom.

It came about as a marketing

scheme, as manufacturers could

sell more clothes if some were

distinctly for boys, and others were

distinctly for girls.

Why is the blues called the ‘blues’?

• The name of this great American music probably originated with the 17th-century English expression “the blue devils,” for the intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal.

• Shortened over time to “the blues,” it came to mean a state of agitation or depression

I also found out that blue didn’t always ‘exist’

Sight is integral to the human experience

• When one thinks of sight and color, the two go hand-on-hand.

• Yet, it seems that not so long ago in history, colors were far less important to the human experience than they are today.

• When reading through Greek texts, historians have noted many strange color descriptions.

• In the Odyssey, for example, Homer makes hundreds of references to white and black, but colors like red and yellow are only mentioned a few times.

• The color blue, it turns out, is never mentioned.

• Instead, the author uses descriptions like "wine-dark" to describe blue items such as the sea.

LAZARUS GEIGER

• Lazarus Geiger, a philologist studied Icelandic sagas, the Koran, ancient Chinese

stories, and an ancient version of the Bible.

• Of Hindu Vedic hymns, he wrote: “These hymns, of more than ten thousand lines,

are brimming with descriptions of the heavens. Scarcely any subject is evoked

more frequently. The sun and reddening dawn’s play of color, day and night,

cloud and lining, the air and ether, all these are unfolded bore us, again and

again… but there is one thing no one would ever learn from these ancient songs…

that is that the sky is blue.”

• There was no blue, not in the way that we know the color- it wasn’t distinguished

from green or darker shades.

DID OUR ANCESTORS SEE BLUE?

• Until relatively recently in human history, “blue” didn’t exist, not in the way we

think of it.

• Ancient languages didn’t have a word for blue- not Greek, not Chinese, not

Japanese, not Hebrew.

• In other languages there are overlaps between blue, green and grey, or red,

orange and brown.

• And in many indigenous languages spoken today, there is still no word for blue.

• And without a word for the color, there is evidence that they may not have seen

it at all.

LANGUAGE & BLUE

• Every language first had a word for black and for white, or dark and light.

• The next word for a color to come into existence- in every language studied around the world- was red, the color of blood & wine

• After red, historically, yellow appears, and later, green (though in a couple of languages, yellow and green switch places).

• The last of these colors to appear in every language is blue.

LANGUAGE & BLUE

• For example, in Greek and Russian there are two words for blue corresponding to

light blue and dark blue, and these colors are considered and perceived as

separate.

• In other languages there are overlaps between blue, green and grey, or red,

orange and brown.

• And in many indigenous languages spoken today, there is still no word for blue.

LANGUAGE SHAPES OUR ABILITY TO SEE COLOR

• This all suggests that, until they had a word from it, it's likely that our

ancestors didn't see blue at all.

• Or, more accurately, they probably saw it as we do now, but they never really

noticed it

BLUE AND NATURE

• If you think about it, blue

doesn’t appear much in nature

• There are almost no blue

animals, blue eyes are rare, and

blue flowers are mostly human

creations.

BLUE & NATURE

• There is, of course, the sky, but is that really blue?

• As we’ve seen from Geiger’s work, even scriptures that contemplate the heavens

continuously still do not necessarily se it as “blue”.

• But we do know that ancient Greeks and others in the ancient world had the same biology and therefore the same capacity to see color that we do.

• But do you really see something if you don’t have a word for it?

BLUE AS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT

• A researcher named Jules Davidoff traveled

to Namibia to investigate this, where he

conducted an experiment with the Himba

tribe, which speaks a language that has no

word for blue or distinction between blue &

green.

• When shown a circle with 11 green squares

and one blue, they could not pick out which

one was different from the others- or those

who could see a difference took much

longer and made more mistakes than would

make sense to us, who can clearly spot the

blue square.

• This indicates that color blue is a social construction!

• http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-blue-and-how-do-we-see-color-2015-2

Creating the Color Blue

• Scientists generally agree that humans began to see blue as a color when they started making blue pigments.

• Cave paintings from 20,000 years ago lack any blue color, since as previously mentioned

• blue is rarely present in nature.

WHAT DOES BLUE SOUND LIKE?

• Synesthesia: is a condition in which one sense (for example, hearing) is

simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight.

• The most common form, colored letters and numbers, occurs when someone

always sees a certain color in response to a certain letter of the alphabet or

number.

• For example, a synesthete (a person with synesthesia) might see the word

"plane" as mint green or the number "4" as dark brown.

• There are also synesthetes who hear sounds in response to smell, who smell in

response to touch, or who feel something in response to sight.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trAv8Gf5Z3M

THE ART HISTORY OF THE COLOR BLUE

ANCIENT ART

Creating the Color Blue• About 6,000 years ago, humans

began to develop blue colorants

• Lapis, a semiprecious stone mined in Afghanistan, became highly prized among the Egyptians.

• They adored the bright blue color of this mineral.

• They used chemistry to combine the rare lapis with other ingredients, such as calcium and limestone, and generate other saturated blue pigments.

Ancient Egypt

• The only ancient culture to develop a word for blue was the Egyptians.

• They were also the only ancient culture to produce a synthetic version of blue dye.

• The ancient Egyptian word wadjet signifies blue, blue-green, and green

• Egyptian blue is a synthetic blue pigment made up of a mixture of silica, lime, copper, and an alkali

Lapiz was highly prized in the Mesopotamian civilizations of the

Middle East.

• It was used in the funeral mask of

Tutankhamun (1341–1323 BC).

IMPORTATION OF BLUE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST INFLUENCES ASIAN ART- INTRODUCING BLUE TO THEIR PALETTE. A COLOR NEVER BEFORE SEEN IN ASIAN ART

Qiu Ying. Emperor Minghuang's Journey to Sichuan. 1494-1552

Blue and white porcelain-ware with a depiction of a

Chinese dragon from the late Ming dynasty

BLUE IN LATIN AMERICA

MAYA BLUE

• In the Americas, Maya blue was

used as a colorant in pre-

Columbian artworks, sculptures,

murals, codices and textiles.

• As early as 800 AD we see the

mastery of the color blue.

MAYA BLUE IS SEEN SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE MURALS DONE BY THE MAYA.

• Blue was derived from a plant called añil(Indigofera suffruticosa) mixed with clay.

• Despite time and the harsh weathering conditions, paintings colored by Maya blue have not faded over time

MAYA BLUE

• Maya blue may have played an

important role in human

sacrifice to the god Chaac (rain

deity) at Chichén Itzá

• Blue was produced at the

sacrificial site and used to paint

the bodies of the victims.

Maya Blue

• Maya blue is associated with the center of a flame.

• Holding the most heat and therefore the most tonalli, the blue color is considered precious.

• Tonalli: vigor and energy for growth and development & was considered an animated force.

• Blue therefore is symbolized not but the color perceived but by the life giving force.

Aztecs & the color blue• Blue-turquoise was equivalent to

gold and silver for the Spanish.

• Blue-turquoise linked the Aztecs to the light and radiance of the Sun and the moon

• It was the color mirrored by the water, rivers, lakes and seas and the daytime sky.

Aztecs & the Color Blue• In Nahuatl (the language spoken by

the Aztec and still spoken by some 8-10 million Mexicans)

• The word for turquoise is ‘xihuitl’

• Xihuitl also is used to refer to a herb, comets, the year, and to anything precious.

• In fact, Nahuatl has 11 different words for blue!

• Ranging from sky-blue, light blue, dark blue, turquoise & blue-green.

EUROPE & THE RENAISSANCE

1400s-1500s

GIOTTO AND THE ARENA CHAPEL1301-1305PADUA, ITALY

• Giotto’s representation of the

heavens becomes revolutionary.

• The heavens and the sky will

almost exclusively be represented as

blue from here on after.

The Modern History of Blue

• The history of blue as a color for everyday man began when the Catholic Church made an important move in the year 431 AD.

• At this time, the Church decided to color-code the saints, and Mary was given a blue robe.

• Over time, the shade of blue that Mary wore became what is now known as "navy blue."

• Because Mary stood for innocence and trustworthiness, the color blue was seen as a positive light.

Back in Europe

• Ultramarine blue exploded and was obsessively used in Renaissance & Northern European paintings (1400-1600s)

• Ultramarine was expensive but created a color experience that was incomparable. 💙

• Blue was thus connected with the divine and a representation of the holy.

The effects of ultramarine blue

MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ART

1860s-1970s

1950s- today

Henri Matisse & BlueHenri Matisse (1869-1954)

• Matisse was part of a movement in the early 1900s in Europe called Fauvism.

• Fauvism believed that pure emotion could only be expressed through color- that language could not communicate what color could.

• Matisse’s expressive use liberated color, so that it is no longer determined by form.

• His color looks for a sensation that represents his subjective vision and state of mind

• For the spectator, Matisse’s form may seem right but his color may seem wrong, because it is not used to convey likeness, but rather sensation.

• As Matisse put it, “When I put a green, it is not grass. When I put a blue, it is not the sky.”

Van Gogh & the Colors of the Night

The Starry Night (1889)

Van Gogh iconic painting represents the darkness and coolness of the night with shades of blue.

The moonlit town is drowned in shades of blue.

Van Gogh was influenced by the Fauvist and understood their relationship with color

Sensation and romanticism is represented by the color blue.

Pablo Picasso & Blue Period

PICASSO’S BLUE PERIOD

• Is a term used to define the works by Picasso

between 1901 and 1904 when he painted

essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of

blue and blue-green.

• Picasso was influenced by a journey through

Spain and by the suicide of his friend Carlos

Casagemas

• subject matter—prostitutes, beggars and drunks,

society’s poor + outcasts

• Blue is representative of his melancholy,

depression & cheerlessness

Yves Klein1928-1962

France

• No other artist has been fascinated with blue as much as Yves Klein

• Klein was interested in the blue of the sky and the oceans and their associations with the infinity

• He was trying to capture in paint-infinity

• Klein’s work consists of almost entirely blue artworks

• He created a new type of blue called “International Klein Blue”

• Inaugurated a blue revolution so everyone could be consumed with his new blue.

Blue Monochrome (1957)

• This is one of Klein's first monochromes featuring International Klein Blue.

• He reported that, at the age of nineteen, he looked up at the sky and realized the infinite, immaterial space surrounding the universe.

• To depict his vision, he chose to use only one color, a vibrant shade of ultramarine, which he later perfected for use with the aid of chemists.

• The painting contains no trace of line or imagery, encouraging the viewer to immerse herself in the color alone and to experience its evocations

Klein wants us to look, perceive, set aside our everyday lives and just enjoy the great blue

beyond.

Venus (1962) Anthropométrie sans titre (1961)

Georges Rousseb.1947Paris, France

• Uses optical illusions to create imaginary spaces.

• Blue here again, is used to represent an illusion, a false reality, an imaginary space.

Daniel Arshamb. 1980

Hourglass Series2017Atlanta, Georgia

• three installations that blend audio, architecture, sculpture, and performance — as well as some of his very first works realized in color.

• After working in almost entirely in white, black and gray, the first color works by Arsham are in blue.

• Arsham’s recent departure from a palette of black, white and gray tones is the result of his recent use of special glasses that refract light, correcting his colorblindness and allowing him to see a broader, more vibrant spectrum.

blue is a direct response to this new visual capability.

‘I feel like I’m inside a game — an overly saturated world,’ arshamsays of his perceptive abilities while wearing the glasses. ‘but

now I’ve arrived at a point where I’m using color as another tool in my work. this is a unique project for me in that there is a ton of

color.’

Jung LeeAporia Series 2010-2012South Korea

• Aporia, which means “coming to a dead end” in Greek.

• Inspired by Roland Barthes’s A Lover’s Discoursem which tells the story of the ineptitudes of people in love.

• According to Barthes, when one falls in love the beloved becomes a mystery and one will ceaselessly try to figure out the reasons for their mysterious feelings.

• Blue is dreamlike and hazy representative of people in love.

Jung Lee, How Could You Do This To Me?, 2011 Jung Lee, I Want To Be Your Love, 2012

The desire to express one’s love produces lies and conflicts leading to a dead end. For Lee, those empty phrases reveal the solitude and sorrow of modern people todayLee’s constructed photographs evoke amorous intensity with a coolness that enables the viewers to find their

own way into this world, to have their memories stirred, to consider what it means to be alive in time.

Derek Jaraman“Blue” 1993

Blue is the twelfth and final feature film by director Derek Jarman, released four months before his death from AIDS-related complications.

Such complications had already rendered him partially blind at the time of the film's release.

The film was his last testament as a film-maker, and consists of a single shot of saturated blue color filling the screen, as background to a soundtrack where Jarman'sand some of his favorite actors' narration describes his life and vision.