Colours of Art

Chloë Ashby is an author and arts critic who writes and reviews for publications such as the Times, the Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar and the TLS. She is the author of two non-fiction books on art history, including Colours of Art: The Story of Art in 80 Palettes, and the novels Wet Paint, Second Self and Family Friends.www.chloeashby.com

• Introduction                                                                                                                                                                        1. First impressions                                                                                                                                          Stone Age, Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome                            Feature: The nature of colour – how artists created natural colours.    Horses, from the Chauvet cave near the Pont d’ArcBison, from AltamiraNebamun Hunting Birds, from the tomb of NebamunTomb of the Diver2. Ordering the world                                                                                                                                                        The RenaissanceFeature: A roaring trade – on the colour trade and the cost/availability of coloursLamentation, GiottoSaint Ansanus Altarpiece, Simone Martini and Lippo MemmiThe Wilton DiptychSaints Jerome and John the Baptist, MasaccioPortrait of a Man with a Turban, Jan van EyckThe Magdalen Reading, Rogier Van der WeydenThe Birth of Venus, Sandro BotticelliThe Rape of Europa, TitianPhilip II, Sofonisba AnguissolaPortrait of Bianca Degli Utili Maselli surrounded by six of her children, Lavinia Fontana  3. Cutting loose                                                                                                                                                                      Baroque to RococoFeature: The colour wheel – on Isaac Newton’s discovery of the colour spectrum, and his error – trusting maths over the sensations of the eyeRest on the Flight into Egypt, CaravaggioJudith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, Artemisia GentileschiThe Toilet of Venus (The Rokeby Venus), Diego VelázquezRising and Setting of the Sun, François BoucherColour, Angelica KauffmanSelf-Portrait with Straw Hat, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun  4. Keeping it real                                                                                                                                                 RealismFeature: Risky business – on poisonous colours and artists risking their lives for their work.Still Life with Cheeses, Artichoke and Cherries, Clara PeetersA Woman Bathing in a Stream, Rembrandt van RijnThe Goldfinch, Carel FabritiusThe Milkmaid, Johannes VermeerFlowers in a Vase, Rachel Ruysch  5. Two sides of a coin                                                                                                                                                         Neoclassicism to RomanticismFeature: How we see colour – on Goethe’s new symmetrical colour wheel and physiological theories.Albion Rose, William BlakePortrait of a Negress, Marie-Guillemine BenoistOrphan Girl at the Cemetery, Eugène DelacroixThe Burning of the Houses of Parliament , Joseph Mallord William TurnerComtesse d’Haussonville, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres  6. Let there be light                                                                                                                                                             The Impressionist RevolutionFeature: Colour chemistry – on the industrialisation of colour and the making of synthetic pigments.Two Women Chatting by the Sea, Camille PissarroYoung Woman with Peonies, Frédéric BazilleSymphony in Flesh Color and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland, by James Abbott McNeill WhistlerBerthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets, Édouard ManetIn the Country (After Lunch), Berthe MorisotCombing the Hair, Edgar DegasThe Child’s Bath, Mary CassattWaterloo Bridge, Blurred Sun, Claude Monet  7. On the edge of the spectrum                                                                                                                 Post-Impressionists, Pre-Raphaelites, Les Nabis, SurrealistsFeature: Colour decorum – on the relativity of colour and its use and reception in different cultural contexts. (An opportunity to touch on non-Western art.)Night and Sleep, Evelyn de MorganThe Suitor, Édouard VuillardThe Visit, Félix VallottonInterior. Strandgade 30, Vilhelm HammershoiBarbarian Tales, Paul GauguinThe Life, Pablo PicassoThe Green Blouse, Pierre BonnardThe Two Fridas, Frida KahloThe Old Maids, Leonora Carrington  8. Express yourself                                                                                                                                                              Expressionism and FauvismFeature: The psychology of colour – on colour communicating and sparking emotion.Two Crabs, Vincent van GoghThe Scream, Edvard MunchSelf-portrait on Sixth Wedding Anniversary, Paula Modersohn-BeckerGroup X, No.1, Altarpiece, Hilma af KlintThe Yellow Scale, František KupkaThe Dessert: Harmony in Red, Henri MatisseSeated Woman with Legs Drawn Up (Adele Herms), Egon SchieleStill Life with Blackening Apples, by Helene Schjerfbeck  9. Seeing it feelingly                                                                                                                                                            Abstract Expressionism and Colour Field PaintingFeature: Properties of colour – on hue, intensity and tone, and the changing precedence of each throughout art historyElectric Prisms, Sonia DelaunayMountains and Sea, Helen FrankenthalerBird Talk, Lee KrasnerNo. 11 (Untitled), Mark RothkoOcean Park #79, Richard Diebenkorn  10. Show some restraint                                                                                                                                   Monochrome and MinimalismFeature: The Pantone palette – on attempts to create a universal colour language. Plus Pantone’s predecessors, eg Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours (1814).Homage to the Square: Apparition, Joseph AlbersThe Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II, Frank StellaIKB 79, Yves KleinWhite Stone, Agnes Martin  11. By popular demand                                                                                                                                                       Pop Art to The Pictures GenerationFeature: Anything is possible – on new materials and colour experimentation outside of the medium of painting.Colour Her Gone, Pauline BotyIce Cream, Evelyne AxellUntitled (Your Body is a Battleground), Barbara KrugerA Bigger Splash, David HockneyLadies and Gentlemen (Iris), Andy Warhol  12. Here and Now                                                                                                                                                  Contemporary art from the 1970sFeature: The colour of art history – on artists painting black figures into the mostly white canon.Self-Portrait, Alice NeelSelf-Portrait, BasquiatUntitled, Etel AdnanTo Tell Them There It’s Got To, Lynette Yiadom-BoakyeSpinners (Moths and Spiders Webs), Kiki SmithSlaughter of the Innocents (They Might be Guilty of Something), Kara WalkerShantavia Beal II, Kehinde WileyBoucher’s Flesh, Flora YukhnovichThe Ruling Class (Eshu), Toyin Ojih OdutolaSabine, Alison WattUntitled, Lisa Brice  Index                                                                                                                                                                                        Further reading                                                                                                                                                                Picture credits                                                                                                                                                 Acknowledgements