This space is a placeholder for my #BWC2014 and #London trip report.
(1) Refining the palette: “Making Colour” at the National Gallery (The Economist)
I saw this exhibit twice (7.26 and 7.28) whilst in London. There really isn’t an official catalog SO I went back a second time to take notes.
The exhibit tells the story of color in Western art (paintings, ceramics, and textiles) from the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century.
In addition to describing the materials used, it examines the stability of those materials (pigments) as well as the techniques employed to capture the effects of light and shadow. The theory (and science) of color is also covered in the first room via The Natural System of Colours by Moses Harris and the de Mayerne manuscript.
The exhibit is organized by color and interspersed with examples of pigment sources (lapis lazuli, azurite, verdigris, realgar, vermilion, kermes, and cochineal).
It begins with blue and the process for acquiring, manufacturing, and exporting natural ultramarine (lapis lazuli) and concludes with gold/silver.
The exhibit includes paintings by:
(a) Renoir, The Skiff
(b) van Gogh, Two Crabs
(c) Treck, Still Life with a Pewter Flagon and Two Ming Bowls
(d) Monet, Lavacourt Under Snow
(e) Seurat, Study for Bathers at Asnières
(f) Sassoferrato, The Virgin in Prayer
(g) Rousseau, A Valley
(h) Cézanne, Hillside in Provence
(i) Ruysch, Flowers in a Vase
(j) Degas, Combing the Hair
(k) Bordone, A Pair of Lovers
(l) Dolci, The Adoration of the Kings
(m) van Lint, A Landscape with an Italian Hill Town
(n) Crivelli, Saints Peter and Paul
(o) Carracci, Christ appearing to Saint Peter on the Appian Way
One of my favorite objects in the exhibit was Turner’s Paintbox from 1851 (on loan).
(1a) A quote from A Closer Look Colour by David Bomford and Ashok Roy:
“Colour – along with light, shadow and movement – defines everything that we see…throughout history, the painter’s palette – the range of colours – has been dictated by several factors: the availability of materials, artistic or religious convention, stylistic influences and so on.”
(2) Brompton World Championship 2014 Official Video
(3) Tiddly
(3a) Richard III: The King in the Car Park
(3b) I can’t escape Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace [5.20.2014 #140]. I love that Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry were in the IT Crowd.