For this month’s art appreciation column, Suffolk-based Artist, Educator and Presenter Grace Adam picks pink!
Okay, let me confess now, pink is not my favourite colour. I think I’ve been put off by Barbie dolls, cheap candy and the seemingly endless supply of pink plastic toys. Then of course there’s a crass assumption that pink is for girls. Pink, though, has an illustrious and surprisingly masculine past. Pink was power. If you were on trend and in the money in the 1700s you would have had it in your wardrobe and on your table. Men and women alike wore it. You could eat from a pink porcelain plate and sit in a pink silk wallpaper-lined drawing room. Pink was posh and it was green that was often allocated to girls.
Pompadour pink, (not a name you’re going to spot on a colour chart) was wildly fashionable in the French court of Louis XV. This was the Rococo period-all frills and frivolity for those who could afford it. Pink was luxury, money and fun. The colour was a particular favourite of the King’s mistress. Madame de Pompadour was a big fan of the colour. Her power meant she influenced not only foreign policy, but all things fashion.
Madame de Pompadour saw that The Vincennes porcelain factory near Paris thrived. She led the way by gifting pink porcelain to diplomats and to her man on the inside – the Minister of Police who was her court spy.
Politician Sir Miles sits pretty in pink. The popularity of pink in the 18C was due partly to the discovery of Brazilwood in South America which yielded a colourfast vibrant dye. It had been around a while, but it suited the 18C European penchant for acres of painted flesh and expensive exuberant interiors.
Henri Matisse 1902
Skip forward to the 20C and Matisse shows us the Petit Pontover the River Seine, and the east façade of Notre Dame Cathedral viewed from the high window of his apartment. It’s a place he painted many times in many different ways. Here the sombre tones reflect his dark mood. His work wasn’t selling well, and he was worried. His wife Amélie’s family was involved in a financial scandal. Amélie opened a dress shop to try and make money to support the then struggling artist.
I think this is a brilliant painting. Blocks of pink, green, purpleand blue lead us to the monolithic mass of the cathedral façade. All the elements fit tightly together like a beautiful jigsaw.
Fascinating to know that colours come in and out of fashion, that their significance and meanings change, so I will try and think pink.
Visit Grace Adam Artist.
Featured images – supplied
Love this post.
Ah, thank you
Grace x
Great subject to raise – thanks!
There’s no such thing as a bad colour. Only context dictates whether it ‘works’ or not.
Hi Gillian!
Thank you
Gx
Thank you for the pink rethink! It makes me think of all those saying like ‘in the pink’ and where they came from and their context. What an interesting set of pink art to look at from a pink perspective.