Pigments and their meanings: the colours of art from China to the Mediterranean 

What is the course about?

Red, Blue, Green, White, Gold, Purple, Silver and Black - when we look at a work of art from any culture or period in history, be it a painting or an object, colour will be foremost in our sensory perceptions. The colours are created from the choice and preparation of the materials they are made from, be they metals, precious stones, ceramic glazes, dyes, or ground pigments made into paints and lacquers.

Prior to the modern era, all perceived colours in art were made from natural materials, with minerals and metals extracted from the earth, or dyes extracted from vegetable and animal sources as the source constituents. Many were simply processed from natural materials rich in their native colour, like rich blue lapis lazuli or green malachite paints, but others involved processes of industrial chemistry that evolved over millennia, like Egyptian faience, ceramic glazes, or the chemical magic of dyes with the mordants that set their colours.

Long-distance trading routes meant that art, industry, and ideas were exported and across the ancient world. Visual inspiration and methods of production were disseminated, igniting new industrial developments in production that often fed back into reciprocal advancements, creating a surprising connectedness across diverse cultures.

In this lecture we will look at the stories of some key colours, materials, and production methods that crossed the known world, how they were produced from local or imported source materials, and how they were assimilated into diverse cultural codes of meaning and significance from China to the Mediterranean.

What will we cover?

• A brief introduction to how natural substances were used to make colour in artworks.
• How colours, materials, and production methods impacted by cultural exchange.
• The symbolism of colours in different cultures.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

• List four principal minerals that were sourced to make colour.
• Identify two important colour technologies that crossed Asia and Europe.
• Relate two examples of the cultural symbolic significance of colour in artworks

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This course is suitable for all levels and requires no previous experience or study of the subject.

You should be able to follow simple written and verbal instructions, demonstrations, hand-outs and health and safety information. This course takes place on Zoom. Please be familiar with or be willing to learn how to operate elements of Zoom, specifically camera, microphone and chat functions. For more on how our online learning works, please click here.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

You will be taught with lecture and slide presentation. This course does not include an active discussion element, but there will be time for Q&A at the end of the session.

Please note: This is a live lesson course - sessions are not recorded or available on demand for reasons of copyright, data protection and digital infrastructure.

No documents will be shared in this session. A short reading list will be shared at the end (not before).

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

The are no additional costs.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

VB348 Ceramics in Early Islam: 9th - 16th Centuries

VB524 Friday Lates: The East India Company and the Passion for Chintz