This video reminds me of the Van Gogh painting of an almond blossom tree. He was inspired to paint it after seeing Japanese blossom paintings being toured locally to him.
Ah yeah, I hear Japanese prints were all the rage for European artists when they became more available after the Meiji Restoration of 1868. I visited Claude Monet's home in Giverny, France, and he owned many of them, including Hokusai's famous "The Great Wave off Kanagawa". He was particularly inspired by Hokusai's (and others') practice of producing many works of one single subject, but from a number of perspectives and contexts, and applied this to his studies of Vétheuil, and of course his many Water Lilies paintings.
"I wonder if he funded a second chapel to atone for his pride..." :D I love how this series always unfolds into multiple layers. Go in starting with trading colour and materials, and emerge delving into the exchange of ideas and motifs and stories and so much more. And end with an engaging piece of contemporary work that I need to look into more. Thank you CC and thank you Sarah!
In the book Catherine, Called Birdy (set during the reign of Edward II), she describes making blue paint with lapis lazuli, and that's such a neat little detail to include a thing that would have been relatively new to England at the time.
It is nice to see Padua mentioned in the video, the frescoes are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. There exists a superstition regarding the Scrovegni Chapel. It is believed that if a student visit it before graduating from the University, they will never graduate. I became aware of this after my second visit to the Chapel, it seems I am more than doomed now 😅. Anyway, the city is beautiful and makes for a wonderful day trip if you are visiting Venice.
@@austinfreyrikrw6651 expensive not just because the snails were hard to get and didn't produce much pigment individually, but I hear the process to create the vibrant purple pigment was very finicky, and you could easily end up with reddish or brownish colour.
I'd wondered this too, and then saw a video from the PBS folks - "Fascinating Fails" - where they discussed exactly how purple was obtained before artificial purple became a thing. Very interesting!!
0:24 "The color came from tiny cochineal insects: dried, pulverized, and strained into the reddest dye in the world" I remember when I first found about that in a science class, and it was kinda shocking because that dye is also used in cosmetics and food (under the names "carmine" or "cochineal extract"), not only artwork and textiles. I felt weird about unknowingly eating bugs (I even thought my science teacher was pranking us at the time).
Another contemporary concern when it comes to syncretism (and associated practices like appropriation and remix) is that today artists (and people in general) tend to be more aware and more careful about the power relations involved in cultural mixing and borrowing, the histories that contextualize those actions, and the consequent ethics. There's (or ideally, should be) more understanding that when historically-powerful folks 'syncretize' the work of folks they're oppressing, that that gesture can be harmful.
The cochineal red leads me to wonder about the interrelationships of rarety (leading to perceived value) and fashion, itself driven by the desire to express wealth and status. So we know off the rare red, here, and blue and, i assume, a similar case occurs for purple (now associated with royalty). And even trying to achieve a "pure" white fits in this human dance... 🤔
This video reminds me of the Van Gogh painting of an almond blossom tree. He was inspired to paint it after seeing Japanese blossom paintings being toured locally to him.
Ah yeah, I hear Japanese prints were all the rage for European artists when they became more available after the Meiji Restoration of 1868. I visited Claude Monet's home in Giverny, France, and he owned many of them, including Hokusai's famous "The Great Wave off Kanagawa". He was particularly inspired by Hokusai's (and others') practice of producing many works of one single subject, but from a number of perspectives and contexts, and applied this to his studies of Vétheuil, and of course his many Water Lilies paintings.
I love those. They're happy Van Goghs!
"I wonder if he funded a second chapel to atone for his pride..." :D I love how this series always unfolds into multiple layers. Go in starting with trading colour and materials, and emerge delving into the exchange of ideas and motifs and stories and so much more. And end with an engaging piece of contemporary work that I need to look into more. Thank you CC and thank you Sarah!
In the book Catherine, Called Birdy (set during the reign of Edward II), she describes making blue paint with lapis lazuli, and that's such a neat little detail to include a thing that would have been relatively new to England at the time.
It is nice to see Padua mentioned in the video, the frescoes are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. There exists a superstition regarding the Scrovegni Chapel. It is believed that if a student visit it before graduating from the University, they will never graduate. I became aware of this after my second visit to the Chapel, it seems I am more than doomed now 😅. Anyway, the city is beautiful and makes for a wonderful day trip if you are visiting Venice.
I hope this series never ends
Would that red and ultramarine made a grand "royal purple", or was there already a excellent purple pigment available?
Purple was historically got from the shell of a sea snail, the Spiny dye-durex.
Yes, I believe there is a fantastically expensive natural purple dye made from sea snails, Tyrian purple.
@@austinfreyrikrw6651 expensive not just because the snails were hard to get and didn't produce much pigment individually, but I hear the process to create the vibrant purple pigment was very finicky, and you could easily end up with reddish or brownish colour.
I'd wondered this too, and then saw a video from the PBS folks - "Fascinating Fails" - where they discussed exactly how purple was obtained before artificial purple became a thing. Very interesting!!
@@ndemersthis is true. You can watch videos of people that still make Tyrian purple the old fashioned way and it’s a difficult process.
I adore this series! ❤
same!
beautiful episode, just a treat to the eyes!
What a great way to end my Thursday, yay!
Amazing episode
fantastic show
can we get a full documentary about this with expansion on other colors? plz
I really enjoyed this! A lovely mix of art history and surrounding context. Thanks
Thanks for sharing your knowledge in such an engaging way. You're amazing!
Love the series!
The development of the synthetic purple dye mauve started a fashion trend due to the sudden availability of inexpensive coal tar aniline dyes.
i thought they were going to mention vantablack and pinkest pink :)
0:24 "The color came from tiny cochineal insects: dried, pulverized, and strained into the reddest dye in the world" I remember when I first found about that in a science class, and it was kinda shocking because that dye is also used in cosmetics and food (under the names "carmine" or "cochineal extract"), not only artwork and textiles. I felt weird about unknowingly eating bugs (I even thought my science teacher was pranking us at the time).
You should do at least one episode on the Performing Arts and Performance Art.
Great info
Thank you!
Another contemporary concern when it comes to syncretism (and associated practices like appropriation and remix) is that today artists (and people in general) tend to be more aware and more careful about the power relations involved in cultural mixing and borrowing, the histories that contextualize those actions, and the consequent ethics.
There's (or ideally, should be) more understanding that when historically-powerful folks 'syncretize' the work of folks they're oppressing, that that gesture can be harmful.
Thanks for sharing.
The cochineal red leads me to wonder about the interrelationships of rarety (leading to perceived value) and fashion, itself driven by the desire to express wealth and status. So we know off the rare red, here, and blue and, i assume, a similar case occurs for purple (now associated with royalty). And even trying to achieve a "pure" white fits in this human dance... 🤔
We use the insect dye in food today
This was very informative and enjoyable.😊☮️🍰
Pigments for artist colors are often dependent on industrial companies.
Any assignments?
So cool
Ok, I did laugh at the blue joke 😂
Amazing video ❤❤
It's not related to art, but cochinilla is still used as a food colorant even today, because of its biocompatibility
Wow
Lapis Lazuli comes on screen, viewers start sweating in fluent Minecraft lol
Today I learned Ultramarine is a color and not just an army of Space Marines
❤❤❤
…not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s actually cerulean…
First view 👀 and comment .