Reinventing The Colour Wheel: How The Industrial Revolution Changed The Artist’s Palette
Prior to the advancements born from the industrial revolution in the 19th century, paints were formed by subjecting a raw material to laborious processes carried out by hand, usually by the painters themselves. The costs of certain pigments could prove to be extortionate due to the rarity of the material from which they were derived, meaning certain shades would be scarcely seen across all art produced in the period. But with the introduction of synthetic pigments and industrialised paint-making, new colours flooded the market at lower costs, making both the art of painting and the spectrum of colours that could be used more accessible to the public.
It was from the dye industry that an array of new colours originated. Commercial synthetic dyes began in the lab of the British chemist William Henry Perkin, who, while trying to produce quinine in 1856, discovered he could use aniline (a compound from coal tar, a byproduct of making coal gas used in gas lighting) to create a purple colour, which he then initially dubbed ‘Tyrian purple’. The name itself references an expensive ancient dye, made from the mucus of thousands of predatory sea snails, possibly in an attempt to create an upper-class association and therefore desirable connotation. Eventually, the name of this colour was changed to the simpler ‘mauve’, and the dye ‘mauveine’.
Figure 1 - Perkin's Mauve
Perkin’s new dye took off. Not only did his discovery make him extremely wealthy, but it inspired other chemists to produce their own aniline dyes. Soon, a vast range of bright greens, blues, pinks, etc joined their predecessor on the market, to the joy of the consumer. Embracing this new demand, manufacturers began producing colour handbooks that displayed the variety of synthetic dyes to their customers, allowing them to pick their desired shade. Some of the fashions created from this boom were so momentous that they were then exhibited in the London International Exhibition of 1862.
It was the success of these new dyes that allowed them to leak into the art world. For centuries, paint had generally been made by grinding down materials on a slab made of stone or glass to a powder that could then be mixed with a binding agent (eg: egg yolk for tempera, linseed oil for oil paint). Working so intimately with a material allowed for rich pigments to be pulled from the source, yet often colours would differ in consistencies across colours, some of which being known to be quite difficult to paint with.
Winsor & Newton, industrial colourmen, solved this problem by formulating a consistent, soft oil paint. They ground the raw materials into powder and mixed it into oil as had always been done, but instead of doing the process by hand, they used new steam powered mills introduced in 1844. This system produced much finer powders than previously possible in much larger volumes, allowing for more consistent textures across batches. Texture could be further altered by adding wax, tallow, petroleum jelly or extra oil to make the paint thinner or thicker depending on what was required. The addition of extra oil also aided in increasing the longevity of their product, preventing it from drying out in its packaging.
It was these additives and new methods that became the root of most of the complaints and issues for Winsor & Newton. They were accused of overfilling the tubes with cheap buffer materials in order to lower costs at the expense of the quality of the paint. The excess oil was commonly disliked and made finished paintings more prone to yellowing, cracking, and darkening than their historical counterparts. The steam mills also were incapable of accounting for the unique qualities and handling required to produce the best pigment, leading to overgrinding and therefore dulling of the final colour. Synthetic dyes are also prone to fading quickly so it comes as no surprise that some of the pigments in pre 19th century works hold up better (brighter, fresher) in the modern day than those post the industrial revolution.
Figure 2 - faded mauveine dyed thread
The industrial revolution also increased accessibility of art to a wider public. By introducing both cheaper pigments and using steam mills to create large amounts, the once exclusive and expensive activity of painting became less so, ushering in a new generation of creatives with ideas and possibilities with the whole colour spectrum readily available at their fingertips. Without it, it is unlikely we would have seen art movements such as impressionism and all that it pioneered. But whether these positives are worth the significant drop in quality, which will unfortunately most likely only become more evident as the years progress, remains a question that can only be answered in personal opinion.
Sources
Blaszczyk, Regina Lee. The Color Revolution. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2012
Dootson, Kirsty Sinclair. "Industrial Color: Chromatic Technologies in Britain, 1856-1969." Order No. 13841647, Yale University, 2018
Images
Figure 1 - via ELLE Decoation
https://www.elledecoration.co.uk/decorating/colours/a32879162/colour-pioneer-sir-william-henry-perkins-mauve/
Figure 2 - via Science Museum
