Discover how the color pink evolved from a symbol of innocence and frivolity to a powerful vehicle for artistic play, ambiguity, and subversion.
Long associated with delicacy and sentiment, pink has also been used to express grandeur, sensuality, irony, and rebellion. This richly illustrated volume explores how the meaning and function of pink have changed across cultures and centuries from Sassettas Renaissance saints and Bouchers idyllic visions to the dreamlike florals of OKeeffe and the saturated islands of Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
Readers will encounter pink as a mark of divine humility in religious paintings by El Greco and Pontormo; as a signal of luxury and desire in the flirtatious scenes of Fragonard and the refined elegance of Boucher; and as a radical material in modern and contemporary works by Paul Signac, Georgia OKeeffe, and Takashi Murakami. The book is organized around forty artworks that each feature pink in a striking or significant way.
Arranged loosely in chronological order, each entry pairs a full-page image with a short, insightful essay that reveals how artists used pinkthrough pigment, and depictions of clothing, light, and fleshto shape meaning and mood. Throughout, timelines, maps, and sidebars offer cultural context and historical depth, including a vivid chart of historically and poetically named pinksfrom cuisse de nymphe and rose bonbon to vieux rose and rose vineuxthat reflect the colors remarkable expressive range.
Visually layered and full of unexpected connections, Pink invites readers to look again at a color too often dismissedand to see how it has illuminated, disguised, and transformed works of art for centuries.
