Color

Color is one of the more exciting aspects of painting. But in treating a historical subject, it can prove troubling. It is difficult to dial back the clock to apprehend what was meant by what people have meant by terms such as "red" or "blue." It is the apparent simplicity of of such terms makes such an inquiry so surprising. For example, consider that, despite poetic and beautiful descriptions of the sea and sky, there is not a single word for the color "blue" in Homer's Odyssey. An interesting program on the history, perception, and development of color was produced by Radio Lab in 2012. Listen to it here.

Phillip Otto Runge's Color Sphere (Farbenkugel): http://irtel.uni-mannheim.de/colsys.html

For this painting, I have consider the coloring agents that would have been employed by the late 17th century Mohawk and their european trading partners as I plan how to paint St. Kateri's clothing. What the primary sources identify as reds, yellows and blues, would not necessarily look the same as the colors we are familiar with today. Before the advent of aniline dyes in the 19th century, only pigments and dyes of mineral or vegetable origin were available. The natural blues extracted from the Dyers Woad plant were different from the synthetic indigos developed in germany by Baeyer and BASF in the late 19th century. These in turn are very different from the mineral based ultramarines and cobalts known in Europe, and the Phthalocyanine based blues of the modern era. The Jesuits, writing in their Chronicle spoke often of the brilliant hues employed in the native dress. However, their understanding of brilliant color was conditioned by the colors they knew from Europe. Contrast the 17th century colors and Modern colors.

For the tribes of the Northeast, Iron oxide and carbon black were the most important colorants, used in rituals and tree paintings (see Neil B. Keatings chapter on this in Iroquois Art, Power, and History). Fabric dyes came from a number of naturally occurring plants, such as the Sunflower. While relatively brilliant initially, many of these dyes were fugitive, and faded when exposed to water or light. Practically, for making this painting, I need to remember that the reds and yellows of their fabric would have had more in common with the natural iron oxides and plant dyes than modern synthetic colors.