The Alchemy of Paint - Art, Science and Secrets from the Middle Ages - Spike Bucklow
Colour: The Other Side
The Alchemy of Paint - Art, Science and Secrets from the Middle Ages - Spike Bucklow
Spike Bucklow [+]
Hamilton Kerr Institute, Cambridge
Spike Bucklow trained as a chemist. He synthesized sex pheromones for cockroaches, then developed materials for use in special effects. His latex creations feature in films including Indiana Jones, Greystoke, Little Shop of Horrors, Princess Bride and the 1980s satirical show Spitting Image. He then studied Artificial Intelligence and briefly worked in technical management consultancy where he discovered art conservation. He gained a PhD in art history, and is now a Senior Research Scientist and Teacher of Theory based at the Hamilton Kerr Institute in Cambridge. He has written about pigment use in art for a number of journals and draws on a wide range of experience to develop his ideas.
Description
The trade in artists’ materials, and their purification, synthesis and preparation provided clues about the values they embodied. But those clues all came from their outer nature, and things have an inner nature too. Lapis, for example, is the embodiment of water – which is why it lowered fevers, cleansed the eye and treated snake-bites – yet it contained a hidden germ of fire. Having looked at the outer nature of artists’ materials, the rest of this book deals with their inner nature. Of course, like ultramarine’s fire, the inner nature of things can be hidden, so this chapter explores how to see the inner nature of a colour.