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Pigments Talk with Margaret Beck
Saturday, June 20 at 12pm Pacific time
convert time zones here)
“Red Paint is From the Sun”: Pigments, Powers, and Places in the Midcontinental U.S.
Earth pigments are part of landscapes full of natural features, built places, humans and non-human species, spirits and forces, and memories, histories, and legends. In this talk, I discuss how we might use pigments to better understand past landscapes—in this case, Indigenous landscapes in the middle of what is now the United States. I draw on examples from the ancient Mississippian center of Cahokia, roughly one thousand years ago, and from later communities with ties to or influence from Mississippian culture (such as the Osage, Ponca, and Pawnee Nations). Archaeological pigments reveal the types of geologic places from which they were collected, and interviews, histories, and art can help situate those places within meaningful landscapes.
Margaret Beck is an archaeologist and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iowa (https://anthropology.uiowa.edu/people/margaret-beck). She currently works in the U.S. Great Plains and adjacent Midwest, with past projects in the U.S. Southwest, India, and the Philippines.
We record all PRI events except Community Conversations and make them available to PRI members.
You can view more than 50 recordings of past PRI events
in the videos sections of our Resources page.
NEW DATE!
Judith's talk has been rescheduled for July 18th.
Due to the date change, new registration is necessary.
The Allure of Nihonga: A Pigment Perspective
In this presentation, Judith Kruger explores the distinctive materials and techniques of Nihonga through the lens of Japanese pigments. Nihonga, (Nihon-Japan, ga-painting), emerged in the late 19th century during the Meiji period as a response to the growing influence of Western-style oil painting (yōga). Rooted in tradition yet shaped by modernization, Nihonga developed into a major movement within modern Japanese art.
Central to this tradition is its highly refined, extensive mineral pigment gradation system. Natural minerals are carefully ground, levigated and micronized into 15 different particle sizes, from coarse crystalline grains to fine powders. These grades determine luminosity, texture, and tonal subtlety, with coarser particles producing darker hues and finer particles yielding softer, lighter hues. Rather than relying on color mixing, Nihonga artists build depth, hue and saturation through precise layering. Transparent animal-glue binders suspend pigments while preserving their natural clarity. More than any other historical pigment painting practice, natural pigments from shell, earth, mineral and plant pigments are selected and finessed for their unique individual and collective material qualities: ultimately contributing to the medium’s restrained beauty and visual complexity. Synthetic Japanese pigments are also available today, featuring colors and effects that are not necessarily found in nature.
pigments talk
Saturday, July 18
12pm Pacific
(convert time zones here)
