History of Design: Color Curiosities

Color
by Tom Seabrook

We tend to picture history in shades of black, white, grey, and sepia, thanks to the earliest photographs we have. But the past was not strictly somber; in fact, most of human history has been awash in vibrant color. Take a journey through time to learn more about historical colorways.

PATRIOTIC PALETTE

color

When we think of George Washington, Ben Franklin, and other people of the Revolutionary War era, we don’t usually think of bold interior design choices. But examples like the interior of Independence Hall in Philadelphia show that colorful walls and furniture were all the rage in the late 1700s. Are you brave enough to rock colors like this in your home?

BEETLEJUICE!

color

Certain beetles and other bugs can provide colorful dyes. Native Americans prized the red dye of the cochineal, which was exported to Europe in colonial times and is still used today, even though we now have synthetic alternatives. This dye is sometimes used in food coloring, too, so you may have eaten bugs without even knowing it!

STATUESQUE SPECTRUM

The cities of Ancient Greece and Rome were uniformly built of gleaming white marble, right? While that’s the impression we get today from statues in museums, the ancients in reality loved color. Statues of gods and heroes were often brightly painted and gilded, lending them an almost garish look to our modern eyes. Centuries of being outdoors stripped the ancient statues of their original paint jobs.

IT’S EASY BEING GREEN

Did you know that the Statue of Liberty was not originally green? When it was built out of copper in the 1880s, its natural color was a brownish shade similar to that of a penny. As a result of years of exposure to the elements in New York Harbor, Lady Liberty quickly took on her familiar green patina—now just as iconic as her crown and torch.

FINE HANDIWORK

Before color photography became the norm, black and white photos were often colored by hand (kind of like a paint by number). In photos from the Civil War, soldiers’ belt buckles and buttons were touched up with gold paint to make them shine. In the early 1900s, entire portraits were sometimes tinted to make the subject really come to life.

BABY BLUES

The association of blue with baby boys and pink with baby girls is quite recent. About 100 years ago, the color recommendations were actually flipped—blue for girls, pink for boys. Go back even further and the distinction disappears altogether; in earlier times, all babies wore white dresses, which made it much easier to do the laundry!

We shared this article with you in our Spring/Summer 2021 Issue of NEST Magazine. To view the full issue, click here

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