2015-10-17: Private Tour and Talk at the Norton Simon Museum of Art

In honor of the National Chemistry Week theme of “Chemistry Colors Our World”, we are pleased to arrange a private tour of the Norton Simon and their Special Exhibit, “A Revolution of the Palette: The First Synthetic Blues and their Impact on French Artists”.

Abstract of the Exhibit: The accidental discovery of Prussian blue in an alchemist’s laboratory around 1704 helped to open up new possibilities for artistic expression at the dawn of the Enlightenment. A Revolution of the Palette explores the use of this pigment, followed by the introduction of cobalt blue and synthetic ultramarine, by French artists from the Rococo period to the threshold of Impressionism. 

Abstract of the Talk: Color dictionaries and the nomenclature of colors, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, provide an arresting view of the ways in which people have tried to quantify a very slippery concept—the name and exact shade of a specific color. What was the logic behind these color choices and these names? As revealed in the lecture, many of the terms used for colors are in wide use today, but their origins are obscure—and many of them came from color dictionaries, for a strikingly wide variety of reasons.

Cost: $20 includes admission to the museum plus the tour and talk. The tour is limited to 25 people on a first-come, first-served basis. Please RSVP to Nancy Paradiso at office@scalacs.org by October 9th. After the tour concludes at 3:00 pm, please pick up your sticker for the talk at the Main Entrance Gallery.

More information about the exhibit, the speaker and directions to the museum are available at: http://www.nortonsimon.org/. Parking is free.