Cadmium Scarlet 27-Sep

Editor: This is "Cadmium Scarlet," made by F. Weber & Company. It seems to be a jar of pigment, and what strikes me is its raw, almost scientific presentation alongside that colorful card. How does the history of color production inform your understanding of this piece? Curator: It's fascinating to see pigment presented this way, isn't it? Color wasn't always so readily available. What we see here is not just color, but the result of industrial processes that democratized art-making. Editor: Democratized? How so? Curator: Before industrial production, pigments were rare, expensive, and controlled by guilds or wealthy patrons. This jar represents a shift, where vibrant colors became available to a wider range of artists. It changed the social landscape of art. Editor: I never thought about it that way; the politics of color. Thanks for the insight! Curator: My pleasure! It highlights how art materials themselves have a history intertwined with social and economic shifts.