Is white skin really pink?
Flesh color as a pink color in art and culture in Occident
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23738/CCSJ.130205Keywords:
Flesh color, Skin color, Pink, Race, History of ColorAbstract
I will determine the shades associated with this idea of an unique flesh color, retrace its history and emphasize its inclusion in the field of pink. I carry out this analysis in a transhistorical and transmediatic way, based on medieval texts, literary works and artists' writings, compared with pictorial and sculptural, figurative and abstractive artworks, but also with other cultural productions like fashion, comics or animation. It is also a question of seeing in which ways this association between pink color and complexion is also articulated with the system of race, since it indicates only the skin of the Whites — even symbolically —, understood as the color of the skin in general.
References
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Lafont, A. (2019) L’Art et la race. L’Africain (tout) contre l’œil des Lumières. Dijon: Les Presses du réel.
Laneyrie-Dagen, N. (2006) L'Invention du corps. Paris: Flammarion.
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Lichtenstein, J. (1999) La Couleur éloquente. Paris: Flammarion.
Magnain, C. (2009) Modélisation de la couleur de la peau et sa représentation dans les œuvres d’art. PhD Thesis. University Pierre and Marie Curie. Available at: http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00430428 (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Massumi, B. (2005) ‘Fear (the spectrum said)’, Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique, 13(1), p. 31-48. doi: 10.1215/10679847-13-1-31.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1979) Le Visible et l’invisible. Paris: Gallimard.
Mollard-Desfour, A. (2009) Le Rouge: Dictionnaire de la couleur, mots et expressions d’aujourd’hui, XXe-XXIe siècle. Paris: CNRS.
Mollard-Desfour, A. (2002) Le Rose: Dictionnaire de la couleur, mots et expressions d’aujourd’hui, XXe-XXIe siècle. Paris: CNRS.
Morineau, C. (2006) ‘De l’imprégnation à l’empreinte, de l’artiste au modèle, de la couleur à son incarnation’, in Morineau, C. (ed.), Yves Klein. Corps, couleur, immatériel, exhibition catalogue, 5 October 2006-5 February 2007, Centre Pompidou, Paris. Paris: Centre Pompidou, p. 120-129.
Pelletier-Michaud, L. (2016) Évolution du sens des termes de couleur et de leur traitement poétique. L’Élégie romaine et ses modèles grecs. PhD Thesis. Québec: Laval University. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/26683 (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Pernac, N. (2008) ‘Le rendu pictural des carnations et ses significations chez Luca Signorelli (c. 1445-1523)’, in Albert, J.-P., Andrieu, B., Blanchard, P., Boëtsch, G. and Chevé, D. (ed.), Coloris Corpus. Paris: CNRS, p. 193-211.
Salamandra, L. (2018) Le Corps écorché, dépecé, recomposé. PhD Thesis. Paris: Panthéon-Sorbonne University. Available at: https://www.theses.fr/2018PA01H322 (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Santa Lucia, S. (2016) ‘Quand les spectres apparaissent en haute définition’, Usbek et Rica. Available at: https://usbeketrica.com/fr/article/quand-les-spectres-apparaissent-en-haute-definition (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Simmons, D.R. (2011) ‘Colour and emotion’, in Biggam, C. P., Hough C., Kay C. and Simmons, D. R. (ed.), New Directions in colour studies. Amsterdam and Philadelphie: John Benjamins, p. 395-414.
Steiner, R. (1921) Das Wesen der Farben. Grundzüge einer geisteswissenschaftlichen Farbenlehre für das künstlerische Schaffen. Reprint, Provo: Rudolf Steiner Online Archiv, 2010.
Wagatsuma, H. (1967) ‘The social perception of skin color in Japan’, Daedalus, 96(2), pp. 407-443. Available at: https://www.gwern.net/docs/anime/1967-wagatsuma.pdf (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Zimmermann, M., Levisen, C., Beck, þ. G. and Scherpenberg (van), C. (2015) ‘Please pass me the skin coloured crayon! Semantics, socialisation, and folk models of race in contemporary Europe’, Language Sciences, 49, p. 35-50. doi: 10.1016/j.langsci.2014.07.007.
Boudier, L. (2018) ‘Ettore Spalletti, une œuvre radicalement minimaliste, tactile et métaphysique’, Télérama. Available at: https://www.telerama.fr/sortir/ettore-spalletti,-une-oeuvre-radicalement-minimaliste,-tactile-et-metaphysique,n5620234.php (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Bourdieu, P. and Passeron, J.-C. (1970). La Reproduction: Éléments pour une théorie du système d'enseignement. Reprint, Paris: Minuit, 2018.
Cennini, C. (c.1390) Il libro dell’arte. Reprinted in: Gaetano (di), C. and Milanesi, C. (1859) Il libro dell’arte, o Trattato della pittura di Cennino Cennini. Florence: Felice Le Monnier. Available at: https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Il_libro_dell%27arte (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Clarke, T. and Costal, A. (2008) ‘The Emotional Connotations of color: A qualitative investigation’, Color. Resarch and Application, 33(5), p. 406-410. doi : 10.1002/col.20435.
Dagognet F. (1998) La Peau découverte. Paris: Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond.
Diallo, R. (2018) ‘Le #Sparadrapgate montre comment les spécificités physiques des noir.e.s sont ignorées en France’, Buzz Feed. Available at: https://www.buzzfeed.com/fr/rokhayadiallo/le-sparadrapgate-montre-comment-les-specificites-physiques#.mt6KLOobL (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Diderot D. (1876) Œuvres complètes de Diderot. Volume 11. Paris: Garnier Frères. Available at: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54010824 (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Diderot D. and Le Rond d'Alembert, J. (ed.) (1766) Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Volume 3. Paris: Briasson, David l’aîné, Le Breton et Durand. Available at: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k505351 (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Didi-Huberman, G. (2008) La Peinture incarnée. Paris: Minuit.
Emeriau, C. (2009) ‘S'éclaircir pour faire “peau neuve" ?’, Corps, 7, p. 111-116. doi: 10.3917/corp.007.0111.
Fend, M. (2005) ‘Bodily and pictorial surfaces: skin in french art and medicine, 1790-1860’, Art History, 28(3), p. 311-339. doi: 10.1111/j.0141-6790.2005.00466.x.
Fernandez-Sacco, E. (2001) ‘Check your baggage: Resisting whiteness in art history’, Art Journal, 60(4), p. 58-61. doi: 10.1080/00043249.2001.10792096.
Frost, P. (2010) Femmes claires, hommes foncés. Les Racines oubliées du colorisme. Laval: Presses Universitaires de Laval.
Garner, S. (2007) Whiteness: An introduction. London and New York, Routledge.
Gettens, R.J., Feller, R.L. and Chase, W. T. (1972) ‘Vermilion and cinnabar’, Studies in Conservation, 17(2), p. 45-69. doi: 10.1179/sic.1972.006.
Grisard, D. (2019) ‘The Im*possibility of pink’, in Jost N. and Grisard D., Instinctive Desire. Zurich: Fink, p. 13-60.
Hegel, G.W.F. (1848) Cours d’esthétique. Volume 3. Paris: Joubert. Available at: https://books.google.fr/books?id=ftYCAAAAYAAJ (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Hughes, K. and Wyatt, D. (2015) ‘The Rise and sprawl of breast cancer pink: An analysis’, Visual Studies, 30(3), p. 280-294. doi: 10.1080/1472586X.2015.1017351.
Garo, M. (2008) ‘De la couleur des bébés autour de la naissance. Observation de soignants, paroles de parents’, in Albert, J.-P., Andrieu, B., Blanchard, P., Boëtsch, G. and Chevé, D. (ed.), Coloris Corpus. Paris: CNRS, p. 103-112.
Jarman, D. (1994) Chroma. Traducted by: Mellet, J.-B (2003) Chroma. Des couleurs. Paris and Tel Aviv, L’Éclat.
Jost, N. (2016) ‘Pink Color System’, Pink Project. Available at: https://pinkproject.ch/pink-colour-system (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Kerttula, S. (2002) English Colour terms. Etymology, chronology, and relative basicness. Helsinki: Société Néophilologique.
Kuriki, I., Lange, R., Muto, Y., Brown, A. M., Fukuda, K., Tokunaga, R., Lindsey, D.T., Uchikawa, K. and Shioiri, S. (2017) ‘The Modern Japanese Color lexicon’, Journal of Vision, 17(3), art. 1. doi: 10.1167/17.3.1.
Lafont, A. (2019) L’Art et la race. L’Africain (tout) contre l’œil des Lumières. Dijon: Les Presses du réel.
Laneyrie-Dagen, N. (2006) L'Invention du corps. Paris: Flammarion.
Launay, A. (2015) ‘Pamela Ronsenkranz’, 02. Available at: http://www.zerodeux.fr/guests/pamela-rosenkranz (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Lichtenstein, J. (1999) La Couleur éloquente. Paris: Flammarion.
Magnain, C. (2009) Modélisation de la couleur de la peau et sa représentation dans les œuvres d’art. PhD Thesis. University Pierre and Marie Curie. Available at: http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00430428 (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Massumi, B. (2005) ‘Fear (the spectrum said)’, Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique, 13(1), p. 31-48. doi: 10.1215/10679847-13-1-31.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1979) Le Visible et l’invisible. Paris: Gallimard.
Mollard-Desfour, A. (2009) Le Rouge: Dictionnaire de la couleur, mots et expressions d’aujourd’hui, XXe-XXIe siècle. Paris: CNRS.
Mollard-Desfour, A. (2002) Le Rose: Dictionnaire de la couleur, mots et expressions d’aujourd’hui, XXe-XXIe siècle. Paris: CNRS.
Morineau, C. (2006) ‘De l’imprégnation à l’empreinte, de l’artiste au modèle, de la couleur à son incarnation’, in Morineau, C. (ed.), Yves Klein. Corps, couleur, immatériel, exhibition catalogue, 5 October 2006-5 February 2007, Centre Pompidou, Paris. Paris: Centre Pompidou, p. 120-129.
Pelletier-Michaud, L. (2016) Évolution du sens des termes de couleur et de leur traitement poétique. L’Élégie romaine et ses modèles grecs. PhD Thesis. Québec: Laval University. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/26683 (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Pernac, N. (2008) ‘Le rendu pictural des carnations et ses significations chez Luca Signorelli (c. 1445-1523)’, in Albert, J.-P., Andrieu, B., Blanchard, P., Boëtsch, G. and Chevé, D. (ed.), Coloris Corpus. Paris: CNRS, p. 193-211.
Salamandra, L. (2018) Le Corps écorché, dépecé, recomposé. PhD Thesis. Paris: Panthéon-Sorbonne University. Available at: https://www.theses.fr/2018PA01H322 (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Santa Lucia, S. (2016) ‘Quand les spectres apparaissent en haute définition’, Usbek et Rica. Available at: https://usbeketrica.com/fr/article/quand-les-spectres-apparaissent-en-haute-definition (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Simmons, D.R. (2011) ‘Colour and emotion’, in Biggam, C. P., Hough C., Kay C. and Simmons, D. R. (ed.), New Directions in colour studies. Amsterdam and Philadelphie: John Benjamins, p. 395-414.
Steiner, R. (1921) Das Wesen der Farben. Grundzüge einer geisteswissenschaftlichen Farbenlehre für das künstlerische Schaffen. Reprint, Provo: Rudolf Steiner Online Archiv, 2010.
Wagatsuma, H. (1967) ‘The social perception of skin color in Japan’, Daedalus, 96(2), pp. 407-443. Available at: https://www.gwern.net/docs/anime/1967-wagatsuma.pdf (Accessed: 28 January 2021).
Zimmermann, M., Levisen, C., Beck, þ. G. and Scherpenberg (van), C. (2015) ‘Please pass me the skin coloured crayon! Semantics, socialisation, and folk models of race in contemporary Europe’, Language Sciences, 49, p. 35-50. doi: 10.1016/j.langsci.2014.07.007.
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How to Cite
“Is white skin really pink? : Flesh color as a pink color in art and culture in Occident” (2021) Cultura e Scienza del Colore - Color Culture and Science, 13(02), pp. 42–49. doi:10.23738/CCSJ.130205.
