Marmolejos_Lisbeth_Midterm

the color that I chose is Indigo. the color indigo is very powerful and dignified, it conveys integrity and deep sincerity. Indigo reflects great devotion, wisdom and Justice along with fairness and impartiality. the symbolic meaning of this color was Power, Importance and Wealth. In the Bible, indigo symbolizes Heavenly grace.But, in my opinion, it is a very sophisticated and intimate color.
The color indigo’s organic structure or origin is the Indigofera tinctoria plant which is mixed with a plant called Woad,these are soaked in water to let the amino acid contained to release glucose. After this these two go through a fermentation process that causes the color to change to the beautiful bluish violet color, then this is mixed with an alkaline solution (bicarbonate of soda) and the sludge that results from that is pressed into cakes and dried. the Hard cakes can be ground into a fine powder that can be used to dye clothes and such. this was a very hard process. Indigo has historically been very important and economically because blue dyes were once a rare commodity,This beautiful mysterious Dye was so rare that only royalty and the aristocracy we able to afford it. they would have to be shipped with difficulty from far off colonies which gave Indigo a status similar to that of Tea, coffee, silk or even gold at the time. This is the dye very often associated with denim cloth and blue jeans.

The word Indigo alone kind of gives the origin away, meaning that it comes from India, but now we know that it also comes from the tropical zones in Africa and China. Approximately 5,000 years ago, our ancestors in India, East Asia and Egypt and probably the Maya, used Indigo to Dye their clothes. This Color is a very deep blue, almost violet shade which is very herd to obtain.Today there are very few producers that offer natural indigo dyed jeans to their customers. The dye for these is usually imported from Brazil or El salvador.
Today I want us to look at Two beautiful paintings that use the color Indigo as its main color throughout the whole composition.These paintings were made by artist Marc Chagall. Chagall was a very well known Russian-French artist with Jewish descent. Chagall’s work often takes on the appearance of a dream-like fantasy, and that is what the color indigo gives off, it is Dreamy. Chagall was very well known in France and Russia in the period of Surrealism. This was a cultural moment after World war 1 known for its visual artworks and writings and the juxtaposition of uncommon imagery.
The first piece we will be looking at today is “Lovers and Sunflowers”. This beautiful painting shows Two young lovers who enter the married life full of hope and Joy in their eyes as well as their hearts, floating in a bliss among sunflowers. Far away in the background if we look close enough, a village can be seen as well as people and if we look to the right side of the painting closely enough we can see a young woman carrying a baby in her arms and floating, perhaps, this is a hint of what the future holds for these two young lovers. The color indigo is present throughout the whole piece as very saturated which gives it a very dreamy-like and intimate vibe, also, the yellow form the sunflowers gives off the the sense of joy that the young lovers were feeling. This is a piece with lots and lots of texture, the details in the young lovers dress and the sunflowers and the sky, it’s just awesome! also it is a very organic painting.

The other piece it’s called “America Windows” (1977) this piece presents an unusual Secular theme, combining symbols of American History, the Chicago Skyline and the arts. The panels present music, painting, literature, architecture, theater and dance. This was a gift to The City of Chicago and the Auxiliary Board of the arts Institute in Chicago in 1977 from Chagall.This piece was created over Stained glass which gives it a beautiful texture and there can also be seen many geometric shapes. Although the color indigo Is pretty consistent in this piece, some other pops of color give it a beautiful finish and this piece catches my attention so much because this was a new concept that Chagall was trying, and the piece is not just based on lovers or France or Self-portraits, or The village, its is more than that, it has now expanded overseas and that is beautiful.

Overall, both of these pieces were Amazing and the color indigo just completes everything, it gives it a very powerful, sincere, dreamy-like vibe which I absolutely love and I hope to analyze more pieces with the color Indigo on my own time.