The History of Prussian Blue | Michael Armitage

Prussian Blue (pigment index range PB27) is deep and inky color. Its impact can be viewed throughout artwork history– it is the characteristic pigment of Picasso’s Blue Period, it was a favourite amid the painters of the Baroque and Rococo periods, and it is the colour that is generated in the cyanotype course of action (so supplying us the term ‘blueprint’). This post appears to be like at the intriguing heritage of the colour, its use in Japanese printmaking, and why acrylic painters are challenging-pressed to locate a authentic Prussian Blue paint.

The Record of Prussian Blue

Prussian Blue was made by incident in 1704. There are various accounts as to the actual tale at the rear of the color, but the most interesting is from German physician Georg Ernst Stahl (1659–1734). He says that a pigment maker in Berlin named Diesbach was earning a batch of a Red Lake pigment making use of potash, crushed cochineal bugs, and iron sulfate. Getting run out of potash, he went to area pharmacist Johann Konrad Dippel to acquire some more. Dippel, potentially searching to fleece Diesbach, marketed him potash that was contaminated with dried cattle blood. When Diesbach tried to make his purple pigment, it designed a deep blue pigment as a substitute. Dippel understood that it was his adulterated potash that experienced prompted this response and noticed a business enterprise possibility, so he carried out even further experiments and commercialised the color under the title Berlin Blue. Dippel kept the composition of the pigment a shut top secret, consequently amassing a significant fortune. Unfortunately for Dippel, an English chemist reverse-engineered it in 1724 and revealed the formulation. With his resource of cash flow all but gone, Dippel left Berlin, but his enterprising didn’t quit there. He claimed he had found an elixir of everyday living and tried to acquire a castle in exchange for it (an offer that was turned down). Rumours distribute accusing him of grave-robbing, experimenting with cadavers, and being in league with the satan. Some even theorise that he encouraged Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Putting apart its alternatively intriguing origin story, Prussian Blue was an very vital pigment growth. It was the initial synthetic blue pigment to be invented since the historical Egyptians invented Egyptian Blue. The subsequent massive developments– Cobalt Blue and artificial Ultramarine Blue– came additional than a century afterwards.

La Célestine (La femme à la taie) (La Celestina), 1904
Pablo Picasso
Oil on canvas, 74.5 × 58.5 cm | 29 × 23 in

Prussian Blue in Japanese Printmaking

Whilst Prussian Blue was enthusiastically adopted by European easel painters, it was Japanese artists who arguably manufactured most effective use of its tonal abilities. It took centre-phase in 19th century Japan as a result of the aizuri-e fashion of woodblock printing, in which the impression is printed predominantly in blue. Aizuri-e had historically utilized indigo ink, but Prussian Blue was observed to be extra lightfast and far more prosperous in color. Its specific suitability for this mono-pigment technique hinges on its functionality of a selection of tonal values, and we can discover this in the work of several Japanese artists of the Edo period of time. The most famed in Europe is undoubtedly Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) His sequence 36 Sights of Fuji are manufactured nearly completely with Prussian Blue ink.

Hokusai's Kajikazawa in Kai Province is printed with only Prussian Blue

Katsushika Hokusai
Kajikazawa in Kai Province, from the collection 30-6 Views of Mount Fuji (1830)
Woodblock print on paper, 26.2 x 38.7 cm | 10.3 x 15.2 in

As exemplified in the earlier mentioned print, it could be utilized in slim, transparent levels to the block for graduating washes of gentle blue that give an impression of looking into the hazy length, but it was equally adept for dark passages of colour that are close to black, like we see on the suggestion of Mount Fuji and the figures in the foreground. Even just using 1 colour, it presents an total perception of depth and a complete tonal assortment.

Why Does Pigment PB27 not Appear in Most Acrylic Ranges?

Prussian Blue is incorporated in a lot of ranges of reduction printmaking inks, a nod to its legendary background in woodblock printing. It can also be discovered in most oil and watercolour ranges. Having said that, the genuine pigment is located only hardly ever in acrylic ranges. This is for the reason that of Prussian Blue’s sensitivity to alkaline substances. It needs a binder that reads at pH7 or less. Linseed oil and gum arabic (the binders for oil and watercolour paints) are equally somewhat acidic. Acrylic polymer emulsion, on the other hand, is an alkaline medium. If you are hunting for a Prussian Blue acrylic, there are numerous ranges that recreate the colour with a mixture of pigments. For case in point:

There is one exception– Matisse Derivan’s Acrylic vary carries a real Prussian Blue with the pigment range PB27. It looks that they’ve set a whole lot of do the job into testing distinctive formulations of the color, and the question remains as to why other acrylic ranges have not carried out the exact same. The remedy could lie in the alternatively controversial subject of Prussian Blue’s permanance.

How Lasting is PB27 in Other Mediums?

Even however it is acceptable for oil and watercolour binders, Prussian Blue has a instead poor name. It became crystal clear soon soon after its invention that it was unstable and vulnerable to fading when uncovered to light or mixed with particular alkaline pigments. Across the adhering to hundreds of years a lot of diverse companies were generating the pigment, and not usually to the finest criteria, so when Phthalocyanine pigments had been introduced in the middle of the 20th century lots of artists were relieved to depart at the rear of the possibly troublesome Prussian Blue in favour for the reliably lightfast Phthalo Blue. Phthalo Blue is a very equivalent colour- it has the exact large tonal vary, eco-friendly undertone, and powerful tinting power (even so, Phthalo Blue is extra vivid compared to the moody Prussian Blue).

The creation of pigment PB27 has been refined about the past 100 many years. There are quite a few techniques to improve the permanence of the pigment– for illustration, the bigger pigment particle sizing, the superior it performs in lightfastness tests. However, the permanence of Prussian Blue is inconsistent. Paint suppliers normally list it as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’, but these sector-typical lightfastness exams are not automatically reflective of genuine use– most artists function with glazes, washes, and tints of color, all of which can have an result on how the pigment performs. A number of independent assessments carried out by artists display that there is sizeable variation in lightfastness. Bruce MacEvoy of Handprint tested a range of Prussian Blue watercolours and uncovered that some light slightly, some significantly, and some barely modified at all. What is certainly apparent is that Prussian Blue is far more prone to fading when combined with a white pigment. In accordance to a study by the Nationwide Gallery, London, this is for the reason that the addition of white increases the reflection of mild within just the paint layer. Curiously, Prussian Blue paint that has pale recovers its color after being stored briefly in a dim place with superior airflow. There have been a lot of reports that exhibit this is the situation, and some museums rotate their shown collections to ensure that is effective containing Prussian Blue have some time to recuperate.

Color Mixing with Prussian Blue

Prussian Blue truly is an remarkable mixing color. When very first mixing with a blue, it feels organic to very first access for yellows to see what type of greens it generates. The greens it can make with Lemon Yellow are just about neon– the forms that are not often identified in mother nature and which evoke fluorescent artificial gentle. Nickel Azo Yellow, on the other hand, make a spectrum of golden, autumnal greens that are at dwelling in a landscape palette. Prussian Blue’s distinctly environmentally friendly undertone makes it an interesting blue to mix with any crimson. With Indian Purple (an similarly superior tinting and deep-bellied color) it will make a chromatic black, which is ideal for artists who want not to use a real black in their palette.