INTERVIEW WITH ALEXANDRA LOSKE

Alexandra Loske is an art historian by training and currently works as a curator at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. Her interest in the history of color in art inspired her exciting book project The Colors of Art. Painting Palettes from Five Centuries. In it, she informatively and with great background knowledge tells the stories of painting palettes of significant artists. We met with her in our Berlin publishing office and talked about the book.

Hatje Cantz: Ms. Loske, when I think of a painter's palette, I imagine an inconspicuous object – a flat wooden board with a cutout for gripping. In your book The Colors of Art, you deal with the palettes of famous artists from over five centuries. What fascinates you about this object?

Alexandra Loske: As a color historian, I have been dealing with color concepts for many years – that is, how people think about and organize colors, especially in color circles and other color diagrams. From there, it's only a small step to an artist's palette, on which colors are also arranged. I'm thinking of the classic wooden palette that artists use to organize their colors. Of course, there are also palettes made of many other materials, which I go into in more detail in the book. Beyond that, however, palettes also have a symbolic meaning and connect us with the artists. They are objects that painters held in their hands and with which they worked. They thus bring us closer to the artists. Every palette tells its own story – be it of a forgotten palette, one that was painted for a completely different purpose, or one that was broken. I find these stories immensely fascinating.

left: Edvard Munch’s Palette, undated, paint on wood, 43 x 29 cm, Munch Museum, Oslo. Acc. No: MM.I.00994, Photo: Munchmuseet;
right: Edvard Munch: Girls on the Bridge, 1901, oil on canvas, 136 x 125 cm, National Museum Oslo,
Gift of Olaf Schou 1909, Acc. No: NG.M.00844

"Munch's palette is characterized by a calculated wildness. The oil paint splatters are thick and of intense tonality, but one can recognize Munch's concentration on color combinations and structure. What I find most interesting are the deep green tones that transition into blue."

HC: You mention in your book that painting palettes are significant as both tools and symbolic objects. Can you give us an example where the symbolic meaning is particularly clear?

AL: Yes, there are some impressive examples. One of the best is Vincent van Gogh's palette. It's not a particularly attractive palette – very smudged and messy. But it is of great importance because we know exactly which painting it was used for. This is rare, as palettes are often cleaned or reused. However, if you know which artwork was created with it, it is often associated with a moving story, such as a sudden death or the fact that the palette was forgotten or given away. Van Gogh left his palette in a house where he was painting a portrait of a woman as a commissioned work. You can see from the palette how impulsive and emotional he painted. He was no longer concerned with order, but with working quickly and spontaneously. The palette remained behind, probably because he had only borrowed it. Today, we can look at it and, together with his written records, get a complete picture of how Van Gogh worked. That's what makes this palette so special.

HC: Often, palettes were probably only perceived as utility items and were forgotten or even thrown away after the artists' deaths. How did you manage to gather so many palettes for your book nonetheless? What were the biggest challenges in doing so?

AL: The entire book project was a challenge, but also a very enjoyable one. The idea came to me unexpectedly and felt almost like a gift. The origin lay with Julian Bell, a friend and painter, Vanessa Bell's grandson. He was originally asked if he could write the book, but for some reason, he couldn't. Instead, he recommended me, saying the topic suited my interests well, especially in relation to color concepts and the organization of colors. The biggest challenge was finding a wide selection of palettes and, above all, obtaining illustrations of them. For a long time, palettes were not considered works of art, but merely tools. Many were lost, forgotten, or thrown away. Only recently has interest in them developed, and we increasingly understand them as a valuable connection to the artists. A large team supported me in researching the palettes. Thanks to my work at the museum, I knew where and how to look for them, but it was always exciting to find out if a palette still existed and where it was located. Another challenge was ensuring that the palettes were photographed, which took a lot of time. It was an international collaboration, as many of the palettes come from France. In the 19th century and somewhat earlier, there was great academic interest in palettes there, and they were collected and archived early on. That's why we also had a French colleague on the team. So it was definitely teamwork that worked very well. In the book, I also go beyond the classic wooden palette and look at the artists' studios, which say a lot about their art. I also examined other types of palettes, such as watercolor boxes, which are also palettes in a way. I also investigated the organization of pastels, which results in a tray full of color sticks. All these different types of palettes and their use were part of my extensive research.

left: Gabriele Münter’s Palette, undated, paint on wood, 43 x 33 cm, Gabriele Münter and Johannes Eichner Foundation, Munich, Acc. No: D 63;
right: Gabriele Münter: Breakfast with Birds, 1934. Oil on cardboard, 45.7 x 55.2 cm, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC., Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay, © Gabriele Münter

"Gabriele Münter's palette is, in my opinion, aesthetically very appealing. It shows many mixtures of colors, executed with relatively small brushes, but also palette knives, so we can also see scratches in the paint. What I particularly like, however, is the presence of white, with which she created subtle green and blue tones. White in many manifestations is an important element in Münter's works and often gives them structure."

HC: In your book, you discuss the development of painting palettes over various epochs. Could you explain how this development took place and what factors played a role in it?

AL: Finding a suitable structure for the book was not easy. We worked on it for a long time and adapted it repeatedly. I wanted it to be somewhat chronological, but of course, life and art don't always work that way. There are always overlaps and exceptions. Much depends on what was available to the artists. Oil painting is a very important turning point here. As oil painting developed, the classic wooden palettes in various sizes that we associate with it today also emerged. Materiality played a big role, as did pigments. Pigments are probably the most important thing. As artificial and cheaper pigments became available, artists' working methods also changed. They could work in other places and had more possibilities. At the beginning of oil painting, chromatic colors were very precious. On the palettes, you find earth tones, dark colors, and always a little lead white. But the really strong and brilliant colors like blue, red, and yellow were hard to come by and, above all, expensive. The development of synthetic colors was a big step for female painters. This made the palette much more dynamic. It was also crucial that pigments could be bought ready-made. When colors became available in tubes, artists went outdoors much more, which made Impressionism possible. And when colors also became cheaper, they could paint larger and work in different formats, which also affected the size of the studios.

HC: Is there a palette that is particularly dear to you?

AL: I've always had a great interest in the works of Turner and Constable. Two of Turner's watercolor palettes have survived, which are not made of wood, but of ceramic. It suddenly became clear to me how important it is for artists to think about the painting surface. In watercolor painting, one usually paints on white or bluish paper, so it makes sense to use a white background for the transparent colors to better recognize their effect. Another palette that means a lot to me is that of the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi. At first glance, it exactly matched my expectations: very subtle gray and blue tones, as known from his paintings. But then I discovered a small dab of yellow almost in the middle. This led me to the question of where this yellow can be found in his paintings. It became a kind of detective game to find out. Another impressive example is Paula Modersohn-Becker's palette. Visually, it may not be so spectacular, but it tells a tragic story. We know that it was used for one of her last paintings, as Modersohn-Becker died suddenly shortly after the birth of her only child. At that time, she had just established herself and, despite her pregnancy, was working extremely productively in her own studio. It was a moment when she probably thought she could achieve anything. And then this palette remains, a silent witness. That makes it very significant to me. There are many palettes that impress me, but these three stand out particularly.

left: Paula Modersohn-Becker’s last palette, 1907 paint on wood and metal, loaned by the Friends of Worpswede, Käseglocke Collection, Worpswede Tourist Information Centre, Photo: Rüdiger Lubricht;
right: Paula Modersohn-Becker: Self-Portrait, Summer 1906, oil tempera on cardboard, 62.2 x 48.2 cm, Private Collection

"I started this book while on vacation with friends in Dresden. There, I saw some of Paula Modersohn-Becker's paintings and read her letters, which brim with a lust for life, and in which she writes a lot about color, color materials, and art in general. It was all the more moving to engage with her palette, which became, on the one hand, a sad symbol of her early and sudden death, left behind in her studio in Worpswede."

HC: What new perspectives on painting palettes do you want to convey to the readers of your book?

AL: At the beginning, I didn't think in this direction at all. Now that I see the finished book, I hope that readers will above all enjoy these fascinating objects. Not all palettes are beautiful in the classical sense, but they are always exciting because they reflect the creativity and creative power of the artists. One can learn a lot about the materiality that underlies art and makes it possible in the first place. Furthermore, it becomes clear that the palette is a symbol that connects us with the lives of the artists and our culture, and reflects the social circumstances in which it was used.

Alexandra Loske with her new book The Colors of Art as a guest at our publishing house

The interview with Alexandra Loske was conducted by László Rupp in August 2024.

Header image Alexandra Loske © Stuart Robinson