Feeling Blue...

The Whitworth Art Gallery at the University of Manchester (UK) has an interesting exhibition running now until April looking at The History of Indigo. The exhibition includes a tablet containing the oldest known indigo dye recipe (circa 600 BC), a blue child's tunic from 7th century Egypt, and the world's oldest surviving pair of blue jeans from the American West circa 1880. Indigo was once considered a magical dye because it involved a mysterious-seeming fermentation process. Folk custom once dictated that indigo be handled only by old women because fertile women were believed to interfere with the "fertility" of the dye. In ancient Britain, warriors sought to enhanced their strength by the ritual practice of staining their faces blue with indigo (also known as woad). In ancient Persia and other parts of the Middle East, a blue-stained beard was a sign of virility -- a custom believed to have influenced the French fairy tale Bluebeard. And here's a tidbit for Pre-Raphaelite fans: William Morris' odd nickname, Topsy, was actually a shortening of Blue Topsy, referring to the blue artists' smock he was fond of wearing (modeled on Breton working men's smocks). He loved indigo, and used it so often to dye the fabrics he designed that his hands were regularly stained blue.

For a short history of indigo, listen to the BBC Radio 4 program "A Blue to Dye For," which aired on Women's Hour this week. (You can listen to the program on-line through February 20th.) For more information, try the Plant Cultures website -- and also the Indigo Page, a site dedicated to the use, understanding, and historical importance of indigo. "Blue," they say, "is the colour of the unreal, the surreal, and the heavens; it is said to represent truth, death, and the Gods, and thus stands as the cornerstone to ideas of spirit in many forms."

For a history of the Bluebeard fairy tale, try Bluebeard and the Bloody Chamber, an article in the Endicott archives. And finally, here's a charming Indian folktale about the creation of indigo. It comes from the Panchatantram, an old, old collection of Sanskrit fables.

Comments

[ParisBreakfasts]

Oh I just heard that! sooo interesting, especially since we sell Indigo in all forms at Kremer Pigments and have all of Julie Balfours books on it...
Small world
Thanks :)

[Dayle]

Not to be nit-picky (because I love this blog!), but indigo and woad are two different things. (http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Isatis/index.html)

Now, off to follow all the lovely links you've provided... :-)

[chandracerchionepeltier]

Actually, in Fiona MacCarthy's bio "William Morris: A Life For Our Time", the name Topsy "was the name Burne-Jones had given Morris, an in-joke referring to his mop of hair. Topsy was the little slave girl in Harriet Beecher Stowe's recently published 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'" (74).

Morris was obsessed with recreating the recipes of dyes lost decades before his experimentations, especially the color of indigo. MacCarthy writes: "Blue has a special place in Morris' colour spectrum. In his poems and in his novels it is the sign of happiness, of holidays. Blue was the colour of his working shirts" (353). When Morris was in the thick of work, his friends would refer to him as "Blue Topsy": "'Mr. Morris is in roaring health,' wrote Georgie, 'and dined here the other day with two dark blue hands bearing witness that he has plunged into work again'" (ibid.). Morris apparently did not mind being the subject of fun, joining in the joke by signing letters as "Your old Proosian Blue" (ibid.).

[Terri Windling]

Hmmmm. The exhibition notes state that woad is a type of indigo, and that Topsy comes from Blue Topsy. Of course, exbhition curators are not infallible.

I've heard both versions of the Topsy explanation before....both from credible sources, so who knows? Interesting either way.

[jenclair]

As usual, I've spent a lot of time following your links. I wondered about woad and discovered that it is a type of indigo. Makes sense.
http://www.indigopage.com/herbal/herbal.htm

[chandracerchionepeltier]

Hi Terri! I believe that the Topsy name really came from Morris' hair. In "The Life of William Morris" (1899), the bio written just a couple of years after Morris' death by J. W. Mackail, at the request of Edward Burne-Jones (with the assistance of Georgiana Burne-Jones), Mackail quotes Canon Dixon:

"One night," he writes, "Crom Price and I went to Exeter, and found him with Burne-Jones. As soon as we entered the room, Burne-Jones exclaimed wildly, 'He's a big poet.' 'Who is?' asked we. 'Why, Topsy' - the name which he had given him." This name, given from his mass of dark, curly hair, and generally unkempt appearance, stuck to Morris among the circle of his intimate friends all of his life. It was frequently shortened to "Top." (51) Morris had the nickname long before he experimented with the indigo dye.