In 1960, a post-war painter, Yves Klein, worked with French Ultramarine so much that he developed his version of Ultramarine to paint monochromatic artwork – mainly paintings. Many artists thought French Ultramarine was one-dimensional because the particles were all the same size and reflected light similarly.
Yves Klein wanted a career shift to be an artist like his parents instead of being a high-ranking judo practitioner with a 4th Dan black belt. He was born in Paris, France in 1928 and studied Rosicrucianism, a set of esoteric spiritual teachings, in his 20s. He didn’t have any work made so he published a book called Yves Peintures (Yves Paintings) with a 10-colour plate showing single-colour rectangles and a preface from his childhood friend/Judo partner Claude Pascal. The book was filled with monochromatic paintings. But it wasn’t his first submission into the art world. An abstract painting of an orange monochrome in 1955 for the Salon des Realities Nouvelles was rejected laminating if he added a dot, line or spot of another colour it wouldn’t have been rejected.
He painted monochromatic green, pink, yellow and orange paintings before deciding on blue. Klein loved this shade of blue since childhood. The blue he based it on was the sky on the French Riveria from his childhood because he believed it meant infinite while he was playing with his three friends.
He loved the intensity of the raw powdered ultramarine but was disappointed with the dullness of the paint. For a year, he worked with chemist Edouard Adam, a Parisian dealer, to develop a special resin medium called Rhodopas M60A to mix in the paint. When mixed with the synthetic resin, the IKB allowed the pigment to approach the clarity and lustre of the original colour without dullness or graying.
Yves Klein patented International Klein Blue (IKB) in 1960. The name “International Klein Blue” reflects Klein’s ambition for the colour to transcend national boundaries and become a universal symbol; plus, he would be the only person allowed to use the colour in his creations or with his permission. It was a part of the showmanship of his character. The colour uses sulphur compounds to create its punch of colour which releases sulphur compounds in the atmosphere making it harmful to the environment. which is why many countries now don’t manufacture it anymore.
He used it to create his series of textured blue canvasses known as the IKB Series. It was named after the colour. The simple monochromatic pieces were later referred to by Klein as his “pure idea,” aka nouveau réalisme. IKB was to be used in his artwork as a symbol of the infinite and the immaterial. Klein’s exhibition in 1957, Proposte Monochrome, Epoca Blue, in Milan featured 11 blue canvases in IKB. The next year another exhibit was called The Void (Le Vide) in 1958.
As a businessman in the artwork, Yves Klein was very unique in marketing. The colour that he used had scarcity. Therefore, it added to the specialness of the colour that it was the only type of blue to be viewed by the patron creating meanings of preciousness and spirituality. But some of his exhibits had live painting events with the artist creating on-the-spot artwork with brushes and models playing around in the paint. The documentary, La Revolution Bleue, demonstrates his views of painting, the art world and the live events that include the models’ body painting artwork.
Today, International Klein Blue continues to be associated with Yves Klein’s groundbreaking work in the field of contemporary art, and it remains an iconic color in the art world. The evolution of International Klein Blue was the use of the same type of blue used in the Blue Man Group in the early 2000s.
Reference:
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140828-the-man-who-invented-a-colour
International Klein Blue, Universal Principles of Color, pg 120, ch 55.
The Art in Artificial, Blue: The Science and Secrets of Nature’s Rarest Color, pg. 42 – 44.
International Klein Blue: This is not your blue, The brilliant History of COlor in Art, pg 106-107.
Under The Moonlight 
In 1960, a post-war painter, Yves Klein, worked with French Ultramarine so much that he developed his version of Ultramarine to paint monochromatic artwork – mainly paintings. Many artists thought French Ultramarine was one-dimensional because the particles were all the same size and reflected light similarly.
Yves Klein wanted a career shift to be an artist like his parents instead of being a high-ranking judo practitioner with a 4th Dan black belt. He was born in Paris, France in 1928 and studied Rosicrucianism, a set of esoteric spiritual teachings, in his 20s. He didn’t have any work made so he published a book called Yves Peintures (Yves Paintings) with a 10-colour plate showing single-colour rectangles and a preface from his childhood friend/Judo partner Claude Pascal. The book was filled with monochromatic paintings. But it wasn’t his first submission into the art world. An abstract painting of an orange monochrome in 1955 for the Salon des Realities Nouvelles was rejected laminating if he added a dot, line or spot of another colour it wouldn’t have been rejected.
He painted monochromatic green, pink, yellow and orange paintings before deciding on blue. Klein loved this shade of blue since childhood. The blue he based it on was the sky on the French Riveria from his childhood because he believed it meant infinite while he was playing with his three friends.
He loved the intensity of the raw powdered ultramarine but was disappointed with the dullness of the paint. For a year, he worked with chemist Edouard Adam, a Parisian dealer, to develop a special resin medium called Rhodopas M60A to mix in the paint. When mixed with the synthetic resin, the IKB allowed the pigment to approach the clarity and lustre of the original colour without dullness or graying.
Yves Klein patented International Klein Blue (IKB) in 1960. The name “International Klein Blue” reflects Klein’s ambition for the colour to transcend national boundaries and become a universal symbol; plus, he would be the only person allowed to use the colour in his creations or with his permission. It was a part of the showmanship of his character. The colour uses sulphur compounds to create its punch of colour which releases sulphur compounds in the atmosphere making it harmful to the environment. which is why many countries now don’t manufacture it anymore.
He used it to create his series of textured blue canvasses known as the IKB Series. It was named after the colour. The simple monochromatic pieces were later referred to by Klein as his “pure idea,” aka nouveau réalisme. IKB was to be used in his artwork as a symbol of the infinite and the immaterial. Klein’s exhibition in 1957, Proposte Monochrome, Epoca Blue, in Milan featured 11 blue canvases in IKB. The next year another exhibit was called The Void (Le Vide) in 1958.
As a businessman in the artwork, Yves Klein was very unique in marketing. The colour that he used had scarcity. Therefore, it added to the specialness of the colour that it was the only type of blue to be viewed by the patron creating meanings of preciousness and spirituality. But some of his exhibits had live painting events with the artist creating on-the-spot artwork with brushes and models playing around in the paint. The documentary, La Revolution Bleue, demonstrates his views of painting, the art world and the live events that include the models’ body painting artwork.
Today, International Klein Blue continues to be associated with Yves Klein’s groundbreaking work in the field of contemporary art, and it remains an iconic color in the art world. The evolution of International Klein Blue was the use of the same type of blue used in the Blue Man Group in the early 2000s.
Reference:
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140828-the-man-who-invented-a-colour
International Klein Blue, Universal Principles of Color, pg 120, ch 55.
The Art in Artificial, Blue: The Science and Secrets of Nature’s Rarest Color, pg. 42 – 44.
International Klein Blue: This is not your blue, The brilliant History of COlor in Art, pg 106-107.
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