Blegvad - The pink book: an illustrated celebration of the color, from bubblegum to battleships

DEDICATION

For my grandparents, Erik and Lenore Blegvad,
who made making books look easy

Copyright 2019 by Kaye Blegvad.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-4521-7504-1 (epub, mobi)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN: 978-1-4521-7481-5 (hardcover)

Design by Allison Weiner.

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com

Pink is a color between red and white; this is its most basic definition. Red and white have a lot of space between them, space for pink to occupy and transform, which it does with gusto. But pink is far more than the sum of two other colors. Pink comes laden with associations; many so deeply ingrained in cultural consciousness that its impossible to perceive the color without influence. What are the first things you think of when you see something pink? This book, for examplewhat did you think when you first saw it? Whom did you guess it was written for? What did you imagine its tone would be?

Theres no wrong answer. Pink has myriad different associations, and many of them contradict each other. Pink is feminine, pink is sweet, pink is romanticbut pink is also garish, bold, and vulgar. All of these connotations coexist within the color. They vary shade by shade; a pastel pink feels different than a hot pink, a coral different than a beige.

Of course, people respond differently to the color pink based on the culture they were raised in. I grew up in England and Im a millennialmy generation has its very own shade of pink! As a little girl, I went through the archetypal pink phase, then consequently rebelled against it. I became a tomboy, and then, as a teenage goth, I whole-heartedly embraced black as the only color worth considering; normal expressions of femininity were to be strictly avoided. In early adulthood, I didnt give pink much thought; I dismissed it as too cute, showy, or predictable. But pink kept cropping up in unexpected places. In its historical facts and its meanings in various cultures, I watched it become an it color again and again. As an artist, I started to notice a pink thread running through my work. Much of my work explores femininity, gender, and sexualitythemes the color is deeply linked to. Pink began to recur in my drawings; it lent them a kind of power I couldnt achieve otherwise. I channeled the power of pink by subverting it, as well as by capitalizing on its associations for emphasis. Pink became a valuable tool. It had me hooked.