Week #9, Thinking in Color I

Dusti Bongé, Festival of Colors, 1974, tempera on board, 13 ¾” x 10 ¾”.

March is Women’s History Month. In 1909 the first ever National Women’s Day was marked. In1975, 66 years later, March 8 was recognized as International Women’s History Day. In the U.S. it then turned into a week in 1980 and expanded to a month in 1987. Since 1995, each year March is officially proclaimed as Women’s History Month. It is a time to honor, acknowledge, and study women’s accomplishments throughout history. 

In the context of Dusti Bonge’s life, which spanned from 1903 till 1993, it means that when she was born, women couldn’t vote and when she died, Women’s History Month did not yet receive presidential proclamation. Yet, discriminatory trends notwithstanding, she forged her own path in life and in the art world.

Our current exhibition, Thinking in Color: Selections from the Vault, seems a fitting way to honor Dusti Bongé this month. Dusti ‘s celebration of color was particularly evident in many of her later works from the 1970, 1980s and 1990s. We will start off with a work that is even titled Festival of Colors. 

It is a vibrant almost fluorescent work with bright gridded marks of yellow over a deep red wash with blueish green underlayers. The jarringly bright yellow dominates but does not subsume the other hues. Instead, they all enhance one another. Executed in tempera you can almost see the pigments deposited on the paper, which creates a different effect from watercolor. Depending on the thickness of the paint, the tempera offers a textured interaction of translucency and opacity.

Compositionally, broad vertical bands are interrupted by various linear patterns. Narrowly spaced vertical and horizontal lines punctuate the verticals, while wider spaced diagonals create a dynamic shift at the center of the work. From below this diagonal section literal bursts of color splash out toward the lower left quadrant of the piece. It is a festival indeed!