Made from discarded blue rags, early modern blue paper was a humble material. Despite that, its manufacture required expert knowledge and its impact on European draftsmanship was transformative.

This call seeks proposals for 20-minute papers that address the history of European blue paper from the fourteenth century until 1800. Open to art historians, curators, conservators, conservation scientists, paper historians, papermakers, and dyers, successful proposals will demonstrate original archival research and/or object-based approach to their discussion of works on blue paper. While all topics will be considered, organizers encourage papers related to the following subjects:

·        blue paper production outside the Italian peninsula and the Netherlands;

·        color shift in blue paper and its implications;

·        technical and/or scientific examination of blue paper;

·        artistic uses of blue paper;

·        non-artistic uses of blue paper;

·        blue paper as means of transcultural exchange;

·        intersection between blue paper production and textile trade and technological developments.

Co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of Amsterdam, this interdisciplinary online symposium will take place November 12–13, 2024, over two morning sessions Pacific Standard Time.

Proposals should include: Author's name, title, and an abstract not to exceed 500 words.

Submissions should be sent to drawings@getty.edu by July 31, 2024. Please put “Drawn to Blue” in the subject. Accepted speakers will be notified by mid-August.

Accompanying the temporary exhibition that was organized at the J.P. Getty Museum until March 2024, the following catalogue is available:

Adam, Edina, and Michelle Sullivan, eds. Drawing on Blue: European Drawings on Blue Paper, 1400s–1700s. Getty Publications, 2024.

In this catalogue, you will find articles dedicated to the materiality of blue paper:

• T. Burns, Blue paper in 15th and 16th century Italy

• L. Sauvage and M.N. Grison, Making Blue Paper: Innovations in the Dutch Republic, 1650-1750

• E. Adam, An Exercise on Blue: Learning to Draw in Jacopo Tintoretto's Workshop

• C. Pietrabissa, Jean-Baptist oudry: Blue Paper and Artistic Identity in 18th-C France

• M.T. Alvarez, Color and Contrast: Drawing on Blue Paper in 18th-C Spain

• M. Sullivan, Examination of Blue Paper: A Systematic Approach

It also presents an appendix detailing the methodology developed to carry out the technical analysis of drawings on blue paper.

Result of an object-based research on a corpus of Dutch drawings and archives, this article presents an overview of the connections between paper and dyes in the Netherlands in the Early Modern period. It comes as a complement to the earlier contribution to the Getty exhibition catalogue Drawing on Blue: European Drawings on Blue Paper, 1400s–1700s, edited by Edina Adam and Michelle Sullivan in 2024 (https://shop.getty.edu/products/drawing-on-blue-european-drawings-on-blue-paper-1400s-1700s-978-1606068670) 

The article is available in open source online:

Sauvage, Leila, and Marie-Noelle Grison. “The Handmade Blue Paper Project. Application of Experimental Archaeology Methods to Study the Materiality of Dutch Blue Paper (1650-1750).” Jaarboek Voor Nederlandse Boekgeschiedenis 30, no. 2023 (2023): 64–90. https://doi.org/10.5117/JNB2023.004.GRIS.

The whole team is very excited to announce the 2024 edition of the Handmade blue paper workshop. Join us in the beautiful Charente region for a week rich in discoveries, with nice food and good company.

Dates: September 16-20, 2024

Location: Moulin du Verger, Puymoyen, France (near Angouleme)

Cost for workshop: 1200 EUR (materials incl., accommodation and food excl.)

Max. 6 participants

For info and sign up: leila.sauvage@gmail.com or moulinduverger.bluepaper@gmail.com

Workshop description:

Organized in a functioning 16th-century papermill in the South of France, this 5 day-workshop offers participants the opportunity to experiment with pre-industrial papermaking and dyeing methods. Fed by years of research in the field of blue paper, the team shares their last findings on the manufacturing of Western blue paper and its possible uses throughout time. Participants will be making their own reference sheets, with various coloring methods. The workshop allows time for discussion, participants are encouraged to bring their questions to share with the team.

Workshop objectives:

·   Discovering traditional Western papermaking techniques

·   Preparing blue dyes from natural colorants

·   Identifying paper- and dyeing techniques from samples

·   Uses of blue paper by artists in Europe (prints, drawings, pastels, books) before 1800.