Color Theory has been explored by scientists and artists for hundreds of years. Color theory is all about explaining how we as humans perceive color and the phenomenon of color. These color theorists used all kinds of shapes to explain color; the color wheel, the color pyramid, and the color cube amongst others.
There are many scientific theories as to how our bodies have evolved the way that it has. Scientists theorize that we as humans evolved to be able to see color to make us better hunters in the monotone world of the green forest or jungle. So the perception of color is part of what separates us from animals and puts us comfortably at the top of the food chain.
Back in the 1800s, the idea of color therapy was put forward, possibly by the same doctors who advocated bleeding and the use of leeches. Color therapists thought that patients who bathed in a certain color of light could heal physical and psychological ailments. Color therapy died when antibiotics came out and most people realized that the idea of being healed by colored light was just bunk.
It is this writer's belief that a book could be written about every one of the major colors in the color wheel. There is a cultural and psychological history that could be examined and explored in comparison to major events and trends of the day. For example, pink has been accepted as a baby girl color and is still the balloon color of choice for proud parents who want to announce the birth of their baby girl. So how did pink become accepted in our culture as a girl or feminine color?
I have asked this question repeatedly of color theorists and received no answer, so I did a little digging myself trying to come up with a plausible conclusion. And here's what I found...during World War II the Nazis used a color- & shape-coded system to keep track of their prisoners. Jews were given a yellow star of David to wear to identify them. Homosexuals were given a pink inverted triangle, which is also half a star of David. During WWII, the color pink would not have had a feminine or masculine association. It is my theory that the association of pink as a feminine color began with the use of the pink triangle back in the twentieth century by Nazi Germany. The association of pink with homosexuality could have changed or morphed into representing the feminine during this time.
The bottom line is this: No one really knows why pink became a girl color, the counterpart to the masculine color blue. But it is clear that the gender identification of color began in the 20th century. The history of pink as a color is not over. Perhaps a hundred years from now or two hundred years from now the color itself will mean something else as we as humans assign it a new identity and purpose.
Mary Rayme - Mary Rayme is a graphic designer and arts educator with a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
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