Posted on 1 April, 2019 by Jill Briggeman
in: Categories: Workshops.

Burgundian Black

Burgundian Black is a collaborative project on pre-modern black color technologies, in particular the famous Burgundian blacks that we can admire today in Flemish portrait painting. The project is a collaboration between the ERC project ARTECHNE (Utrecht University and University of Amsterdam), the Belgian Museum Hof van Busleyden in Mechelen, the Dutch contemporary artist Claudy Jongstra, the University of Antwerp and the research laboratories of The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE). The collaborative work will result in the research-driven exhibition ‘Back to Black’ at the Museum Hof van Busleyden (opening 20 June 2019 until June 2021), a workshop at the OSK Course Materials & Materiality in Art History (see impressions below), the ROOHTS summerschool (1-5 July 2019) organised by the University of Antwerp, and in several peer-reviewed publications, including a planned e-book project with the working title Burgundian Black. As part of this research and in preparation for the planned e-book, Jenny Boulboullé has organized a 3-day expert workshop Burgundian Blacks Collaboratory (14-16 January 2019) in collaboration with Natalia Ortega Saez (University of Antwerp), Art Gaibor Proaño (RCE), and Claudy Jongstra and her team from Studio Claudy Jongstra, who hosted the workshop at their farm in Húns, Friesland. See photo impressions below, and the blogs by workshop participants Jessie Chen and Paula Hohti.

Dutch fashion design duo Victor & Rolf teamed up with textile artist Claudy Jongstra for the making of Viktor & Rolf’s AW19 Couture collection. The coats – sharp, theatrical silhouettes – are all burgundy black, a natural dye which Jongstra, together with the Artechne project, has spent the last year rediscovering, decoding recipes that date back to the 15th and 16th centuries. Discover the collection through this video: