Praxis and Paradox: The Culture of Natural Dyes in Britain, 1750-1900

This article offers an analysis of natural dyes as a means to explicate inherent paradoxes within the subject. One is that natural dyes are not entirely "natural." The reverse is actually the case, for natural dyes were often added to chemical colors by nineteenth-century industrial dyers....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTextile : the journal of cloth and culture Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 6 - 26
Main Author Casselman, Karen Diadick
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 01.03.2009
Oxford International Publishers Ltd. Dba Berg Publishers
Subjects
chemical dyes
Colour
Craft
Dyeing techniques
Dyes and dyeing
Economic anthropology
Gender
History
Material culture
natural dyes
Technology
Textile art
Textile fibers
textile history
Textiles
United Kingdom
Visual culture
United Kingdom
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Summary:This article offers an analysis of natural dyes as a means to explicate inherent paradoxes within the subject. One is that natural dyes are not entirely "natural." The reverse is actually the case, for natural dyes were often added to chemical colors by nineteenth-century industrial dyers. Another paradox is the blurred distinction between natural and chemical dyes which are actually not separate but aligned technologies. Furthermore, textile historians have long regarded dyeing as a stage in finishing, which is neither appropriate nor accurate. This article presents a revised concept of the cultural and technological characteristics of both categories of dyes, a reassessment that engages persistent myths as it also interrogates aspects of gender and production.
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ISSN:1475-9756
1751-8350
DOI:10.2752/175183509X411735