The power of colour: two female portraits in dialogue

Around 200 years separate the coloured aquatint of “Marie Koenig” from a series of pictures of Swiss traditional dress produced between 1820 and 1830, and the work by Selina Trepp (*1973) “I’m speaking” from 2020. Despite the works being from different eras and contexts, there are similarities: the differences in colour give the women depicted an individual quality and make each print unique.

The legibility of a print depends not only on the motif but also on its visual appearance. Comparing several prints from an edition can reveal some surprising insights. Examining the 17 coloured woodcuts in Selina Trepp’s work “I’m speaking” and the four different versions of “Marie Koenig” from the series of images of traditional dress entitled “Recueil de Portraits et Costumes Suisses les plus élégants usités dans les 22 Cantons” shows how minor changes in colour make each individual print unique. The handling of colour and the deliberate use of differing hues connect the two works over the centuries.

Colour as a stamp of individuality

The work “I’m speaking” by Swiss artist Selina Trepp consists of a print edition of 17 coloured woodcuts and a resulting stop motion animation. The central motif of the prints is the portrait of a woman: her gaze is directed at the onlooker, her mouth is red and – in most cases – slightly open. The fine colour gradients on the figure and her surroundings result from the use of the traditional Japanese woodcut technique, Mokuhanga. This involves watercolours being applied by hand to the wooden panel and reapplied at every stage in the process, and the colour being pressed onto the paper with great painterly skill. Each individual print is therefore unique. Selina Trepp used this process to produce 17 colour variations. Ornamental black motifs using the European woodcut technique complement the coloured Mokuhanga print. A comparison of the 17 prints shows that in particular the expression of the mouth changes from sheet to sheet. By putting the prints together as frames in a stop motion animation, Selina Trepp creates a moving image that mouths the syllables of the title “I’m speaking”.

Trepp’s work was inspired by the then vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris who uttered this iconic phrase during a televised debate in 2020 in which she was repeatedly interrupted by her opponent Mike Pence. In Selina Trepp’s work, speaking becomes an act of emancipation and the depicted woman becomes an active protagonist directly addressing the onlooker.

Colour to differentiate

Marie Koenig 1 — Jean-Emmanuel Locher and Markus Dinkel, “Marie Koenig, Fille d'un particulier aisé, du Canton de St. Galle”, Bern and Basel: Johann Peter Lamy, circa 1825–1830

A similar interplay of colour variation can be seen in the four aquatints featuring the motif of “Marie Koenig” in the series of images of traditional Swiss dress. The album was published between 1820 and 1830 in several editions by Johann Peter Lamy in Bern and Basel and features a total of 32 tableaus showing traditional dress from the 22 cantons at the time, based on originals by Jean Emmanuel Locher (1769–1815) and Markus Dinkel (1762–1832). While the uncoloured sheet showing the traditional dress of St. Gallen initially looks stereotypical, the different coloured versions of Marie Koenig show an astonishing variation in clothing and jewellery.

Marie Koenig 2 — Jean-Emmanuel Locher and Markus Dinkel, “Marie Koenig, Fille d'un particulier aisé, du Canton de St. Galle”, Bern and Basel: Johann Peter Lamy, circa 1825–1830

The subtle use of colour is evidence of exquisite skill and craftsmanship. While colouring the woodblock by hand is part of the print process in the Mokuhanga woodcut technique used by Selina Trepp, in the traditional dress series, the colour is carefully painted on by hand after printing. In Selina Trepp’s work, the colour schemes are roughly the same in the different versions, whereas the coloured versions of Marie Koenig vary a great deal. In the first sheet, she is wearing a green patterned pinafore, while in another she is wearing a yellow one.

Marie Koenig Serie — Four versions of “Marie Koenig”: template and three colour variants (photo: NB, Simon Schmid)

Why do these colour differences exist in prints? In the 18th and 19th century, colouration was a complex matter. On the one hand, the market was being flooded by serially-manufactured mass products. On the other, artistic print workshops produced hand-coloured prints involving a high level of technical craftsmanship. In their subtle colour application, these prints resembled hand drawings, attracting connoisseurs for whom they became collectors’ items. Although art studios sometimes developed their own painting styles, it is almost impossible to attribute works accurately as colourists usually worked on an anonymous basis – as was the case in “Marie Koenig”. Nevertheless the careful colour application and diversity of colour make each print unique. Through the use of colour, the model of “Marie Koenig” is distinguished and given its own unique quality in each print. But the colourists also leave their own mark of originality as the coloured prints are distinguished from the work of other art studios and therefore become originals.

Speaking und Marie Koenig — “I'm Speaking” by Selina Trepp, 2020, next to “Marie Koenig” by Jean-Emmanuel Locher and Markus Dinkel, circa 1825–1830 (photo: NL, Simon Schmid)

Despite their differences and the centuries that separate them, the colour variations in the works of Selina Trepp and the series of traditional dress prints lend them a unique expressive power and standalone quality. The works are compared and contrasted in the exhibition “Colour Space” at the NL from 9 November 2024 to 24 January 2025.