Emily McDermott's Dragon Hill Residency Essay Explores Pink's Cultural and Artistic Contradictions

During her four-week Dragon Hill X ArtReview Writers Residency in the South of France, writer Emily McDermott delved into the shifting connotations of the color pink. Artist Pamela Rosenkranz characterizes pink as "a mental performance." The color first emerged in Western art during the Rococo movement of the mid-1700s, gaining popularity with Madame de Pompadour and impacting Sèvres porcelain. It appeared in Impressionist and Fauvist pieces, marked Picasso's Pink Period from 1904 to 1906, but saw a decline in popularity after World War I due to its association with gender. In the early 2000s, pink became synonymous with hyperfemininity, particularly linked to Paris Hilton. Recent developments, such as millennial pink and Pantone's 2016 rose quartz, have helped to re-neutralize the color. McDermott pointed out gallery biases that misattribute pink artworks to male artists rather than their female creators. McDermott was based in Berlin during her residency.