Welcome, March, and your birth flower, the daffodil.
Alas, we have no daffodils to share—no pictures, no carvings, no bas relief on pottery. Even my garden's daffodils are no more than half-inch green sprouts. But we do have a little yellow merchandise. So let's talk about this sunny color.
Yellow is one of the earliest colors ever used by an artist. A horse, painted on a wall in the cave paintings of Lascaux (over 17,000 years ago) is colored in yellow ochre—an earthy yellow derived from clay laced with iron oxide. Other artists used the color successfully, too: Fragonard's Young Girl Reading, Klimt's The Kiss, and so many of Van Gogh's masterpieces feature yellow in bold and unforgettable ways. The Egyptians used yellow ochre frequently on the painted walls of their tombs, believing that gold was royal, eternal and indestructible.
The color yellow has significant religious and cultural associations, too. The Roman Catholic papal flag is yellow and white (featuring Peter's gold and silver "keys to the kingdom"). In China, yellow was an imperial color, reserved for the Emperor and his royal household alone. Esteemed guests were welcomed on a yellow carpet. In Iran, however, yellow could connote sickness or pallor. And there are other unfortunate examples of the color yellow being used to shame or ostracize others: Judas Iscariot is often shown in yellow robes. The Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow stars. And the Spanish Inquisition draped yellow cloaks upon those they deemed heretics (often Jews or Muslims).
Though the color yellow mostly is associated (in the West) with sunny cheer and optimism, only 6% of Europeans and Americans declare it their favorite color. And 7% of those respondents consider yellow their least favorite color.
The American Art Deco vase, shown above, is certainly cheery. It was made by Stangl in Flemington, New Jersey, in the 1930's. The vase follows a classic urn form—with stylized foliate handles which contribute the Art Deco sensibility. Click on the photo above to learn more about this handsome (and cheerful) vase.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.