UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Sarah K. Rich, associate professor of art history, and the Center for Virtual/Material Studies (CVMS) at Penn State have been awarded a Kress History of Art Grant of $20,000, along with supplemental funding from Penn State University Libraries, to facilitate research into the trans-Atlantic trade in pigments from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century.

The grant will support a collaborative research project titled “The Political Economy of Colorants in the Atlantic World, 1750-1850.” The project aims to uncover the economic and political contexts of the colorant trade in the Americas, Europe and Africa, highlighting the relationships among artists and different trades while also situating colorants in the context of indigenous-settler relationships and the slave trade. Colorants are dyes and pigments used for coloring materials.

The project will convene a group of diverse scholars from several universities to study relevant materials and sources, including a growing dataset coordinated by CVMS. The dataset will be a centerpiece of the convenings as it documents primary resources, such as advertisements for pigment sales in newspapers from colonial North America and the early republic.

“In addition to expanding this digital resource, the research will also result in multiple workshops and publications that will bridge art history and conservation science in impactful ways,” Rich said.

This grant will also allow the CVMS to further its focus on art historical research through the integration of materials analysis, digital technologies and humanistic inquiry.

“We are grateful to the Kress Foundation for this opportunity to explore the socio-economic implications of the pigment trade between Europe and colonial North America,” Rich said. “We are lining up an exciting group of scholars to join us in this venture, and we are eager to share our work with them.”

For more information on the Kress History of Art Grants program, visit its website.