Mary Gartside: A female colour theorist in Georgian England

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the work of Mary Gartside, a British female flower painter, art teacher and colour theorist, active in London between 1781 and 1809. Gartside's colour theory was published privately in the guise of a traditional water colouring manual. Until well into the twentieth century, she remained the only woman known to have published a theory of colour. In chronological and intellectual terms Gartside can cautiously be regarded an exemplary link between Moses Harris and J.W. von Goethe. This paper takes a closer look at her colour theory in relation to earlier theorists she credits in her writing. It also suggests that certain elements of her theory may have pre-dated some of Goethe's ideas, thus being an indicator of changing attitudes to colour in the intellectual and artistic scene of Europe. Gartside's case is particularly interesting because it highlights gender issues with regard to publishing, self-promotion and the intellectual activity of women artists in the early nineteenth century.