History and Resurgence of Body Painting
Body painting has been around as long as recorded history.
Archaeological research has even shown that Neanderthals had tools that
could have been used for face painting. While face painting remained a
more constant activity throughout human history, body painting has had
several resurgences. Clay and other naturally-occurring pigments were
the first body paints used in tribal cultures. Body painting of this
type was often done for ceremonial purposes and still survives in many
Pacific Island and African cultures. Semi-permanent dyes made from henna
have been used for a long time in India and parts of the Middle East,
and South American indigenous peoples used charcoal, annatto, and huito
(an edible berry that stains black). Today’s body paints are made to be
non-toxic, non-allergenic, and easily removable.
Body painting as it is known today probably began its revival at the
Chicago World’s Fair of 1933, where makeup developer Max Factor painted
the body of a model with the makeup he created for the film industry in
Hollywood. The 1960s represented a time of loosening social customs, and
body painting made more of a comeback at that time. Face painting too
was common, with anti-war demonstrators commonly decorating their faces
with peace symbols and flowers. There is still today some debate about
the legitimacy of body painting as an art form, though it is gaining
respectability due to the sheer creativity shown by some of the top body
painting artists.
Actors and clowns the world over have used face and body paint for
centuries, and body painting has taken its place in modern pop culture
by being used on models for popular magazines such as Sports
Illustrated’s famous annual swimsuit issues and on celebrities and
fashion models for covers of other types of magazines. And body painting
in the form of stage and film makeup has long been used both to cover
scars and to create visual effects in the entertainment world.
Today, body painting festivals take place in many parts of the world and
cater to professional artists, amateurs, and fans of the art form.
Perhaps the biggest of these is the World Bodypainting Festival that
takes place in Austria. In the US, the North American Body Painting
Championship and the Face Painting and Body Art Convention are two of
the biggest American body painting festivals. Body painting has also
made its way into mainstream culture in the form of everything from
crude body and face painting by fans at sporting events to a means of
self-expression at rave parties. The art form has gained acceptance in
the US since the 1990s, and both artists and models are achieving some
degree of mainstream recognition.
In 2006, artist Craig Tracy opened the Painted Alive Gallery in the
French Quarter in New Orleans, marking the first US art gallery devoted
to the art of body painting. Body painting artists who make their living
in the profession work in television commercials as well as the motion
picture industry, particularly in the science fiction genre. It appears
that this ancient art form, used in ceremonial and combat scenarios
throughout recorded history, has blossomed anew, bringing new respect to
this intricate and unique form of visual art.
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