Art supplier to drop ‘flesh tint’ paint in equality push

A FINE art supplier plans to rename paints associated with skin tone in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement

Jackson’s, a leading provider of arts materials, will remove all references to flesh pigments in its range in an effort to “dismantle exclusionary culture”.

The company has vowed to bring the arts world “into the 21st century” by renaming its “Flesh Tint” paint as “Pale Terracotta” to eliminate references to a “standard” skin tone.

Materials provided in the UK business’ portrait set will also be altered to provide a broader palette of colours to depict a greater array of skin pigments.

Following Black Lives Matter protests Jackson’s is seeking to end the “false association between ‘skin’ and ‘flesh tones’ and whiteness”, and is pushing for other suppliers to review stocks to make sure skin-tone paints do not take Caucasian as the default.

“Implementing these changes is essential,” said Lisa Takahashi, an artist and Jackson’s manager. “Otherwise our operations do not reflect our commitment to equality. It’s a small but significant change that gives us the opportunity to dismantle an aspect of exclusionary culture that we feel does not belong anywhere.”

The company said that it may be impossible to implement changes instantly, as paints will need to be relabelled, and this could result in a temporary shortage. Jackson’s said any

‘Implementing these changes is essential. Otherwise our operations do not reflect our commitment to equality’

paint set that took one “peachy-pink” skin tone as the default was “problematic”.

The supplier has “commenced a comprehensive sector-wide discussion with leading colour manufacturers around the world”, and declared that “moving forward, there can be no place for racial bias” in the sector.

The company argues that paints will necessarily be mixed by the artist to fit the subject, and decision on what tone is necessary to achieve the right pigment for a portrait should not be decided for them.