Mauve (/ˈmoʊv/ⓘMOHV;[2]/ˈmɔːv/ⓘMAWV) is a palepurple color[3][4] named after themallow flower (French:mauve). The first use of the wordmauve as a color was in 1796–1798 according to theOxford English Dictionary, but its use seems to have been rare before 1859. Another name for the color ismallow,[5] with the first recorded use ofmallow as a color name inEnglish in 1611.[6]
Mauve contains moregray and moreblue than a pale tint ofmagenta. Many pale wildflowers called "blue" are more accurately classified as mauve. Mauve is also sometimes described as paleviolet.
The synthetic dyemauve was first so named in 1859. ChemistWilliam Henry Perkin, then 18, was attempting to synthesizequinine in 1856; quinine was used to treatmalaria.[7] He noticed an unexpected residue, which turned out to be the firstaniline dye. Perkin originally named the dyeTyrian purple after the historical dye, but the product was renamedmauve after it was marketed in 1859.[8][9] It is now usually calledPerkin's mauve,mauveine, oraniline purple.
Earlier references to a mauve dye in 1856–1858 referred to a color produced using the semi-synthetic dyemurexide or a mixture of natural dyes.[10] Perkin was so successful in marketing his discovery to the dye industry that his 2000 biography bySimon Garfield is simply entitledMauve.[11] Between 1859 and 1861, mauve became a fashion must-have. The weekly journalAll the Year Round described women wearing the colour as "all flying countryward, like so many migrating birds of purple paradise".[12]Punch magazine published cartoons poking fun at the huge popularity of the colour: "The Mauve Measles are spreading to so serious an extent that it is high time to consider by what means [they] may be checked."[13][14]
But, because it faded easily, the success of mauve dye was short-lived; by 1873, it was replaced by other synthetic dyes.[15] As the memory of the original dye soon receded, the contemporary understanding of mauve is as a lighter, less-saturated color than it was originally known.[16]
The 1890s are sometimes referred to in retrospect as the "Mauve Decade" because of the popularity of the subtle color among progressive artistic types, both in Europe and the US.[17]
The color displayed at right is the deep tone of mauve that is calledmauve byPourpre.comArchived 2016-12-08 at theWayback Machine, a color list widely popular inFrance.
^The color displayed in the color box above matches the color calledmauve in the 1930 book by Maerz and PaulA Dictionary of Color New York: 1930 McGraw-Hill; the color "mallow" is displayed on page 125, Plate 51, Color Sample I3 Note: It is stated inA Dictionary of Color thatmallow andmauve are two different names used in English to refer to exactly the same color—the namemallow came into use in 1611 andmauve came into use as its synonym in 1856—see under the entry for each name on page 198 in the Index. See also discussion of the color Mallow (Mauve) on page 166.
^"mauve".Oxford Dictionaries (British & World English). July 31, 2012. Archived fromthe original on July 31, 2012. RetrievedSeptember 1, 2022 – via web.archive.org.
^Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, College Edition (1964): "any of several shades of delicate purple."
^Maerz and Paul.A Dictionary of Color. New York: 1930,McGraw-Hill. p. 198
^Maerz and Paul.A Dictionary of Color. New York: 1930,McGraw-Hill. p. 198; Color Sample of Mallow: p. 125, Plate 51, Color Sample I3
^Travis, Anthony S. (1993).The Rainbow Makers: The Origins of the Synthetic Dyestuffs Industry in Western Europe. Bethlehem: Lehigh Univ. Press. p. 53.ISBN978-0934223188.
^Travis, Anthony S. (1993).The Rainbow Makers: The Origins of the Synthetic Dyestuffs Industry in Western Europe. Bethlehem: Lehigh Univ. Press. pp. 45–6.ISBN978-0934223188.
^Garfield, S. (2000).Mauve: How One Man Invented a Colour That Changed the World. Faber and Faber, London, UK.ISBN978-0-571-20197-6.
^Travis, Anthony S. (1993).The Rainbow Makers: The Origins of the Synthetic Dyestuffs Industry in Western Europe. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh Univ. Press. p. 61.ISBN978-0934223188.