Introduction
Cathy Lomax

Before going to art collage I was a makeup artist working for high end style magazines like The Face and iD. Before this I was a cosmetic consultant dressed in a uniform of pink pinafore and striped shirt selling the Miss Selfridge Kiss & make up range. Later, working for Cosmetics a la Carte at their Belgravia boutique, I assembled lipsticks and created new eyeshadow colours (my favourites were Oyster and Aubergine). When I substituted paint for makeup I gave little thought to my previous occupation, except that I often found myself painting makeup on to the faces I painted on canvas. My interest in how women present themselves and all the intersecting concerns that determine how they want to look, together with a growing interest in film, led to a PhD at Queen Mary University of London. My thesis, Making Up the Star: Makeup Femininity Race and Aging in Hollywood 1950-1970, completed in 2023, will be published as a book in 2026.

In 2021 Matthew Lippiatt asked me to lead a discussion about painting and makeup which was published in Turps magazine. This strengthened my thinking about the analogies between the two disciplines and confirmed my opinion that the surface of femininity, the beauty of which is so often exploited by artists, is generally considered unworthy of serious study. In 2023 I showed three paintings in Scandal 63 Revisited at Leicester Gallery. A meeting with the gallery's curator Hugo Worthy led to the commissioning of Blusher, an exhibition that brings together many of my thoughts and concerns about the complexities and contradictions of makeup.

Some of the artworks in Blusher use makeup as a material, others reference makeup more obliquely. Makeup can realise dreams and aspirations or conversely it can be socially inappropriate and nightmarish. This publication reflects this with the Blusher artists divided into four sections: 'Dreams and Nightmares', 'Public Face', 'Testers', and 'Products'. To this I have added a selection of vintage makeup items, advertising and ephemera, which emphasises and reinforces the connections between makeup and art, as well as the complex relationship we have, both as individuals and society as a whole, with makeup.

Alongside the artists' texts and images there are three essays – Alex Michon writes about the political and popular cultural history of makeup, Hillary Belzer considers the way art has been used to market makeup and I have written about makeup, painting and magic. A special mention should be given to artworks by Karla Black and Rose Wylie, which although not pictured in the catalogue, are included in the exhibition and are part of the Leicester Gallery Collection and the Jerwood Collection respectively.

Read more and buy the Blusher publication (price £5) at the Transition Gallery shop