FINAR604 FAS: Chromophilia

The title of this course is derived from a chapter in David Batchelor's book, Choromophobia. The author eloquently traces concepts of color in nineteenth and twentieth-century Western art and literature as they relate to notions of purity and contamination. This course analyzes how color is folded into to a complex set of Western cultural narratives and how the so-called neutrality of "whiteness" in the museum setting is constructed on racist and gendered stereotypes. Offering alternate perspectives on color, this class investigates the diverse meanings of color in different cultural landscapes. In addition, the histories of specific colors, dyestuffs, and pigments will be traced, looking at modes of production, trade, and the eventual industrialization of color. Texts are selected from multiple disciplines including anthropology, art criticism, art history, and fashion theory. Through lectures, readings, discussions, written assignments, research, and critiques, students address both historic and contemporary issues of color related to their aesthetic practice.