A01=David Batchelor
aldous huxley
apocalypstick
art
artists
artwork
Author_David Batchelor
balkans
Category=ABA
Category=AF
chromophilia
chromophobia
chromophobic impulses
coloring
colors
critical theory
cultural studies
culture
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
fear
fiction
great white whale
hanunoo
he doors of perception
herman melville
journey
le voyage dorient
literary works
literature
mescaline
moby dick
motivations
nonfiction
philosophy
psychological aspects
resistance
whitescapes
Product details
- ISBN 9781861890740
- Weight: 300g
- Dimensions: 210 x 148mm
- Publication Date: 01 Sep 2001
- Publisher: Reaktion Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
The central argument of Chromophobia is that a chromophobic impulse – a fear of corruption or contamination through colour – lurks within much Western cultural and intellectual thought. This is apparent in the many and varied attempts to purge colour, either by making it the property of some ‘foreign body’ – the oriental, the feminine, the infantile, the vulgar, or the pathological – or by relegating it to the realm of the superficial, the supplementary, the inessential, or the cosmetic.
Chromophobia has been a cultural phenomenon since ancient Greek times; this book is concerned with forms of resistance to it. Writers have tended to look no further than the end of the nineteenth century. David Batchelor seeks to go beyond the limits of earlier studies, analysing the motivations behind chromophobia and considering the work of writers and artists who have been prepared to look at colour as a positive value. Exploring a wide range of imagery including Melville’s ‘great white whale’, Huxley’s reflections on mescaline, and Le Corbusier’s ‘Journey to the East’, Batchelor also discusses the use of colour in Pop, Minimal, and more recent art.
David Batchelor is an artist and writer based in London, and the author of Chromophobia (Reaktion, 2001) and The Luminous and the Grey (Reaktion, 2014).
