Chromophobia
David Batchelor
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.
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About David Batchelor
Reviews for Chromophobia
Dave Hickey, Bookforum
A hugely entertaining guide to our ongoing obsession with white.
Time Out
A provocative contribution to the discourse of color theory.
James Meyer, Artforum
This beautifully produced book is an intelligent and provocative essay on why Western culture hates and fears colour. The prose is cumulative and passionate in its effect and widely referential from Barthes to Melville, Wim Wenders to Huysmans . . . you cannot fail to be stimulated by his thoughts.
RA Magazine
Switching from novels and movies to art and architecture, Batchelor clearly and cleverly traces the cultural implications of the 100 year-plus Colour War between Chromophobes like Le Corbusier, with their hosannas to whiteness, and Chromophiliacs like Warhol, the great artist of cosmetics. A succinct book of art theory which goes down smoothly.
i-D Magazine
Batchelor has found an irresistible selection of anecdotes and quotes relating to the experience of color ... thoughtful and entertaining.
Tema Celeste
a theoretical and cultural banquet . . . The books narrative quality goes beyond the telling of color theorys history and other approaches to color, coming to read like a psychological thriller: how the West crushed color or at least thought it did so.
New Art Examiner, Chicago