Litsy

charl08

Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?: 50th anniversary edition | Linda Nochlin

Even my French is up to translating this...*

*because I know the original title...

46 likes

Robotswithpersonality

Chromophobia | David Batchelor

so-so

And around and around we go! 😵‍💫 When the book started with a chapter about whitescapes, an apparent critique of minimalist architecture/interior design, I thought maybe we were going to consider individual colours, how people historically have reacted to them, how they might arouse fear, disgust, phobia, as much as praise, from an art-focused, rather than psychological basis. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? But after the first chapter, it was a bunch of chapters considering the idea of not liking colour or colours, as a unit, at all, largely from the perspective of writers from the 19th century or earlier, contrasting with what I guess the author saw as the clearest emergent vote for colour thereafter, the 1960s with psychedelia and pop art. Film also gets in there, too. 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 3/? The 19th century opinions showcase a staggering amount of anthropocentric, hierarchical thinking, attempting to make line, form, architecture, superior to colour, and proving both racist and misogynist in the way colour and its associations/attributes are described as subordinated to form. 😬 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 4/? There was also a chapter discussing how different languages have different conceptions of basic colours, pitting colour against language, the idea that people react to colour before they have language, that describing colour is often beyond words. A side tangent that felt very tangential.
I guess if you're going to look at the range of opinions in art criticism and see what the reasoning was behind chromophobia you'll sample whatever period 4mo

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Robotswithpersonality 5/? of history such views hold sway, but it does feel somewhat truncated that there were some published dudes in the 1800s (not all anti-colour but majority of those quoted) and seemingly a reaction to this mindset by dudes in the 1960s, and this author decided in 2000 to quote a bunch of each group without touching on much time outside of what was either decades or hundreds of years' old writings, interviews. 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 6/? The paragraphs, the meanderings Batchelor gets into featuring his own thoughts did often seem to be repeats, paragraphs going round in circles.
So:
Some older people have not liked colour and their reasons are kind of sus, many people, artists, have worked with and discussed colour (some are recognized as trailblazers for doing so) in ways that might not be recognized as art by the older guys, but why should we care what they thought? 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 7/? And maybe modern minimalism is the backlash to the backlash depending on whether your tastes run that way, but I don't see it in danger of taking over the world based on the life of colour and creativity I'm witness to every day in person and online. 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 8/8 There were a number of 20th century artists and some art critics from both time periods quoted that I think I'd like to follow up on, but aside from fulfilling an essay requirement (with a hefty word count stipulation) for an art history course, I'm not sure why Batchelor would choose these angles on this topic. 🤷🏼‍♂️ 4mo

10 likes7 comments

Robotswithpersonality

Chromophobia | David Batchelor

“...nothing particularly original.“ 💅🏻

6 likes1 stack add

sarahgreatlove

Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils and Rewards of Artmaking | David Bayles, Ted Orland

pick

I‘m in that “short audiobook” stage of my reading challenge for the year 🙃 I‘ve been wanting to read this for a while - it was great. Really good book on the challenges of creativity. I took a lot of notes. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

7 likes

sakeriver

Art on My Mind: Visual Politics | bell hooks

pick

I think the thing that is most interesting but also most upsetting about this book is that it was written in 1995 but is still so relevant. Obviously hooks is brilliant, but it means that the state of discourse around art, race, and gender has really not progressed much in the past 30 years.

6 likes

IndoorDame

Matisse on Art | Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam

#SchoolSpirit #Play @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eggs Perfection 🤗 1y

41 likes1 comment

sakeriver

Art on My Mind: Visual Politics | bell hooks

5 likes

BekaReid

Create Dangerously | Albert Camus

"Art cannot be a monologue."

19 likes

Cazxxx

Women in the Picture: What Culture Does with Female Bodies | Catherine McCormack

pick

A fantastic and accessible nonfiction book about women and feminism in art throughout history. Although I have the hard copy I listened to the audiobook which was wonderfully narrated with passion while making it easy to understand for anyone like me who knows little about the subject
So engaging and informative, I‘ll go back to this again

4 ⭐️

42 likes2 stack adds

RaeLovesToRead

Playing to the Gallery: Helping Contemporary Art in Its Struggle to Be Understood | Grayson Perry

so-so

Meditations and musing on art. What makes something art? What makes art good? Where is the cutting edge? I enjoy Perry's irreverent, playful ponderings.

He does a lot of hedging his bets, but I do sometimes disagree when he expresses a solid opinion - e.g. that we've reached the end of the road when it comes to innovation & pushing boundaries, or the emphasis on art school as a way in.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

(Something did upset me. See comments.)

RaeLovesToRead Perry made mention of something that truly horrified my sensitive soul while discussing art created for shock value. No one else seems bothered from what I see on Goodreads, but I truly wish I could unread it. 3y

67 likes1 comment

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