How Black painters use color to create meaning, provoke remembrance, stir emotion, and uplift the spirit
Color does more than capture a viewer’s attention. It assaults one’s equilibrium physically and psychologically. In this stunning book, Richard Powell draws on the concept of “colorstruck,” a twentieth-century slang term describing prejudice toward people with darker skin complexions, to provide a new history of Black American art.
Powell charts the dynamics of paint and pigment in the works of artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Alma Thomas, Raymond Saunders, Sam Gilliam, Hervé Télémaque, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Nina Chanel Abney, and Henry Taylor. Using blue, green, yellow, orange, black, red, brown, and their combinations, he considers the historical and cultural contexts in which these colors unleash their visual magic and shows how the artists’ vibrant palettes collide with undercurrents of race in unanticipated and thought-provoking ways. Powell shares compelling insights into the powerful chromatic forces manifested through artists’ actions and viewers’ reactions.
A landmark work by an acclaimed art historian, this richly illustrated book offers a dazzling look at the transformative use of color by some of today’s most exciting painters, revealing how hue and pigmentation strike a chord for freedom and reclamation in life as well as art.
Published in association with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
- 271 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
Information
Topic
ArtSubtopic
Art Theory & CriticismTable of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Colorstruck! Painting, Pigment, Affect
- Chapter 1. Jacob Lawrence’s Viridian
- Chapter 2. Yellow, Orange Glow
- Chapter 3. Red Noise, Blue Alchemy
- Chapter 4. Chromatic Dispatches: Télémaque, Basquiat
- Chapter 5. The Bronze Thrill
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
- Credits and Permissions
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Yes, you can access Colorstruck! by Richard J. Powell in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Art & Art Theory & Criticism. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.