Semester:
Offered:
Ewa Lajer-Burcharth
This course explores the historical functions and cultural meanings of color in the period of early modernity (18th and early 19th centuries). Focusing on France and England, we will examine specifically the role color played in the processes of colonization and conquest linked to the emergence of modern European empires. On the one hand, we will consider the colonial origins of many pigments (e.g., cochineal red; indigo blue) and their impact on the European artistic production and decorative arts. On the other hand, we will discuss the ways in which the aesthetic uses of color helped sustain a political system and social and cultural hierarchies in the era of colonization. What were the new meanings and effects of color as the physical product and sign of growing global trade networks, colonial and slave economies, and expanding empires? How were the artistic debates centered around color affected by, and in turn, how they affected what may be called the colonial economy of pigments? What role did the new pigments and colored materials play in the construction of the emergent conceptions of race and gender?
Our discussion will be based on readings drawn from the most recent scholarship and in analysis and hands-on experience of art objects in the Harvard Art Museums and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Moreover, students will be involved in a pigment workshop based in the material resources of the museum.