Wassily Kandinsky, Improvisation 19 (Blue Sound), 1910.
BBC Broadcaster and Director of Studies in History of Art at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Dr James Fox explores mankind's extraordinary relationship with colour; taking seven colours - black, red, yellow, blue, white, purple and green - and uncovering behind each a root idea, based on visual resemblances or properties so rudimentary as to be common to all societies.
Drawing together stories of milestone works ranging from Bronze Age gold-work to Turner, Titian to Yves Klein, Fox explains how these wonderfully myriad meanings are connected to the properties of light and the workings of our eyes and brains, arguing that colour isn’t simply something we perceive, but something we use, share and think with. Fox shows how artists, scientists, writers, philosophers, explorers and inventors have all been influenced by colour, and how, through colour, we better understand their cultures, as well as our own.
The World According to Colour: A Cultural History by James Fox is published by Allen Lane.
Proceeds from our ticket sales benefit museums, galleries and other arts-based organisations and projects.
This is an online event hosted on Zoom which can be watched live, or on-demand for three weeks afterwards. You will receive your link to access the event in your email confirmation and the on-demand link after the event ends.