Pages

  • Home

Monday 5 October 2015 BBC Documentary - A History of Art in Three Colours - White



A History of Art in Three Colours 3 of 3 White by easytelevision Josiah Craven kindly suggested to watch this documentary by BBC about the colour White in Art, Design and Lifestyle. 

The documentary was rather interesting and relevant to my contextual research: I was especially stunned by Josiah Wedgwood white pottery, James Whistler white paintings and Le Corbusier's architecture. 


I was particularly captured by Whistler's paintings, because they reminded me of "Pine Trees" by Hasegawa Tohaku: the painting "Symphony in White no.3" shows two women dressed in white, one sitting on a sofa and the other resting on the floor, on a white background. As the documentary explains, the painting raised many questions as to what the meaning of it was, who the women were, why they were there etc. Whistler replied to those questions explaining his work was purely a study of white: it emphasises different shades of white and how there's no "pure" white. 

The presence of a fan on the floor shows the influence of Japonisme, which was a popular artistic trend in European art at the time. (This also indicates how art influences go hand in hand with each other).

Post a Comment