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John Gage, Color and Meaning: Art, Science, and Symbolism(University of California Press)

John Gages book Color and Cultureappeared to considerable acclaim in 1!, and it "on that

years #itchell Pri$e for art history% &t "as a dense, ambitio's, yet readable eploration of color in

estern art from the Classical era to the *+ thcent'ryor rather, of ideas abo't color, since Gage

gave more attention to "ritings abo't the s'b-ect than to act'al eamples of practice. for instance,

he devoted far more space to #atisses /0otes d'n peintre (1+2) and other "ritten and spoken

observations abo't his approach to color than to the paintingRed Studio(111), 'sed to ill'strate

#atisses notions%

Gages ne" book, Color and Meaning"o'ld appear, thanks to its e3'ally ambitio's4

so'nding title, to be a se3'el to the earlier one, b't it "o'ld perhaps be better described as a series

of etended footnotes to it% 5or that reason it may disappoint many of its predecessors admirers%

hereas the earlier book "as, as its a'thor "arned straight off, /for all its baggage of scholarly

apparat's6 not an academic book, this one certainly is% 5'rthermore the t"enty4one essays it

collects are 3'ite separate and self4contained% #any of the topics it covers are of speciali$ed

interest, and f'rthermore, specialists in some topics may be 'ninterested in others% 7his is

testimony to the breadth of Gages c'riosity, "hich (despite a foc's on late 12 thto early *+th

cent'ry 8'ropean painting) ranges "idely, from the pre4Colombian 9mericas to German

:omanticism and "ell beyond, certainly, b't something that sho'ld have been made clearer in the

books presentation%

#aybe all thats to complain that the glass is half4empty% #any of these essays are

admirable% & "o'ld partic'larly call attention to Chapter 1!, /#ood &ndigo ; 5rom the

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tendencies in German color theory, tho'gh they remained eceptions, and it "as at the ymbolist attit'des in his color, "hich is to say

that, as "as the case in German art, a scientific approach to color "as inseparable from the echo

of :omanticism%

?ater on, his meditations on the "ork of >e'rat "o'ld prompt #atisse to admit that /& am

a romantic, b't "ith a good half of the scientist, the rationalist, in me, "hich makes for a str'ggle

from "hich & emerge sometimes tri'mphant, b't breathless% 5or painters, the scientific st'dy of

color has sometimes been felt necessary, b't has al"ays remained secondary% 9s Gage notes, it is

the /s'b-ective effects of color "hich have been /the central concern of painters, and these

remain rather resistant to rational in3'iry%

7he 3'estion remains, then, "hether the st'dy of color has any f'ndamental importance

for art% :eading an old intervie" bet"een the poet and critic 8d"in @enby and the painter 0eil

elliver, "hod been a st'dent of Josef 9lbers, & "as str'ck by ellivers remark that 9lbers

/"as an incredibly good teacher and most of the teaching and conversation and so on "as o'tside

of art% &t had to do "ith color and ho" colors interacted, the optics of color% >o "hat elliver

learned from 9lbers "as a lot abo't color, and also the fact that all this "as someho" tangential,

not central, to painting% hat may be the inadvertent lesson of Color and Meaningis m'ch the

same%