color our world
Colors have been used to stand for major human traits of love, purity, innocence — as well as death, destruction, and loss by artists, poets, and authors throughout the ages.
These are basically similar to the original symbolism of colors, like red stands for love, yellow stands for energy, green for a new life as well as jealousy, blue for beauty, and purple for royalty.
With more people becoming aware of the importance of colors and their meanings — artists are utilizing this increasingly in the modern fields of visual arts and advertising.
The underlying meaning of different shades and their purpose may change slightly between different cultures.
Asian countries like China and Japan have their own color symbolism charts. Greek and Roman mythology is also notable for studying color meanings. The Bible has heavy use of color symbolism as well.
It is interesting that the exponential rise of consumer culture was occurring during a time of intense spirituality. Manifesting not only in the intellectual works of Der Blaue Reiter and Bauhaus.
Also seen in a heightened interest in the paranormal or supernatural, and the popularity of esoteric religious movements such as theosophy.
Examples of women publishing on color in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are rare. In the early twentieth century — coinciding with the rise of avant-garde groups, the opening of a number of art colleges for women, and the advent of Modernism and Expressionism — women gained a stronger voice.
Although men still dramatically outweighed women in public visibility and the intellectual establishment in general — women’s contribution in art and publishing gained more ground.
The ideas promoted in the early twentieth century have left a legacy of some of the most fascinating works of art, design and literature the world has ever seen.
Originally published at http://woaworld.blogspot.com.