Love all the research here, as usual, Katy, and the fascinating connections you draw! A great read.
You've got me thinking back to my days in the break room changing the toner cartridge on the ol' copier, getting feathered in velvety, smeary carbon black like an 1890s chimney sweep.
I love this! I was also curious if you’d read Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s 1933 essay “In Praise of Shadows”. It does not apply itself to art or representation, as such, but it goes into very lyrical depth about the color of darkness in a firelit environment, the shades of blue and purple that swim around in it, etc. You might appreciate it!
Of course it’s worth noting that the actual purpose of the essay is to present an (uncomfortably familiar) ultra-conservative, vulgar and joking-not-joking provocation, with the shadows of candlelight representing “traditional” Japanese culture that’s being lost beneath the lesser shadows of electric lamplight, which represent western influence. BUT if you didn’t know that, you’d assume it’s just an aesthetic appreciation that goes in some bizarre directions.
Oh, that's fascinating! No, I haven't read it but I'm going to look it up right now. One essay that I think about a lot is Poe's "the Imp of the Perverse," which isn't about aesthetics necessarily but applies to so many spooky, weird, uncanny things.
Love all the research here, as usual, Katy, and the fascinating connections you draw! A great read.
You've got me thinking back to my days in the break room changing the toner cartridge on the ol' copier, getting feathered in velvety, smeary carbon black like an 1890s chimney sweep.
I love this! I was also curious if you’d read Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s 1933 essay “In Praise of Shadows”. It does not apply itself to art or representation, as such, but it goes into very lyrical depth about the color of darkness in a firelit environment, the shades of blue and purple that swim around in it, etc. You might appreciate it!
Of course it’s worth noting that the actual purpose of the essay is to present an (uncomfortably familiar) ultra-conservative, vulgar and joking-not-joking provocation, with the shadows of candlelight representing “traditional” Japanese culture that’s being lost beneath the lesser shadows of electric lamplight, which represent western influence. BUT if you didn’t know that, you’d assume it’s just an aesthetic appreciation that goes in some bizarre directions.
Oh, that's fascinating! No, I haven't read it but I'm going to look it up right now. One essay that I think about a lot is Poe's "the Imp of the Perverse," which isn't about aesthetics necessarily but applies to so many spooky, weird, uncanny things.