What Color Is The Sacred

Over the past thirty years, visionary anthropologist Michael Taussig has crafted a highly distinctive body of work. Playful, enthralling, and whip-smart, his writing makes ingenious connections between ideas, thinkers, and things. An extended meditation on the mysteries of color and the fascination they provoke, What Color Is the Sacred? is the next step on Taussig’s remarkable intellectual path. Following his interest in magic and surrealism, his earlier work on mimesis, and his recent discussion of heat, gold, and cocaine in My Cocaine Museum,this book uses color to explore further dimensions of what Taussig calls “the bodily unconscious” in an age of global warming. Drawing on classic ethnography as well as the work of Benjamin, Burroughs, and Proust, he takes up the notion that color invites the viewer into images and into the world. Yet, as Taussig makes clear, color has a history—a manifestly colonial history rooted in the West’s discomfort with color, especially bright color, and its associations with the so-called primitive. He begins by noting Goethe’s belief that Europeans are physically averse to vivid color while the uncivilized revel in it, which prompts Taussig to reconsider colonialism as a tension between chromophobes and chromophiliacs. And he ends with the strange story of coal, which, he argues, displaced colonial color by giving birth to synthetic colors, organic chemistry, and IG Farben, the giant chemical corporation behind the Third Reich. Nietzsche once wrote, “So far, all that has given colour to existence still lacks a history.” With What Color Is the Sacred? Taussig has taken up that challenge with all the radiant intelligence and inspiration we’ve come to expect from him.

The story of the color black in art, fashion, and culture—from the beginning of history to the twenty-first century Black—favorite color of priests and penitents, artists and ascetics, fashion designers and fascists—has always stood for powerfully opposed ideas: authority and humility, sin and holiness, rebellion and conformity, wealth and poverty, good and bad. In this beautiful and richly illustrated book, the acclaimed author of Blue now tells the fascinating social history of the color black in Europe. In the beginning was black, Michel Pastoureau tells us. The archetypal color of darkness and death, black was associated in the early Christian period with hell and the devil but also with monastic virtue. In the medieval era, black became the habit of courtiers and a hallmark of royal luxury. Black took on new meanings for early modern Europeans as they began to print words and images in black and white, and to absorb Isaac Newton's announcement that black was no color after all. During the romantic period, black was melancholy's friend, while in the twentieth century black (and white) came to dominate art, print, photography, and film, and was finally restored to the status of a true color. For Pastoureau, the history of any color must be a social history first because it is societies that give colors everything from their changing names to their changing meanings—and black is exemplary in this regard. In dyes, fabrics, and clothing, and in painting and other art works, black has always been a forceful—and ambivalent—shaper of social, symbolic, and ideological meaning in European societies. With its striking design and compelling text, Black will delight anyone who is interested in the history of fashion, art, media, or design.

This Elibron Classics title is a reprint of the original edition published by Longmans, Green, and Co. in New York, London and Bombay, 1902. This book contains color illustrations.

Experience the Inspiring Wisdom and Wild Beauty of Sacred Nature The profound beauty of the natural world speaks directly to our souls, awakening in us a sense of the sacred, the divine, and the mysterious. Now, seekers of all ages can experience the soul-deep pleasure and restorative effect of contemplating the natural world, wherever they may be, as they lose themselves in coloring the wonder-inspiring illustrations in Sacred Nature. Facing the meditative images, wisdom-infused words invite readers to further color away stress and anxiety as they immerse themselves in the mysticism and magic of the natural world.

This dark, compelling, occasionally inappropriate, and often hilarious linked story collection introduces a character who defies all stereotypes about urban life and Indians.

This unique series of paintings takes the viewer on a graphic, visionary journey through the physical, metaphysical, and spiritual anatomy of the self. From anatomically correct rendering of the body systems, Grey moves to the spiritual/energetic systems with such images as "Universal Mind Lattice," envisioning the sacred and esoteric symbolism of the body and the forces that define its living field of energy. Includes essays on the significance of Grey's work by Ken Wilber, the eminent transpersonal psychologist, and by the noted New York art critic, Carlo McCormick.

Beautiful line-art depictions of the intricate paintings of visionary artist Francene Hart • Includes 45 illustrations to color based on the art of Hart’s popular Sacred Geometry Oracle Deck and Sacred Geometry Cards for the Visionary Path • Each piece is accompanied by brief, insightful commentary about the symbols and animals shown • Intertwines the complex forms of Sacred Geometry with the beauty of Nature, including dolphins, dragonflies, trees, and many other forms and symbols Experience firsthand the beauty of Nature’s animal and plant kingdoms intertwined with the wonders of Sacred Geometry and Spirit as you color the intricate and divine paintings of visionary artist Francene Hart. Drawing on the imagery from her popular Sacred Geometry Oracle Deck and Sacred Geometry Cards for the Visionary Path, this coloring book contains 45 illustrations of Hart’s renowned Sacred Geometry paintings and drawings. Each piece is accompanied by a brief yet insightful commentary explaining the meaning behind the symbols and animals shown and offering inspiration to open your awareness to how these shapes influence our reality and tune your energies. From dolphins and dragonflies, the elements and celestial bodies, to the power of the torus, labyrinths, and the Flower of Life, this coloring book will lead you on a contemplative journey into the interconnected realms of Sacred Geometry, Nature, and Spirit while supporting your sense of wholeness and joy.

A fully illustrated inspirational art book from visionary painter Francene Hart • Includes more than 80 full-color reproductions of Hart’s intricate watercolor paintings and the stories behind them • Recounts the evolution of her art and her discovery of the hidden order of Nature that led to her masterful artistic integrations of Nature, Spirit, and Sacred Geometry • Explores how to tap into the energies provided by spirit guides and power animals, like Jaguar, Raven, Octopus, and Dolphin, and harness the intelligence of the heart for creative inspiration and vision Every one of us possesses the potential to receive visionary experiences and integrate them into our lives. Artists become visionaries by cultivating their instinctive creative spark and sharing their profound visions with the world. In this lavishly illustrated memoir, including more than 80 full-color reproductions of her intricate watercolor paintings and the stories behind them, Francene Hart recounts the evolution of her art from formative influences to her masterful integrations of Nature, Spirit, and Sacred Geometry. Opening with her early work on mandalas and her explorations of the work of Joseph Campbell and C. G. Jung, Hart explains how her first works of art were in response to the solitary life she led in the forest, where she discovered the hidden order of Nature. She reveals how she learned to center her artistic explorations on the intelligence of the heart rather than the intellect, utilizing the wisdom and imagery of Sacred Geometry, reverence for the natural environment, and the interconnectedness between all things as her inspirations. She describes the shamanic lessons that accompanied her discoveries and shaped her understanding of sacred relationships with the self, others, and Mother Earth. She explores how to tap into the energies provided by spirit guides and power animals, like Jaguar, Raven, Octopus, and Dolphin, and explains her profound affinity for the ocean, including her discovery of water consciousness in Hawaii. Offering chronicles of her inspiring travels and transformational encounters around the world, Hart shares her experiences at sacred sites in the Amazon, Central America, Egypt, England, Scotland, Paris, Cambodia, and the Himalayas and how these places influenced her art. Exploring what is revealed as inspiration arises, Spirit informs, and vision is transformed into art, Francene Hart’s journey offers a window into the secret order of Nature, the power of sacred symbols for evolving consciousness, and a visionary artistic path that perfectly blends the mathematical rigors of sacred geometry and the numinous.