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Created: January 10, 2002
Latest Update: January 14, 2002
Faculty:
jeannecurran@habermas.org
Olivier at tapcourse@yahoo.com
takata@uwp.edu
The Meaning of White Is Relative
By Christian Schnyder
Copyright: Jeanne Curran, Susan R. Takata, Christian Schnyder, and Individaul Authors, January 2002.
"Fair use" encouraged.This essay is based on an e-mail posted to the Transcend Art and Peace list. Christian addresses cogently the problem with those wicked little unstated assumptions we make about colors.On Thursday, Janauary 25, 2002, Christian Schnyder wrote:
Subject: [TAP2001] white and peaceTwo words, but several conversations that are somehow related after all. I am trying to keep it simple.
Peace: I got involved in the peace conversation by going to the International Peace Conference in The Hague in '99. I went as an individual member of the International Peace Bureau. Didn't know a soul. It was interesting to attend the lectures, seminars and go through the "convention" hall. Quite overwhelming! It was similar to any other gathering of different groups. There were opinions, disagreements and not really a clear direction. It was a great experience and I fully support the "The Hague Appeal for Peace." There is a BUT. I was surprised how some organizations and people clearly knew what had to be done to create world peace: eliminate hunger and there will be peace; educate and there will be peace; create democracies and there will be peace; meditate and there will be peace; disarm and there will be peace, etc. I could not and cannot see how taking care of one problem could solve it all. I believe world peace is a bit more complex than that. This comment is not a criticism on the organizations. It is probably impossible to achieve anything without focusing on a subject. I am grateful and thankful that they are doing the important work. So, art alone is not going to bring peace, but we can focus on its support [in] creating a conversation about the culture of peace!
That is where I could make the link to White. White is the global color of peace. Says who? One color expresses all there is in the world of peace? Colors are heavily charged with meaning and symbolic power. For example, yellow has a different meaning in Europe than in Asia. One stands for outcast and jealousy, the other for divine and royal (and other contradictory meanings).
White: White light is indeed the bearer of all colors. The colors we see are reflections bouncing off an object or is the light source itself (including computer monitors). The light sources change and the colors with them. Color is not a stable affair. Color is light alone, but our experience is so direct that we trust our eye and believe that a color is inherent to an object (how often do we trust our eye in other things? The eye is a tricky and weak sensory organ!)
Could it be that we associate the color white with peace, because of the white flag that was waved in the battlefield (I am not sure they still do that, since we are so detached from where, what and whom we attack)? To me that is more a symbol of surrender than peace. The white cloth is probably the first best thing they could find; probably a handkerchief (OK, I made that up!) Many socialist countries actually use blue as the color of peace.
But there are other things worth mentioning about white, which again will cross over to other subjects. What follows are a few hesitations about "glorifying" white. It has less to do with white and peace, but more with questioning what we take for granted. I do like white and the walls and ceilings of my apartment are white.
I personally believe that our obsession with white is a leftover from the Modernist Movement (between WW1 and WW2). The Modernist believed everything could be theoretically explained and analyzed. Everything in life was taken apart and re-assembled, usually separated and run parallel to each other or stacked on top of each other. Everything had to be stripped down to its essential form to fit the function. That included the colors.
Museums did not used to exhibit work on white walls. Wood paneling and colorful wall coverings were the norm. Paintings were hung in rows, almost from floor to ceiling. A museum visit was a social event. If we analyze the purpose and function of a museum, it becomes about the piece of art. Therefore the pieces have to be separated, preferably one or two pieces on one wall. The color white works best, because it does not "compete" with the artwork. The modern museum is born. Our route is controlled; a few pieces from the entire museum collection are shown. Art is no longer an everyday event. It is as if we are trying to eliminate the other experiences that come with going to a place. Our relationship to art changed.
In the Modernist model, each function needs its own environment. Art belongs in the museum. (Again, to me, that is focusing on one issue, trying to resolve it all). It is encouraging to me that newer museums are trying to blur the edges and have exhibits, courses, concerts and other events in their buildings. Some of the newer museums also begin to understand that a Dutch Baroque painting was created in a certain environment and are trying to re-create that experience. White walls become an option, and are not the one and only answer.
We have to thank Queen Victoria for giving us the dress code for brides. She was supposedly the first one who married in white. Before that women wore their most expensive dress. When it came to color that would have been red, since it was the most expensive color to make (at least in Europe); the association that white is pure, innocent and such is not that old!
Natural products are usually not white! A natural canvas is ivory color (one could argue that ivory is white). The gesso makes it white! Paper without bleaching is also off white. Recycled paper is actually grayish if it is not bleached. We use white paper because it creates the most contrast with the black letters. The reading is easier and less tiring the greater the contrast between background and letters.
White is being used as a metaphor for many things, but over time things change. Again, in some cultures white is the color worn on the wedding day, in others it is worn on funerals. I would be hesitant to allocate any color as a global color for one cause. Certain organizations used color to identify themselves (Red Cross, Yellow Pages, etc.), but I believe that is different from, say, white is the color of peace.
Some colors were used very pragmatically, and the symbolic meaning was added to it later. One reason why so many "older" countries have red and blue in their flags is the fact that neither of colors faded over time!
So, Dusty, if white is your color of peace, innocence, inspiration and purity that is great and valid. There is no right or wrong approach to that subject. I just think and hope it is more diverse and broad than that.
Love & Peace
Christian