Toulouse 2022 Call for Papers
From Nature to Image and Word: A Study of Black
Although the chromatic nature of black is currently discussed to the point of including it in the category of achromatic colours, this was not the case in ancient times. The colour black has always been reflected in nature in a great variety of tones and shades. Its reproduction in cave art was frequent, since obtaining its dyes and pigments did not offer great difficulties. This meant that in Rome the palette of black covered a wide range of shades: from matt to glossy black, intense black to less saturated black, as well as its proximity to the dark tones of colours such as brown, purple, grey and even blue. The chromatic properties of black influenced the lexicon of the languages of antiquity, which focused more on luminosity than on tone, hence the polysemy of many of the colour terms referring to black. Given its frequent use, black developed a wide and sometimes paradoxical symbolism in literature and art: death, the devil, hell, but also health, maturity, elegance.
For the 2022 conference, we are also welcoming papers which study:
1. Colour terms related with the colour black in Antiquity (Hebrew, Hittite, Greek, Latin).
2. Metaphor and Symbolism of the colour black in literature or in the artistic representations.
3. Pigments and dyes used to elaborate the different hues of black.
4. Restoration of artistic works and restitution of colours in religious painting.
Please contact the chairs for detail:
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