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Thompson Lecture – FIA Rubens members-only event

Darkness Visible: A History of Black

Guest Lecturer: Dr. James Fox

Of all colors, black gets the worst press. It is associated with darkness, sin, death, and despair. Many people don’t consider it to be a color at all. And yet in this lecture, Dr. James Fox aims to prove all of the doubters wrong. Beginning in the Big Bang and ending in the present day, he will explore the rich, beautiful, and luminous place of black in the history of art. He will explore the Paleolithic images in Chauvet Cave, the paintings of Velazquez, Goya, Manet and the Abstract Expressionists. He will conclude with the recent artistic controversy surrounding the blackest black ever made. By the end, he may just have convinced you that black is the greatest color of them all.